The Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority says the final funding piece is in place for the construction of the Mid-Barataria Sediment, a massive coastal restoration project expected to create over 20 square miles of wetlands in the Barataria Basin over the next 50 years. CPRA Executive Director Bren Haase says the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation is investing 660 million dollars in the project.
“It’s really the affirmation of the project and the belief in the project and the good it will do for the Mid-Barataria Basin,” said Haase.
The overall cost of the project is over two-billion dollars. Haase says construction is expected to begin this summer to reconnect the Mississippi River to Louisiana’s Barataria Basin estuary.
“Use the power of the river to deliver those resources to our coast to help rebuild well over 20 square miles of land over the next 50 years and help restore the estuary,” said Haase.
Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser, the St. Bernard and Plaquemine Parish councils, oystermen, and fishermen oppose the coastal restoration plan. They say it threatens fishing, dolphins, and their economies and culture. But Haase says the diversion will be a positive for the estuary.
“What we have right now is a dying estuary, estuary where fisheries are already changing, people are not catching speckled trout, they are not catching oysters where their grandfathers once did,” said Haase.
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