U.S. Department of the Interior
Minerals Management Service
Office of Communications

MMS Announces Public Meeting On Louisiana Barrier Island Restoration Project

The U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS) has announced a public meeting on the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to evaluate potential impacts of renourishing and restoring some of Louisiana's most severely eroded barrier islands.

The public meeting is scheduled for May 14 at 7:00 p.m. at the Municipal Auditorium, 800 Veret Street, Houma, Louisiana. The forum affords Federal, state, and local government agencies, and other interested parties the opportunity to identify significant issues and alternatives analyzed in the EIS.

Last week, MMS announced that it had joined a cooperative effort with the Department of Commerce's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), and Louisiana's Department of Natural Resources (LDNR) to prepare the EIS, and had entered into a cooperative agreement with Louisiana State University to carry out the project. The proposed restoration is part of the first phase of a project funded through the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act involving the Barataria-Terrebonne Basin area.

Louisiana's coast is one of the fastest eroding coasts in the United States. The barrier islands serve as an important buffer to wave action and salt water intrusion of ocean storms on the fragile wetlands along the coast. MMS, NMFS, and LDNR will fully evaluate the environmental impacts of undertaking a large-scale barrier island restoration effort along the Louisiana coast.

There will be a sign-up sheet for persons attending the meeting who wish to speak. Written comments may also be delivered at the meeting or sent or faxed to the Minerals Management Service, 381 Elden Street, Mail Stop 4030, Herndon, Virginia, Attn: Barry Drucker; fax (703)-787-1284.

MMS is the federal agency that manages the Nation's natural gas, oil and other mineral resources on the OCS and collects, accounts for, and disburses about $4 billion yearly in revenues from offshore mineral leases and from onshore mineral leases on federal and Indian lands.

-MMS-

MMS Internet website address: http://www.mms.gov
Fax-on-Demand Service: (202) 219-1703