The NewsRoom
Release: #3817
Date: June 9, 2008

Minerals Management Service Awards $18 Million Grant
to Louisiana for Coastal Restoration

NEW ORLEANS  The Minerals Management Service (MMS) has awarded an $18 million grant to the State of Louisiana through the Coastal Impact Assistance Program (CIAP) for the Barataria Land Bridge Dedicated Dredging project. The project will enhance the creation and nourishment of 752 acres of marshland in Jefferson Parish approximately 35 miles south of New Orleans, LA. The project was included in Louisiana’s final CIAP plan approved by MMS in November, 2007.

“This is the largest grant to date that we have awarded Louisiana under CIAP,” said MMS Director, Randall Luthi. “And, we are very much looking forward to working with Louisiana to award the remaining money allocated for the state’s other projects.”

The Barataria Land Bridge project, which was initially engineered, designed and permitted through the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) program, will protect existing marshland and create new marshland by enabling sediment building and inhibiting interior deterioration from rising sea-levels and excessive tidal exchange. The area currently is mostly shallow, open water with some existing broken marsh. The area has experienced annual land loss.

The CIAP was created by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Through the program, MMS will annually, from 2007 – 2010, disburse $250 million in grants to six eligible Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas producing states – Louisiana, Alabama, Alaska, California, Mississippi and Texas. The funding to Louisiana includes $127.5 million for each of the fiscal years 2007 and 2008, totaling $255 million. Nineteen Coastal Political Subdivisions (parishes) will share in the funding for projects outlined in the state’s approved plan.