Press Releases

Since Hurricane Ida landfall, U.S. Congressman Garret Graves has worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) and the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to commit funds from September 2021 Graves-supported Hurricane Ida recovery legislation to Louisiana's most urgent needs.

"Within one month of Hurricane Ida making landfall, we were able to pass a law with billions of dollars in recovery funding and flood protection investments for Louisiana. After months of working with top Corps and White House officials, billions of dollars in key hurricane protection, flood control, levee improvements and dredging are on the way," Graves said. "We've had countless meetings, zooms, conference calls, and letters with the Corps and White House about the need to address Louisiana's highest flood protection priorities. Yesterday, I talked with Louisiana-native Shalanda Young, the Director of the White House budget office regarding top project investments, cost overruns, and how Congress intended hurricane recovery bill funds to be spent."

New top investments include:

• Comite Diversion flood protection: $128 million (funds total exceeds $500 million)
  • East Baton Rouge, Livingston and Ascension
• Morganza to the Gulf hurricane protection: $379 million
  • Terrebonne and Lafourche
• West Shore hurricane protection: $453 million (funds total exceeds $1.2 billion)
  • St. John the Baptist, St. Charles and St. James
• Upper Barataria Basin hurricane protection: $8 million for engineering and design
  • St. Charles, St. John, St. James, Jefferson, Ascension, Lafourche and Assumption
• Mississippi River levees, dikes and revetment projects: $440 million
• Atchafalaya Basin: $173 million for waterflow, dredging, floodgate and others
• Mississippi River dredging: $42 million
• Atchafalaya River dredging: $33 million
• Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity hurricane protection: $5 million
  • St. Charles, Jefferson, Orleans and St. Bernard
• Angola Ring Levee: $743,000
• Ascension and East Baton Rouge sewer investments: $4.25 million

Graves continued, "These key investments represent over $2.5 billion in better flood control, more protection from hurricanes and a safer place to live. We appreciate OMB director Shalanda Young, Army Assistant Secretary Mike Conner, Principal Deputy Jaime Pinkham, Generals Spellmon and Holland, Colonel Murphy and many others that helped on these projects. These funds include new project investments, cost overruns, inflation additions, new features and long-overdue funds to help get projects moving. While it is exciting to see some of these projects funded, it is also important to note some gaping holes. The Baton Rouge area flood control project failed to receive the additional funds needed. There is no question that $378 million for the Morganza to the Gulf project is substantial, but it is far short of what Congress intended. Dredging funds for the Houma Navigation Canal, Bayou Lafourche and others are left out. This appears to confirm our fears about how the Biden Administration indicated in budget documents they would discriminate against energy-producing areas. This is just wrong and we will continue to oppose these uninformed policies and fight for what is right."

Other funded projects include:

• Grand Isle: $3,798,000
• Tangipahoa Parish Flood Risk Management Study: $3.2 million
• Operations and Maintenance Funding for Dredging:
  • Gulf Intracoastal Waterway: $23.588 million
  • Bayou Segnette: $3.51 million
  • Barataria Bay Waterway: $5.16 million
  • Bayou Bodcau Reservoir: $2.75 million
  • Freshwater Bayou: $8.075 million
  • J. Bennett Johnston Waterway: $803,000
  • Mermentau River: $12.674 million
  • Wallace Lake: $2.3 million
  • Old River: $7 million
  • Tensas River, Red River Backwater: $5.5 million
  • Mississippi Delta Region, Louisiana: $95,000
• New Orleans to Venice Hurricane Protection: $783 million
• Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Damage Reduction: $94.3 million
• West Bank and Vicinity: $743,000

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