Corps, Terrebonne ink levee deal

The seven-and-a-half miles of federally-funded hurricane protection levees that will be constructed near Dulac took a step toward completion last week.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Terrebonne Parish officials formally signed a cooperative endeavor agreement in Houma to begin the project, called the Suzie Canal and Orange Street levees. The signing occurred before the regular Terrebonne Parish Council committee meetings on Monday.

The Corps will build the levees, but Terrebonne Parish will provide their maintenance.

Work is scheduled to begin in February with a completion date in June, said U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), who secured the $30 million in funding to build the levees. The senator addressed the meeting by speakerphone.

The money is not part of the Morganza-to-the-Gulf hurricane protection project authorized by Congress last year.

Vitter has been strongly critical of the Corps for delays in building both Morganza and the Suzie Canal/Orange Street levees, which was funded through the Emergency Supplemental Appropria-tions Bill of 2006.

The money was appropriated to improve local levees in Terrebonne because the Corps had failed to start work on the Morganza project, Vitter stated in a release.

The senator was exasperated again in September after discovering that some of the funding for the Suzie Canal/Orange Street levees had been sent to Southern University for a study on improving relations with the Corps.

“Unfortunately, the Corps sat on this money for over two years, preventing it from having any concrete impact on the ground in Terrebonne Parish,” he stated.

Later that month, Vitter and Terrebonne Parish officials met in Washington, D.C. with Lieutenant General Robert Van Antwerp, the Corps’ chief of engineers, to discuss the levee project.

The results of the meeting were positive, Vitter said,

During a visit to Houma in October, he described his role in getting the Corps to begin work.

“I kicked up a lot of dirt and got it in the media,” he said. “They were embarrassed they did nothing for two years.”

But Vitter was much more conciliatory at last week’s signing, saying, “Terrebonne is largely unprotected. As a first step, we secured the $30 million. We didn’t move forward as quickly as we all would’ve liked, not before Ike and Gustav.”

“Our Sept. 24 meeting with General Van Antwerp shows we’re accelerating ahead. This signing is evidence of that. We’re coming together to embark on an expedited schedule,” he said.

Around $1.2 million has been spent already on engineering, wetlands delineation and determining soil strength for the Suzie Canal/Orange Street levees, said Colonel Alvin Lee, commander of the Corps’ New Orleans District.

Lee promised that the levees would be completed before the 2009 hurricane season.

Residents can view the project’s environmental assessment online through Jan. 10 by going to www.nolaenvironmental.gov, and clicking on “NOLA Environmental,” “Projects,” “Terrebonne NFL,” and “Env. Assessment.”

At the signing of the cooperative endeavor agreement between the Corps of Engineers and Terrebonne Parish last week in Houma were (seated from left) Terrebonne Levee District Director Windell Curole, Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet, and the Corps New Orleans District Commander Col. Alvin Lee. * Photo courtesy TPCG