FEMA drops cost match requirements

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is eliminating Louisiana’s cost match requirement for recovery efforts from Hurricane Ike and most match payments for Hurricane Gustav, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal announced last week.

The state had been required to match 25 percent of the funds FEMA expended on most Ike recovery efforts and 10 percent for debris removal.

For Hurricane Gustav, the federal government will now cover 90 percent of the cost of recovery efforts, leaving the state still responsible for tens of millions in payments. That figure is up from the original 75 percent, according to a release from Jindal’s office.

In 2007, the federal government also removed the state’s match requirement for recovery efforts from hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Following Ike, former President George W. Bush dropped the match requirement for recovery efforts from that hurricane for his home state of Texas. U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-Napoleonville) wrote a letter to Bush in Sept. 2008 asking the president to do the same for Louisiana and to eliminate the match requirement entirely for Hurricane Gustav.

The action by FEMA would remove Terrebonne Parish’s cost match requirement for the $2.1 million federal grant awarded in June to repair Island Road, the road leading to Isle of Jean Charles damaged heavily by Hurricane Ike.

The federal government also granted South Louisiana Electric Cooperative Association $5.5 million for efforts to restore electricity following Hurricane Gustav.