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May 28, 2014
The mood in the Lafourche Parish Council Chambers reflected the result of an unfair trade when residents gathered against the Army Corps of Engineers’ proposal to mitigate land in Lafourche Parish, stemming from a project to protect the Greater New Orleans area.
The Corps has held more than 500 public meetings concerning the Greater New Orleans Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System, and in Mathews last week, the more than vocal crowd almost exceeded the council chambers’ Fire Marshall capacity.
Residents expressed their opposition to the Corps’ proposed projects for Lake Boeuf mitigation that would come at the cost of people who live in the area. The three areas of land considered come in tracts of 592 acres, 320 acres and 222 areas.
The 592-acre tract, known as the “yellow phase,” is situated between Peltier Drive and just beyond Raceland Stockyards Road. It was one of the biggest concerns for residents at the meeting since it becomes an immediate target if the Corps’ plan to work with mitigation banks does not go through.
Stephen Peltier owns farmland that he leases to tenant farmers on the yellow phase of the proposed plan.
“If they go to the yellow phase, they are taking all of the farmland and three-quarters of the entire property,” he said. “It’s going to put that farmer out of business because he won’t have enough land left to actively be able to farm.”
Peltier said small land owners do not have the ability to go up against the Corps, but that the “working people” of Lafourche will not give up on the issue, which provides no benefit to the area.
“This is all about protecting New Orleans. It seems to me that those areas are the ones that should be mitigated,” he said.
Ken Holder, chief of public affairs for the Corps, said Lafourche Parish is included as part of the proposal because it met all of the requirements of their search.
Screening criteria for site selection requires the Corps to consider areas within the same hydrologic basin and mitigate within the same habitat type such as bottomland hardwoods, swamp and fresh marsh.
“It was an exhaustive search and we looked everywhere,” Holder said. “Whatever we displace has to be the same. We hope to leave a better ecosystem than when we started. It has to be recreated.”
Throughout the meeting, Holder reminded the concerned residents that the meeting was meant for their comments and that “the decision is only about mitigation credits at this point.”
“All Pier 37 will do if it is signed will give the Corps permission to work with mitigation banks. It doesn’t give any permission to take anybody’s land,” Holder said.
Lafourche Parish President Charlotte Randolph echoed Holder’s statement and said there was little relief from the Corps’ explanation.
“The first act they are going to do is look at buying mitigation credits from mitigation banks. That doesn’t involve any of your land,” she told residents. “That’s as simple as I can put it.”
Randolph reassured residents that local and state government officials are working to contest the Corps’ proposed action.
“I don’t understand a universe where a government agency could come in and build $14 billion dollars worth of projects in another area and then come to this area, which doesn’t benefit from that hurricane protection system, and take land,” she said. “That doesn’t make sense and we’re not going to stand for that.”
Jerald Block, a Thibodaux attorney, who does not own land in Raceland, initiated a wave of hand responses when he asked who was against the mitigation projects proposed for Lafourche.
“All of these folks don’t want their property taken,” he said. “The concern would be that if we don’t object to it then what’s going to happen is that this is going to become a reality. And they don’t want that to happen.”
Roger Bourgeois, a fourth generation sugarcane farmer in the audience, said not only would the mitigation projects affect his livelihood and the land he leases, but suggested it would have an even greater effect on the community.
“You do realize the trickling effect that is going to happen when you start taking this land from sugarcane farmers?” he said to the Corps. “Sugar mills will have less cane to grind… we’re not going to need as much chemicals to fertilize. Everybody in this community is going to feel it.”
As the sugar industry has seen many changes and reductions in recent years, Bourgeois said many people want to continue farming the same land the Corps wants to take away.
“I’m sure there are other places you can find,” he said. “Find somewhere else that is not as important and that is not as dear and entrusted to the people in this room.”
Lafourche Parish Administrator Archie Chaisson said parish government cannot directly influence the Corps’ decision, but they will continue to work through resolutions and legislation to help the residents of Lafourche.
“We’re going to watch this going forward to make sure it doesn’t affect the residents of the parish because it’s a trickle down effect,” he said. “We would like to see a hard proposal from the Corps to know exactly what they’re going to do.”
Randolph said she is in favor of an option that would benefit residents, such as the construction of levees.
“We are at the epicenter of coastal erosion in this country,” Randolph said. “We need to build land. We should not be taking land.”
Lafourche residents gather in the lobby of the Matthews Government Complex to review proposal boards about the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plan to mitigate land around Raceland.
