Nancy Rollins
February 1, 2008Grand Isle voters to elect mayor
February 6, 2008Two Bollinger Shipyards Inc. faciliFunding for several projects in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes was secured by U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-Napoleonville) in the $555 billion 2008 Omnibus Appropriations legislation passed by the U.S. Senate and House on Dec. 18 and Dec. 19, respectively, and signed into law by President Bush on Dec. 26.
The bill contains $4 million to pay to lift several levees in Terrebonne Parish past eight feet, including a stretch near Pointe au Chien, as part of the Morganza-to-the-Gulf project. More lifts will be needed to raise the levees to hurricane protection levels at 20 feet, said Terrebonne Levee and Conservation District Executive Director Jerome Zeringue.
The Houma Navigation Canal will receive $3,040,000 to rock armor the banks and to use dredged material to create marsh in open water near the canal.
For Houma, the bill appropriates $1,883,000 to build greenhouses and headhouses at the Sugarcane Field Laboratory on Bull Run Road. The federal agricultural research station is trying to move all its operations to the Bull Run Road location from the site on Little Bayou Black next to the main Terrebonne Parish Library, built in the 1920s.
The legislation also gives the laboratory $1,193,000 for research and development into high yield sugarcane and sugarcane-derived ethanol.
In Lafourche Parish, the bill provides $980,000 toward completing the Larose to Golden Meadow hurricane protection project.
The Omnibus Bill consolidated 12 individual appropriations bills.
