[We don’t just need this bill to pass to protect our citizens but it would also be nice to have this work coming down the pipeline.] House passes water bill without Morganza to the Gulf levee system The Times Picayune Washington Bureau (Bruce Alpert) The future of the Morganza to the Gulf levee system now rests with a House-Senate committee that will negotiate differences between competing water resources bills adopted by the two houses. The House on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a water resources (WRDA) bill, which doesnt include the $10.3 billion project among the 23 projects it authorizes across the United States. The vote for the bill, which expedites Army Corps of Engineers and environmental reviews of water projects, was 417-3 . Sen. David Vitter , R-La., and Mary Landrieu , D-La., vowed to fight to retain language in the Senate-passed bill that authorizes the 98-mile-long Morganza to the Gulf levee system designed to provide protection for Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes. The House also approved 237-183 an amendment by Reps. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, and Steve Scalise , R-Jefferson to require the corps to consider the national economic impact of a project in its cost-benefit analysis. Richmond said the amendment will help make the case for the West Shore/Lake Pontchartrain Levee Project, which covers LaPlace, Reserve, Garyville, Gramercy, Lutcher and Grand Point. House shuns Morganza, but locals hopeful about conference committee Houma Courier (Xerxes Wilson) The U.S. House of Representative passed a water resources bill Wednesday that does not include the local Morganza-to-the-Gulf flood protection project. The bill runs counter to the Senate version that included the $10.3 billion federal levee system in March. The measure will now go to a conference committee where the local congressional delegation is both hopeful and insistent the project will be included in the bills final version. “We are cautiously optimistic,” said Terrebonne Levee District Director Reggie Dupre. “With Sen. Vitter being on the committee, we are in a good position.” The water resources bill passed by the House and Senate also includes reforms to the Corps of Engineers that are aimed at speeding up the process for developing and approving projects.
Posted on: Thu, 24 Oct 2013 13:00:42 +0000
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