Posted on August 11, 2020
Pending changes to federal law could save Louisiana more than $1 billion for a hurricane protection system that has been promised since Hurricane Katrina but not delivered.
The federal government authorized a hurricane storm damage and risk reduction system for the greater New Orleans area after Katrina slammed the region in 2005, explained Chip Kline, who chairs Louisiana’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. The feds were to pay the full cost to upgrade portions of the system that failed during the storm and projects that had been authorized since 1965 but never built.
Officials also authorized additional construction that would provide what’s known as a 100-year level of protection, which means it would have an estimated 1 percent chance to be overtopped in a given year. The state agreed to pay 35 percent of the cost of that project in installments over 30 years.
Louisiana’s first payment isn’t due until the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers finishes the project and turns it over to state officials, which still has not happened; the original 2010 deadline has been pushed back to next year. Meanwhile, some $600 million in interest has accrued.
“We are not in control of construction of this thing,” Kline said. “It doesn’t seem really fair to us to hold us accountable for over $600 million in interest because of delays by the federal government.”
Over 30 years, taxpayers could be on the hook for interest payments that easily exceed the estimated principal cost of $1.1 billion. In hopes of renegotiating the interest obligation, state officials held “many, many meetings” with Obama and Trump administration officials only to learn neither the Corps nor the Office of Management and Budget has the authority to do so.
A provision in the 2020 Water Resources Development Act, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives last week, would provide that authority. The Senate version, which has not yet come to the floor for a vote, includes similar language.
Source: coastalnewstoday
