Posted on May 30, 2017
By Sara Pagones, The New Orleans Advocate
State Sen. Sharon Hewitt says she was responding to her constituents’ concerns about flooding when she added four St. Tammany Parish rivers to proposed legislation that would allow dredging, “desnagging” and clearing on some of Louisiana’s scenic rivers.
But when she added the Pearl, Tchefuncte, Bogue Falaya and Abita rivers to the list of streams included in Senate Bill 132 by Sen. Bodi White, R-Baton Rouge, it touched off alarm among river advocates and environmentalists who fear removing protections provided by the state’s Scenic Rivers Act would open the door to development.
Hewitt, R-Slidell, said Friday that she’s met with the rest of the St. Tammany delegation and the parish’s rivers will be removed this week from the legislation, which is in now in the House.
“This has never been about commercial development,” she said. “It is not a backdoor attempt (at that); it’s never been about that at all.”
Instead, she said, she wants to preserve the rivers, mitigate flooding and improve access that has been limited in some areas because of silting.
Hewitt said she understands why people were alarmed, saying that the amendment to the bill “felt last-minute” to constituents who didn’t have an opportunity to participate in the discussion.
She had originally planned to add only the West Pearl, but after talking to parish officials she also included rivers on the western side of the parish that flooded last year.
The language of SB 132, which originally dealt with the Amite and Comite rivers and Bayou Manchac, also worried people, she said. It said that after a study the state “shall,” rather than “may,” issue a dredging permit, which made people think that permits would be issued regardless of the outcome of the study, she said.
Indeed, opponents hammered on those points in trying to rally opposition to the legislation. Margie Vicknair Pray, conservation projects coordinator for the Sierra Club’s Louisiana chapter, said the group didn’t even learn about the bill until it had passed the Senate.
The Sierra Club called it an attack on scenic rivers.
Vicknair Pray said the legislation was being rushed through and pointed to the lack of any study to show that the measures it called for would in fact help prevent flooding.
“There is actually scientific evidence that dredging can cause upstream flooding,” Vicknair Pray said in an email. “Did anyone research to see if there could be other more immediate causes, like bulldozing and filling floodplains and destroying trees near rivers? Large trees suck up between 200 and 1,000 gallons of water a day, so clearcutting near waterways just might have something to do with our recent flooding.”
Ironically, the state’s Scenic Rivers Act, which was adopted in 1988, stemmed from efforts to protect the West Pearl River from dredging. Barry Bagert, a former police juror who was at the time president of the Slidell Sportsman’s League, said Rep. Ed Scogin drafted the legislation in response to efforts to build a port in Bogalusa and dredge the river to allow barge traffic.
More recently, though, prohibitions against dredging have frustrated some St. Tammany officials and residents who live near the West Pearl. They say that heavy silting in the river and debris left from hurricanes Katrina and Isaac are causing problems, including too much water in some areas and too little in others.
Parish Councilman Gene Bellisario has called the situation an unintended consequence of the Scenic Rivers Act.
He said he does not support the idea of simply studying the matter more.
Studying something is what the Legislature does to kill it, Bellisario said, and he blamed Rep. John Schroder, R-Covington, for pressuring Hewitt to drop her amendment because he is running for state treasurer and is hoping to appease environmentalists.
Source: The New Orleans Advocate
