| July 19, 2006 - (Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Sen. David Vitter today praised passage of the Water Resources Development Act in the U.S. Senate. Included in this legislation is authorization for comprehensive hurricane, flood and coastal protection for Louisiana. “Louisiana's hurricane, flood and coastal protection took a giant leap forward today with the passage of WRDA. As Louisiana’s only member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, I was in a unique position to secure $1.9 billion for the first authorized comprehensive restoration of Louisiana's coast,” said Vitter. “As chairman of the EPW Committee, I worked closely with Senator Vitter on the development of these provisions in WRDA that will go a long way to providing strong hurricane, flood and coastal protection for Louisiana. I want to thank Senator Vitter for bringing these ideas to my attention,” said U.S. Senator James Inhoffe (Okla.), chairman of the Senate EPW Committee. WRDA provides for the expedited approval of construction of a comprehensive, integrated hurricane, flood and coastal restoration program for Louisiana. It immediately authorizes the first five near-term coastal restoration projects, which will exceed $1.2 billion in construction and related costs. The legislation also establishes a Science and Technology Program and Beneficial Use of Dredged Material Program to integrate new technologies, test and confirm designs and recycle dredge material to benefit our coastal and hurricane protection efforts. These programs are estimated to total $500 million. In addition, the authorization bill requires consistency and integration of existing water resource projects in Louisiana and authorizes the design of additional restoration features, which is estimated to cost $200 million. The initial cost share for the project will be 65 percent federal, 35 percent non-federal. “Offshore energy revenues, together with other federal funds, can be used to fund our protection plans. In addition to the federal funding I secured in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, I am working with Senate Leadership to secure billions of dollars in additional energy revenues for Louisiana through offshore royalty sharing, which we will take up on the Senate floor next week,” said Vitter. WRDA now goes to a House-Senate conference committee. |
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