Breaux Act Newsflash - Agreement signed on Bayou Lafourche Restoration Project

CPRA and Bayou Lafourche Freshwater District Sign Agreement on Bayou
Lafourche Restoration Project

THIBODAUX, La. -- The Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority
and the Bayou Lafourche Fresh Water District signed an agreement Friday to
begin work on a landmark project to clear and restore the capacity of Bayou
Lafourche for drinking water supplies to more than 300,000 South Louisiana
residents and restoration of the coastal ecosystem.

Under the cooperative endeavor agreement, the CPRA will provide up to $20
million and technical support to the Bayou Lafourche Fresh Water District to
clear debris, restore the bayou's capacity, and provide additional
freshwater. The additional water will be pumped into the bayou from the
Mississippi River near Donaldsonville.

"This is exactly the kind of project this state should be building," said
CPRA Chairman Garret Graves. "It is the first time we have moved forward on
a project of this scale and encompass so many aspects of coastal
restoration, bringing fresh drinking water supplies to communities and
bringing nutrients to coastal wetlands."

The project will begin December 1, 2008 with land surveying and staking of
areas along the banks of the upper 6.2-mile stretch of the bayou. The Fresh
Water District's request for right of way access to implement the project
was granted by the Louisiana Governor's Office on Friday.

The additional capacity allowed by the clearing project will improve safe
drinking water supplies for communities in Ascension, Assumption, Lafourche
and Terrebonne Parishes while bringing freshwater and nutrients to wetlands
adjacent to the bayou. Water supplies to communities in those parishes were
contaminated by high bacteria levels due to stagnant water and plant
decomposition after Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

"This historic agreement is the culmination of years of work and
dedication," said Bayou Lafourche Fresh Water District Chairman Hugh
Caffery. "To preserve our bayou home, we must greatly increase the water
flow. Now we have the resources at hand to get this done."

Bayou Lafourche once carried as much as 15 percent of the flow of the
Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico until an earthen levee was built in
the early 20th century that isolated the bayou from the river.

"Signing this agreement is the step that allows us to finally move forward
on this much needed project," said State Representative Joe Harrison, who
chairs the Select Committee on Bayou Lafourche Diversion Project.
"Louisianans will now see the enormous difference moving freshwater down
Bayou Lafourche makes to the health of communities and our wetlands."

This project is the first of approximately 18 coastal restoration
initiatives comprising the multi-billion dollar Louisiana Coastal Area
program authorized by Congress in November of 2007. The Louisiana
Legislature unanimously approved the project in the state's comprehensive
coastal master plan in 2007.

For more information, please contact Chris Macaluso at (225) 342-3968 or by
email at chris.macaluso@la.gov.