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Boustany Discusses Southwest Louisiana Priorities with Major General Doug O'Dell

Apr 29 2008
 
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representative Charles W. Boustany, Jr., MD, R-Southwest Louisiana, today met with Major General Doug O’Dell, Coordinator of the Office of Gulf Coast Rebuilding, to discuss the Southwest Louisiana rebuilding effort.
 
“Southwest Louisiana continues to rebuild and recover from Hurricane Rita, and I appreciate General O’Dell’s commitment to our region,” Boustany said. “Today, we talked about FEMA’s draft flood maps, funding for dredging in the Calcasieu Ship Channel and Freshwater Bayou and other recovery projects. General O’Dell is focused on helping people across Louisiana who suffered from both hurricanes to rebuild their lives and their communities. His experiences during the initial recovery effort in South Louisiana make him uniquely qualified for this difficult position.”
 
A former Marine who led Marines and sailors in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Major General O’Dell will continue the work begun by former coordinator Don Powell, who left office in March. Created in November 2005, the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Gulf Coast Rebuilding is responsible for orchestrating all federal response to Hurricanes Rita and Katrina. In total, the federal government has spent more than $114 billion on coastal recovery efforts.
 
This is the first meeting between Boustany and O’Dell since he was named coordinator earlier this month.
 
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