Washington, D.C. –U.S. Representative Charles W. Boustany, Jr. (R-Lafayette), a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, today urged President Bush to sign the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2007, H.R. 1495. WRDA was delivered to the President’s desk yesterday.

 

“As we work to rebuild Southwest Louisiana, levee reconstruction, the Southwest Louisiana Hurricane and Flood Protection Study and other infrastructure projects in WRDA provide a critical blueprint to prevent the destruction another hurricane could cause,” said Boustany. “The President has a responsibility to sign WRDA into law, and if he won’t, I will work in Congress to override his veto.”

WRDA contains more than $1.9 billion for the Louisiana Coastal Area (LCA), including the Chenier Plain, making it the largest coastal restoration project in American history. 

Boustany fought to include the Southwest Louisiana Hurricane and Flood Protection Study as a national funding priority for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The measure authorizes the Corps to expedite the current study, and if the projects are feasible, the Corps is directed to expedite their implementation. This provision ensures Southwest Louisiana is a priority for the Corps.

 

Through WRDA, the Louisiana Coastal Area project directs the Army Corps of Engineers to develop near-term restoration measures for the Louisiana coast to expedite these needed improvements. 

 

Boustany secured the following for Southwest Louisiana:

 

 

 

 

“WRDA authorizes so many of the programs desperately needed to save our waterways and our lands across Southwest Louisiana, and I am pleased to have worked hard for this bill,” Boustany continued. “I urge President Bush to sign it as quickly as possible.”

 

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