Gov. John Bel Edwards announced on Tuesday a proposal to commit $150 million in surplus funds for more than a dozen coastal restoration and protection projects, including three for Southwest Louisiana.

The funding includes $8 million for Cameron Parish Gulf shoreline protection; $10 million for the Southwest Coastal Project in Cameron, Calcasieu and Vermilion parishes; and $5 million for shoreline protection and ridge restoration at Cheniere au Tigre and part of the North Vermilion Bay shoreline protection in Vermilion Parish.

Edwards made the announcement on Coastal Day at the state Capitol and was joined by Bren Hasse, state Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority director, and Col. Steve Murphy with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans District.

The governor said using surplus funding to strengthen the coastline is a must, especially after the destruction left behind by Hurricane Laura in August 2020 and Hurricane Ida last August.

“This is not a political issue; this is a survival issue,” he said. “Either this is our priority or it’s not.”

Edwards said surplus funding can be spent on coastal restoration and protection because it is considered one-time capital construction projects.

“We don’t have more important capital construction projects than our coastal restoration and protection,” he said.

Murphy also announced another $240 million allocated for the Southwest Coastal Project, which will include restoration and mitigation along 4,700 square miles of coast in Calcasieu, Cameron and Vermilion parishes.

The Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority’s $1.3 billion annual plan for the 2023 fiscal year is currently moving through the Legislature. Hasse said it’s the largest investment in the history of the state’s coastal program, with 80 percent of the plan allocating $1.1 billion toward construction. He said the plan is twice as large and has three times as many projects in construction than the annual plan presented five years earlier.
“This is a pivotal moment for our program,” Hasse said.

Five projects listed in the plan for construction are in Calcasieu, Cameron and Vermilion parishes. Another three are in the engineering and design phases. During a public hearing in Lake Charles hosted by the CPRA in January, local coastal officials spoke of the plan’s lack of coastal projects in

Southwest Louisiana, compared to 45 projects in construction for the southeastern area.
Edwards mentioned another $2.6 billion in coastal investments from the federal government, with most not requiring a local or non-federal match. He said that is because of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the disaster supplemental funding passed by Congress.