Levees.org’s kickoff rally at New Orleans District Army Corps HQ on Jan 21, 2006. Photo/Stanford Rosenthal
Louisiana’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) has completed 157 projects, benefiting 55,000 acres of coastal wetlands, improving 370 miles of levees and constructing 70 miles of barrier islands.
Now, we feel like its success may be in jeopardy, with the governor’s suggestion to move the flood protection functions currently housed at CPRA under the Department of Energy and Natural Resources (DENR), the newly renamed Department of Natural Resources.
It’s difficult to understand why the state has proposed changes to something that works – and works well. CPRA is now the standard bearer for national efforts to protect people, assets and the natural environment from the threats of hurricanes and sea-level rise. The program that has evolved is supported by countless advocates from a diverse group of stakeholders including community groups, industry, environmental organizations and business interests. The CPRA’s nationally and internationally recognized accomplishments are the result of the agency’s singular focus on coastal protection and restoration.
After Hurricane Katrina, the U.S. Congress passed millions in appropriations along with Public Law 109-148, ordering the State of Louisiana to establish a single state or quasi-state entity to act as local sponsor for construction, operation and maintenance of all of the hurricane and flood control projects in the greater New Orleans and southeast Louisiana. The state complied, creating the CPRA.
