18 miles of Bayou Manchac indicated in dotted blue line
All of the interested parties seem in agreement, Bayou Manchac Regional Flood Risk Reduction is a project worth getting done, and the sooner the better. Two multi-parish agencies have made it a priority, evidenced by the spirited conversation at Amite River Basin Commission’s (ARBC) April 9 meeting at Livingston Parish’s council chamber. Monica Gorman, Executive Director of Pontchartrain Levee District (PLD), explained her organization’s ongoing efforts as ARBC has taken up the cause too.
From PLD’s website:
The Bayou Manchac Regional Flood Risk Reduction Project is in the planning phase and will benefit three Parishes: Iberville, Ascension, and East Baton Rouge. The project scope agreed to by the three Parishes and Pontchartrain Levee District involves three phases: clearing and snagging, channelization/dredging (including five alternatives) and large-scale projects (including a pump station and regional detention) to enhance drainage and provide flood risk reduction for the area. The alternatives evaluation report includes preliminary modeling, exhibit preparation, cost estimation, and project summaries to be utilized by PLD to apply for funding through various sources.
According to PLD the project will benefit 80,000 structures and lower water surface elevation by 20 inches. Preliminarily priced at over $80 million (PLD’s Gorman asserted the actual cost will be significantly lower), the Benefit/Cost Ratio will be “a wonderful 3.25.” Hyperbolic or not, that is why ARBC and its membership ranked the project at the top of its priority list in May of 2023.
“Low hanging fruit” is how Senator Eddie Lambert described the project.
“It needs to be addressed, especially now that Baton Rouge has done a lot of drainage work. Everything drains from Baton Rouge, pretty much onto Ascension,” the District 18 senator, who represents much of Ascension and Livingston parishes, explained. “Hopefully, this project starts moving.”
Eight years having elapsed since the Great Flood of 2016, ARBC membership could not agree more. One of that membership is Parish President Clint Cointment, occupying Ascension’s seat on the commission and frustrated by inaction as inter-agency squabbling threatens to morph into full blown turf war. Cointment and his ARBC colleagues are holding a weak hand against PLD’s fist full of trumps.
While both ARBC and PLD have undertaken measures toward fruition, it is the latter’s job to the exclusion of the former. With overlapping jurisdiction, it is PLD with authority when/if it chooses to undertake any project within its jurisdictional boundaries. Louisiana Revised Statute 38:291(L) defines those boundaries:
All that part of the parish of East Baton Rouge lying south of the city of Baton Rouge, and all those parts of the parishes of Iberville, Ascension, St. James, St. John the Baptist, and St. Charles, lying east of the Mississippi River shall constitute a levee district to be known as the Pontchartrain Levee District.
ARBC includes parts of Ascension, EBR, Iberville, St. James, Livingston, East Feliciana and St. Helena parishes.
The “concurrent jurisdiction favors PLD” according to Larry Bankston, ARBC Legal Counsel. Citing state enacting statutes, Bankston added that “Amite River Basin Commission shall not initiate any project or program within the limits of Pontchartrain Levee District” unless PLD’s board approves it. President Cointment advocated immediate repeal of the subject legislation.
Unlikely. Senator Lambert responded that the current statutory scheme was adopted “because Amite River Basin Commission was not doing what we thought needed to be done.” That was before a newly-configured body was formed, one that has striven for Bayou Manchac Regional Flood Risk Reductions since its inception. PLD has worked on the project since August and, according to Executive Director Gorman, will continue to do so until ARBC can take over the project.
Ultimately, she asserted, PLD’s intention is to turn over the project. But ARBC, according to VP Jack Harris, only has $40 million at its disposal.
By meeting’s end there seemed to be detente and a willingness to cooperate. A good thing considering the cost of Bayou Manchac Regional Flood Risk Reduction. As President Cointment concluded, “there is room for both PLD and ARBC.”
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