Morganza Levee Project Inches Forward In Congress

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The Morganza-to-the-Gulf levee protection system, which has inched its way along the federal authorization process for decades, moved forward during a hearing before a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

The Morganza-to-the-Gulf project in Terrebonne Parish was included in the U.S. Senate version of the Water Resources Development Act, which could give the project federal authorization.

The project has not been included in the House version because only those projects with both an Army Corps of Engineers chief's report and a hearing before the House committee were considered for inclusion.

The Advocate reports Tuesday's hearing fulfills that second requirement. A chief's report was released in July.

The project is estimated to cost $10.2 billion to build, with the federal share being $6.7 billion.

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