Livingston Continues Fight Over Cleanup Funds

LIVINGSTON, La. (AP) — The Livingston Parish Council has voted to continue a fight with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to get $46.1 million in cleanup funds that have been denied by FEMA.

Councilman Ricky Goff said he finds it hard to believe that Hurricane Gustav dropped trees into streams and now FEMA is saying none of them needed to be removed.

The Advocate reports Goff successfully moved to pay $20,000 more to continue the parish's appeal of the costs to clean up the parish drainage system after the storm. Those costs were all denied by FEMA.

Councilman Marshall Harris said Thursday night's question was whether to end the appeal now and stop spending taxpayers' money.

Councilwoman Joan Landry said the appeal could save the parish a lot of money in the future.