January 29, 2021 By Frank McCormack
In the final days of the Trump administration, residents of southeast Louisiana received a parting gift from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in the form of “new start” money for a $3 billion levee project called “Morganza-to-the-Gulf.”
“Today we received confirmation that the Morganza-to-the-Gulf Hurricane Protection project will receive $12.46 million in New Start construction funding,” Chip Kline, chairman of Louisiana’s Coastal Protection & Restoration Authority (CPRA), said in a statement January 19. “This marks the first time the federal government has appropriated funds through a Corps of Engineers Work Plan toward this critically important project. To date, state and local governments have invested more than $600 million toward this levee system.”
U.S. Representative Clay Higgins, who represents most of Acadiana in Congress, has announced federal funds that are being made available for dredging and waterway projects, as well as community health centers across the region.
First, over $600,000.00 is being made available in supplemental funding for three 3rd District community health centers as part of the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Health Center Cluster Program.
Teche Action Board will receive $132,480.
SWLA Center for Health Services will receive $199,500.
Iberia Comprehensive Community Health Center will receive $271,680.
“Louisiana’s community health centers are critical providers of primary care services in our rural and underserved areas, said Rep. Higgins in a press release. These investments help our local health centers perform and enable them to continue providing quality care for our communities.”
December 23, 2020 By Waterways Journal
At the end of an eventful and disruptive year, Jupiter and Saturn aligned for their first conjunction observable from Earth in 800 years, forming a “Christmas star.” In Washington, D.C., too, the “stars” aligned, as both houses of Congress passed the Water Resources Development Act by large margins (359 yeas to 53 nays in the House, 92 to 6 in the Senate). It was passed as part of an omnibus appropriations bill that also included $900 billion in COVID-19 relief measures. The funding package is headed to the White House for the president’s signature.
Both the inland waterways and ports have reason to celebrate the bill. The package included the top priority of the Waterways Council Inc. to adjust the cost-share for construction and major rehabilitation of inland waterways projects from 50 percent Inland Waterways Trust Fund (IWTF) / 50 percent general revenues to 35 perc