NLLD Executive Director Dwayne Bourgeois joined other local levee leaders in an appeal to the
Mississippi River Commission for federal funding for the
Morganza to the Gulf
(MTG) levee system during an August 24 public hearing in Morgan City. The Commission provides water resources engineering direction and policy advice to the Administration, Congress and the Army regarding the Mississippi River Basin.
Since 2001, local residents and state government have invested over $400 million to construct levees and floodgates along MTG to protect Lafourche and Terrebonne and another $387 million in local and state funds is committed.
The federal government, however, has yet to spend $1 for construction of this federally-authorized project. Bourgeois and others cited the need for federal dollars to strengthen and maintain what has been built and will be built by local taxpayers.
