NLLD Executive Director Dwayne Bourgeois joined Terrebonne and South Lafourche levee district directors, other local officials and LA CPRA Chairman Chip Kline to welcome Congressman Steve Scalise for a tour of the recently completed Grand Bayou Floodgate on August 20. The floodgate is located along the eastern end of the Morganza to the Gulf (MTG) hurricane protection system in Lafourche Parish, connecting MTG to the South Lafourche system in Cut Off.
During the tour, Rep. Scalise also announced $19 million in appropriations for the engineering and design of a critical MTG floodgate across the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway near Larose that he and Congressman Garret Graves have championed in the House.
"I recently secured $19.3 million in community project funding for the GIWW East Floodgate in the House Energy and Water bill. This exclusive construction funding opportunity dedicated to Morganza through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will help advance construction of this key component of the Morganza project, and if it is approved by the Senate and signed into law, it will follow the $12.46 million in Corps funding I helped secured for the project at the beginning of 2021," said Congressman Scalise.
“A floodgate on the intracoastal canal tying in the Morganza program to the Lafourche Ridge is substantial because it forms part of the comprehensive approach we need to take in coastal Louisiana. We would be able to protect the entire region with the floodgate. This is an example of the years of continued attention that Congressmen Graves and Scalise have given to dealing with flood protection of South Louisiana," explains South Lafourche Levee District General Manager Windell Curole.
