District Commander signs decision record for the Caernarvon Floodwall in St. Bernard Parish

Published Feb. 18, 2010

NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District Commander Col. Alvin B. Lee recently signed the Decision Record for the Caernarvon Floodwall proposed action, following a 30-day public review period. When complete, the project would reduce impacts from a storm surge event that has a one percent chance of occurring in any given year.

The new alignment will tie-in to the Mississippi River Levee system and include new floodgates across Highway 39 and Norfolk Southern Railroad, as well as a 56-foot-wide navigable structure across the Caernarvon Canal.

“Individual Environmental Report (IER) 9 Caernarvon Floodwall, St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana,” describes the alternatives that were considered and evaluates the potential human and environmental impacts of construction of the new floodwall and gate structures.

The next steps toward building these projects are to finalize the design and obtain right of entry for construction, which is slated to begin in spring 2010.

Alternative arrangements allow the Corps to expedite the environmental process required of all federally-funded projects while fully complying with the intent of the National Environmental Policy Act. IER documents are available on www.nolaenvironmental.gov.

Questions or comments concerning Individual Environmental Reports or the Corps’ environmental process may be addressed to:

Patricia Leroux

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

P.O. Box 60267

New Orleans, LA 70160-0267

Phone: 504-862-1544

Fax: 504-862-2088

E-mail: mvnenvironmental@usace.army.mil.

Comments may also be provided by visiting: www.nolaenvironmental.gov . For more information or to sign up to be on a meeting notification list please visit the following Web site: www.nolaenvironmental.gov .


Release no. 10-110