Corps to host public meetings during review period
NEW ORLEANS - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, in partnership with the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority of Louisiana, has released the “Southwest Coastal Louisiana Draft Integrated Feasibility Report and Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement” for a 45-day public review period ending Sunday, January 26, 2014. The integrated draft report is available online at: http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/About/Projects/SouthwestCoastal.aspx.
The proposed Southwest Coastal Louisiana project would provide non-structural hurricane and storm damage risk reduction measures, as well as ecosystem restoration features, to reduce risk from storm surge flooding in the study area. The study area encompasses 4,700 square miles in Calcasieu, Cameron and Vermilion Parishes in southwest Louisiana.
As part of the public review period and to provide a venue for the public to submit comments on the integrated draft report, the Corps will be hosting public meetings in January 2014 in the study area. Public meeting details are as follows:
When: Tuesday, January 7, 2014
6:00 to 6:30 p.m. – Open House
6:30 to 8:30 p.m. – Presentation, Question and Answer Session, Acceptance of Public Comments
Where: Lake Charles Civic Center
Contraband Room – 2nd Floor
900 Lakeshore Drive
Lake Charles, LA 70601
When: Thursday, January 9, 2014
6:00 to 6:30 p.m. – Open House
6:30 to 8:30 p.m. – Presentation, Question and Answer Session, Acceptance of Public Comments
Where: Vermilion Parish Library-Abbeville Branch
405 E. St. Victor Street
Abbeville, LA 70510
In addition to comments received during the public meeting, the Corps will accept written comments postmarked by January 26, 2014.
Written comments on the integrated draft report should be mailed to:
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District
ATTN: Sandra Stiles
P.O. Box 60267
New Orleans, LA 70160-0267
Comments may also be sent by email to SWCoastalAdmin@usace.army.mil.
Communities in southwest Louisiana are at increasing risk to storm surge flooding due to wetland loss, relative sea level rise, and land subsidence. The purpose of this project is to provide hurricane and storm damage risk reduction to reduce the risk of flood damages caused by hurricane and storm surges.
The ecosystem-related purpose of the study is to significantly restore environmental conditions for the Chenier Plain ecosystem as more fully described in the Louisiana Coastal Area Ecosystem Restoration Study (2004). The study recommends a variety of ecosystem restoration features including marsh restoration, shoreline stabilization/protection, and chenier reforestation.
Proposed measures of the non-structural plan include residential structure elevation, flood proofing, and the acquisition of qualifying structures to reduce potential damages from future tropical storms and hurricanes.