The Greater Lafourche Port Commission announced a $500,000 investment from Shell Oil Company, received at monthly board meeting.
Shell representative Mary Grace Anderson, the Mars Development Manager, presented the check to the entire community on behalf of the Mars B Deepwater Platform Project. Shell’s contribution is to be used toward the Fourchon Beach Repair/ Renourishment Project, which will fortify the beach head at Fourchon Beach and create a dune to provide critical storm surge protection for the Port Fourchon area.
“We are pleased to make this donation to support preserving this unique environment and protecting the port, ” Anderson said, “ as well as enhancing the long-standing relationship Shell has with Port Fourchon. This investment will further Shell’s coastal restoration initiatives .”
The beach repair project, also known as the GeoTube Project, is estimated to cost about $5.4 million. FEMA will fund about $4.2 million to repair damage to the existing project caused by prior storms. The Port Commission will be responsible for the remainder of the cost, $1.2 million. Shell’s contribution of $500,000 will greatly enhance the port’s ability to fund the project as designed.
The geotubes, large tubes made of heavy-duty fabric that are filled with sand, will stretch 5,500 linear feet across Fourchon Beach at a height of six feet on a +2 elevation to fortify the beach head. Additionally, the geotube project will be completely covered with sand to create a dune built to a +10 total elevation. This dune will provide critical storm surge protection for an area that has been ravaged by multiple storms in the last decade.
Port Director Chett Chiasson said, “ With FEMA not funding the total cost of repairing the beach project, the Port Commission was considering methods of reducing the project’s cost and perhaps its size. Shell’s generous contribution gives us the additional cushion we need to complete the project without minimizing the beach’s health or our port’s protection .”
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Dredging Today Staff, March 22, 2012; Image: portfourchon