Governor Bobby Jindal announced yesterday that Garret Graves will step down as Chair of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA), a role he has held for over six years. In his place, the Governor announced the appointment of Jerome Zeringue. Graves’ last day will be February 17.
Within a few months of his appointment, Graves began one of the most significant streamlining efforts in the history of the state’s coastal program. He led Louisiana’s efforts to improve hurricane protection and coastal restoration following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and helped coordinate the state’s response and recovery to Hurricanes Gustav, Ike, Isaac, tropical storms, historic water levels on the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers and the BP oil spill.
Governor Jindal said: “ After years of repetitive studies from the federal government, wasteful spending, bureaucracy and red tape, Garret helped transform the state’s coastal restoration and hurricane protection program into national models. Because of Garret’s work, we’ve built and improved more miles of levees and restored more acres of Louisiana’s coast than ever before.
“Garret came in with an entirely new vision of government efficiency. He restructured components of five different agencies to reduce duplication and expedite dozens of stalled community protection and coastal restoration projects. Garret did all of this while helping us respond to Hurricanes Gustav, Ike, Isaac, multiple tropical storms, record high water on the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers and the nation’s worst environmental disaster.”
[mappress]
Press Release, February 5, 2014