The St. Mary Levee District has received the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) regulatory permit for the construction of the Bayou Chene Flood Control Project.
According to their official announcement, this permit is in addition to the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources coastal use permit that had been issued originally in September 2015 and later re-issued as modified in March 2018 to incorporate changes required by the USACE section 408 process.
Commenting the latest news, St. Mary Levee District Board Chairman, William Hidalgo , said: “ This effort has been a long time coming and is vitally important to the entire region including parts of six neighboring parishes. This is a major milestone in the full development of this project. The St. Mary Levee District would like to thank all of our partners in helping to make this project a reality, including our local elected officials, the USACE, La. DNR and CPRA.”
Funding for this important regional project is to be provided by the State of Louisiana, Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority beginning in the early part of 2020.
The St. Mary Levee District will begin the final design of the levee and structures within the next few weeks in order to have the project ready for construction by the end of 2019.