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ARBC reports legislation progress, public master-plan meetings and $1.2 billion in Corps projects in basin
Summary
Executive Director Paul Sawyer told the ARBC on June 10 that two endorsed bills have gone to the governor, master-plan public meetings are scheduled across the basin, and the basin hosts about $1.2 billion in active Corps of Engineers projects, including a $255 million East Baton Rouge flood-control program.
Executive Director Paul Sawyer briefed the Amite River Basin Commission on legislative steps, public outreach for the ARBC master plan, capital-outlay requests and multiple U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects underway in the basin.
Sawyer said the Louisiana legislature sent two bills the commission endorsed to the governor: HB 165 (which removes a current deadline by which ARBC must promulgate rules and regulations but retains the substantive rulemaking requirement) and HB 172 (which extends an exemption under the Scenic Rivers Act to Bayou Manchac, preserving current LWI-related activities across multiple parishes). Sawyer said he personally testified three times before House and Senate committees on the bills and thanked Representative Cathy Edmondston, Senator Eddie Lambert and other legislators for assistance. Sawyer said final capital-outlay outcomes would be clearer when the legislature adjourns sine die.
On public outreach, Sawyer confirmed a sequence of master-plan public meetings listed on the commission’s website and social media: June 16 in Ascension Parish (government complex at 615 East Worthy Street, 6–8 p.m.), June 17 at the Bluebonnet Regional Library in Baton Rouge (6–8 p.m.), June 18 in Livingston (Livingston Parish Council chambers, 2355 Government Boulevard, 6–8 p.m.), and June 23 in Clinton at the East Feliciana Police Jury (12064 Marston Street, 6–8 p.m.). Sawyer said additional details and updates are posted at www.amitebasin.org and on ARBC social media accounts.
Sawyer also reported a planned June 13 site visit with the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development and an Ed Knight to two dams north of Dallas, Texas, to examine retention techniques and practices that may inform ARBC work. He said ARBC would report findings to the commission after the visit.
Sawyer gave a high-level inventory of Corps of Engineers projects in the basin, noting roughly $1.2 billion in Corps projects currently under way. He highlighted the East Baton Rouge Parish Flood Control Project as a $255 million program to clear and improve five major watershed channels (Bayou Fountain, Jones Creek, Ward’s Creek, Beaver Creek and Beaver Bayou/Blackwater Bayou). He said most clearing and snagging are complete on several reaches, but upper reaches of Ward Creek and Bayou Fountain (11 miles and 7 miles remaining, respectively) remain to be cleared, and more extensive engineering work is expected for Upper Jones Creek, Blackwater Bayou and Beaver Bayou. Cultural surveys, hazardous material investigations, real-estate appraisals and utility identification for relocation are in progress.
On the Comite River Diversion Canal project, Sawyer said most excavation is under way or complete, but three sections remain to be excavated near Airline/Scenic Highway (Highway 61) and Highway 19 between Baker and Zachary; utility relocations had delayed those sections but are mostly resolved and final contracts for remaining work were expected to be let later in the year. Sawyer identified the diversion structure at the canal’s outfall and the Brooks Lake structure as major remaining components.
Sawyer closed by inviting questions; commissioners thanked him for outreach and public-engagement work.
