Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Environmental Permit Dredging topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Resident raises alarm about VentureGlobal dredging plan; jury staff says permit is state-level coastal use
Summary
A Cameron Parish resident questioned a VentureGlobal maintenance-dredging permit that lists about 1,300 acres of "open water," warning past dredge material washed ashore and could smother oyster beds; staff said the activity is a state-designated coastal-use permit routed through the police jury.
A resident urged the Cameron Parish Police Jury on Feb. 3 to clarify where material from a proposed maintenance-dredging project will be placed, saying the public notice lists “approximately 1,300 acres of open water” and recounting that earlier dredged material washed up along the beach and affected oysters and shoreline.
James Hyatt, who identified himself during the public-comment portion, said he was concerned the notification and map did not make clear whether the 1,300-acre figure referred to open water and where slurry lines would discharge dredged sediment. “When they dredged this material the first time and they pumped it offshore, it all washed up on the beach for, like, a mile from the jetties,” Hyatt said, adding that the nearby aquaculture and oyster beds could be at risk.
Parish staff responded that the work referenced in the public notice has already been permitted and described it as a coastal-use maintenance permit. “It is gonna — it’s actually a use of state concern,” a staff member identified in the record said, explaining that coastal permits are processed through the police jury and also forwarded to the parish’s gravity drainage districts. Staff said the project will use a slurry line with some portions on land and some in water and that material placement includes fragmented marsh and open-water areas within the refuge unit listed in the notice.
The permit referenced in the agenda (item 6(c)) lists the project as a VentureGlobal maintenance-dredging beneficial-use proposal across fragmented marsh and open-water acres in the CPNR NWR East Oak Unit in Cameron Parish. Hyatt and other speakers pressed staff for a clearer map showing containment areas and levee placement; staff said containment would be inland of the jetties and that levees and containment areas are part of the plan.
Why it matters: Local oyster harvesters and shoreline residents can be affected by where dredged sediments are placed; residents asked the jury for clearer public maps and details about slurry-line routing and containment to assess potential impacts.
What happens next: Staff answered questions during the meeting and the permit remained on the published agenda for parcel-by-parcel consideration by the jury. The police jury did approve several permits later on the agenda, including the item that referenced VentureGlobal’s maintenance-dredging proposal.
