Current, former LA officials spar over scuttled coastal project (Mid-Barataria Diversion)

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The chairman of the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, Gordon “Gordy” Dove, found himself in the hot seat during a panel discussion on recovery, restoration and the path toward resilience post-Hurricane Katrina at UL Lafayette on Tuesday over the state’s decision to cancel the mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion Project.

“It’s a tragedy,” Sidney Coffee, who served as chair of the authority during Hurricane Katrina, said of the state’s decision to scrap the landmark project. Former U.S. Rep. Garret Graves and Chip Kline, another former authority chairman backed Coffee.

While acknowledging that it was well within the rights and responsibilities of Gov. Jeff Landry’s administration to review the cost-effectiveness of the $3 billion project, Graves didn’t mince words when it came to anyone questioning the scientific base of the project by considering it an “experiment.”

“You are an idiot if you think that’s the case,” Graves said.

Dove defended the decision to cancel the costly project, which was primarily funded by funds from the BP oil spill settlement, pointing instead to a slate of other coastal restoration and hurricane protection projects, including in Iberia and St. Mary parishes. “We’re moving expeditiously,” Dove said of those projects.

While Dove did not name specific projects, both parishes have been allocated CPRA funds under the previous administration of Gov. John Bel Edwards in the state’s 2023 Coastal Master Plans for river diversion, risk reduction and coastal restoration projects.

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