Ports Association of Louisiana

FEMA agrees to clear debris from more Louisiana waterways

According to New Orleans CityBusiness:

At the request of Louisiana officials, the Coast Guard will clear additional Louisiana waterways of storm debris, in an extension of a program that began after Hurricane Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said.

The Louisiana Recovery Authority requested FEMA clear more waterways after learning that the Coast Guard had conducted a comprehensive marine debris removal program in Mississippi and Alabama, LRA Executive Director Andy Kopplin said. Kopplin made the request to Jim Stark, director of FEMA’s Louisiana Transitional Recovery Office, in an Aug. 15 letter.

After Katrina, the Coast Guard cleared Louisiana’s navigable waterways only, but other waterways remain clogged with debris, Kopplin said.

Stark said the Coast Guard has agreed to clear more waterways in Louisiana. “We’re excited about that,” Stark said. “We were never opposed to paying for all that debris removal.”

FEMA did not clear more waterways for Louisiana initially because state officials did not want to pay a 10 percent match for the work, Stark said. Once Congress waived the 10 percent match, Louisiana officials began asking for more waterways to be cleared, such as Lake Calcasieu, he said.

The state will give FEMA a list of prioritized waterways for cleaning, Stark said. Lakes Catherine and Pontchartrain are among waterways in need of debris removal, he said.