Corps finally wants to close Miss. River-Gulf Outlet

by René | November 17, 2007 at 08:28 am

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Corps recommends closing MR-GO to Congress

By Mark Schleifstein, Times-Picayune Staff writer

The Army Corps of Engineers will recommend to Congress that the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet be closed with a rock dike at Bayou la Loutre, a project that would cost $24.7 million and could be completed 170 days after the start of construction.

"Thank goodness," said Sidney Coffee, chairman of the state's Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. "This is what the state has advocated for quite some time."

The decision -- which still requires financing from Congress -- would put an end to shipping on the controversial shortcut from the Gulf of Mexico to the Industrial Canal in New Orleans. The channel has been blamed both for the erosion of wetlands along Lake Borgne and for expediting hurricane storm surge into Chalmette and New Orleans.

This story has produced many comments from outraged locals, protesting the delays, the cost, etc. One volunteered to do it for the cost of the fill plus $50,000. Others that the state of Louisiana or locals should do it. Some question how much actual protection the proposed dike would provide. The comments follow the story.