For Immediate Release: April 15, 2010
Contact: Chris Macaluso
(225) 342-3968
chris.macaluso@la.gov

Donaldsonville to the Gulf Review Panel to Meet April 19-20 at Jefferson Parish Courthouse

JEFFERSON, La. -- The Donaldsonville-to-the-Gulf Science and Engineering Review Panel will conduct a two-day public meeting beginning Monday, April 19 and concluding Tuesday, April 20, 2010 at the Jefferson Parish Courthouse located inside the Joseph S. Yenni Building at 1221 Elmwood Park in Jefferson.

The meeting agenda is as follows:

Donaldsonville to the Gulf
Science & Engineering Review Panel
Jefferson Parish Courthouse
Joseph S. Yenni Building
1221 Elmwood Park
Jefferson, La 70123

Monday 19th April

2:00 pm Welcome and Introductions. Review of agenda and public comment process

2:15 pm Project update. Bob Esenwein, USACE Project Manager

2:30 pm Approach to Plan Formulation and Risk Assessment (including non-structural)
USACE
Q&A

3:30 pm Break

3:45 pm Economic analysis
USACE
Q&A

5:00 pm Public Comment

5:15 pm Adjourn

Tuesday 20th April

8:45 am Welcome and Introductions
Review of agenda

9:00 am Invited presentation on aspects of ecosystem modelling (to be determined)

10:15 am Break

10:30 am Expert Panel to Discuss Non-Structural Approaches to Flood Risk Management
Pat Skinner - LSU
Alessandra Jerolleman - National Hazard Mitigation Association
Paul Harrison - Environmental Defense Fund
Maura Wood - National Wildlife Federation

Noon Lunch

1:15 pm Interior drainage studies and effect of alternatives
USACE
Q&A

2:45 pm Public Comment

3:00 pm Adjourn

This is the third in a series of meetings being conducted by the panel. The first was conducted in November 2009 in Thibodaux and the second in March 2010 in Lafitte.

The 11-member panel will evaluate and make recommendations to the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority concerning the Donaldsonville-to-the-Gulf Hurricane Protection System currently being examined by state, federal and local flood protection officials.

Donaldsonville to the Gulf is being developed to provide protection to communities in Ascension, Assumption, St. James, St. John the Baptist, Lafourche, St. Charles, Jefferson, Orleans, and Plaquemines Parishes from storm surge flooding from the Barataria Basin. The basin's boundary ranges from the western Mississippi River levees in Plaquemines Parish west to Bayou Lafourche.

At its July 2009 meeting, the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority asked the Governor's Office of Coastal Activities to assemble an expert panel to address any environmental concerns expressed regarding the narrowed range of project alignments and to review planned engineering design features and project costs. A feasibility study being conducted by the Corps of Engineers will look at four possible alignments for the system.

University of New Orleans Geophysics Professor Dr. Denise Reed will chair the panel. Other panel members include:

• Greg Baecher, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland
• Jim Cowan, Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University
• Robert Gilbert, Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, University of Texas
• Mark Hester, Coastal Plant Ecology Laboratory, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
• Norma Mattei, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of New Orleans
• Ehab Meselhe, Center for Louisiana Inland Water Studies, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
• Leonard Shabman, Resources for the Future
• Phil Williams, Philip Williams & Associates, Former Professor in the Department of Environmental Hydrology- University of California at Berkeley
• Bill Mitsch, Director of Olentangy River Wetland Restoration Research Park, Ohio State University
• Shirley Laska, Professor (Emerita) of Sociology, University of New Orleans.

For more information about Louisiana's coastal restoration and hurricane protection efforts, please contact Chris Macaluso at 225-342-3968 or by email at chris.macaluso@la.gov.

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The Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority's mandate is to develop, implement and enforce a comprehensive coastal protection and restoration master plan. For the first time in Louisiana's history, this single state authority will integrate coastal restoration and hurricane protection by marshalling the expertise and resources of the Department of Natural Resources, the Department of Transportation and Development, and other state agencies, to speak with one clear voice for the future of Louisiana's coast. Working with federal, state and local political subdivisions, including levee districts, the CPRA will work to establish a safe and sustainable coast that will protect our communities, the nation's critical energy infrastructure, and our bountiful natural resources for generations to come. The CPRA of Louisiana was established by Act 8 of the 1st Extraordinary Session of 2005