The Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) has announced a new partnership with the Louisiana Community and Technical College System (LCTCS) to develop training and certification programs around anticipated workforce needs to support construction of the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion.
The Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion is projected to bring more than 12,000 direct and indirect jobs to Southeast Louisiana, largely concentrated in Plaquemines, St. Bernard, Jefferson, and Orleans Parishes, along with more than $1 billion in increased sales and nearly $650 million in additional household earnings for communities around the project site.
The fundamental objective of the project is to strategically reconnect the Mississippi River to the Barataria Basin, an area experiencing some of the highest rates of land loss in the world.
“The Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion is an infrastructure project unlike anything else in the world. Aside from its invaluable land-building capabilities, the project will also bring a substantial economic stimulus to Plaquemines Parish and the surrounding coastal parishes,” said CPRA Chairman Chip Kline .
“We are seeing more large-scale projects receive funding and come to fruition each year, which translates directly into more jobs and opportunity. I’m confident coastal restoration and protection will continue to be a high priority for our state’s leadership in the coming decades and, with LCTCS, we’re building and preparing an experienced workforce to support it.”
The project, planned for the west bank of the Mississippi River at river mile 61 in Plaquemines Parish, is set to receive a permitting decision from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers by the end of 2022.
Should CPRA receive a permit, construction activities could start in early 2023.
Once complete, a manmade channel approximately 2 miles long will deliver sediment and nutrients from the river and deposit it in the basin to rebuild and sustain wetlands that provide critical storm surge protection to coastal communities.
The project is the first of its kind, representing billions in investment into coastal Louisiana, and has capability to build more than 17,000 acres of land in the Barataria Basin.