Louisiana Trustees Approve Funding for Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion Project
On February 1, 2023, the Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group, the agencies charged with restoring Louisiana’s natural resources after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, has approved $2.26 billion in funding for the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion project. The implementing partner, the Louisiana Coastal Restoration and Protection Authority (CPRA), will use the funding to construct a large-scale sediment diversion to reconnect the Mississippi River to Louisiana's Barataria Basin estuary.
The project represents one of the largest and most innovative coastal habitat restoration efforts ever undertaken. Intended to re-establish historic delta land-building processes by allowing for the controlled release of freshwater, sediment, and nutrients from the Mississippi River into the Barataria Basin estuary, the project will support ecosystem-scale restoration of the estuary and its wetlands.
The funding decision is the final step in the Louisiana Trustees’ evaluation of the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion under the Oil Pollution Act. This is the culmination of six years of work focused on the Barataria Basin that began in May of 2017.
