WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) today announced the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Gulf Coast Restoration is awarding $508,037 in federal funds for the Freshwater Bayou Canal Shoreline Protection Project in Vermillion Parish.
“Louisiana’s coastline faces a critical need for protection against coastal erosion. This federal funding invests in the future of our state’s coastal businesses and communities. This is a big win for southwest Louisiana,” said Dr. Cassidy.
The purpose of the project is to fortify shoreline protection by building roughly 10,600 linear feet of a foreshore rock dike along the eastern bank of Freshwater Bayou Canal to prevent further erosion of shoreline areas and adjacent marsh. It will also block tidal scour and saltwater intrusion from entering the canal.
The rock dike will tie into an existing shoreline protection structure already completed along Freshwater Bayou Canal and will stretch northward toward the opening at Little Vermillion Bay.
This restoration project is included in Amendment No. 1 of Vermillion Parish’s multiyear plan that was accepted by the Treasury Department in May 2018. It is also included in Louisiana’s 2017 Coastal Master Plan.
Subsequent federal funds will be provided through the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Parish RESTORE Act Matching Opportunities Program, which is funded under the Spill Impact Component of the RESTORE Act.
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