October 17, 2019 — Two projects planned by the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority will have a multibillion-dollar economic impact on southeast Louisiana, according to a report presented to the CPRA board Wednesday.
The CPRA expects to spend $1.8 billion over seven years on two controversial diversion projects that would redirect land-building sediment from the Mississippi River to Barataria Bay and Breton Bay.
“That’s a non-trivial sum of money, obviously,” said Loren Scott, an economist who studied the potential economic impact for the Restore the Mississippi Delta Campaign and The Environmental Defense Fund.
In the four-parish region that includes Plaquemines, St. Bernard, Orleans and Jefferson parishes, sales at businesses would increase by more than $3.1 billion while household earnings would increase more than $809 million, according to Scott’s projections.