Proponents of a nearly $3 billion project to restore part of southeast Louisiana’s rapidly vanishing coastline released a study Tuesday touting the expected economic benefits of its construction, even as the project faces pushback and litigation from communities who fear the environment and their livelihoods will be severely affected.
The Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion project broke ground in August last year. But construction was halted because of legal disputes, and since June the project has only partially resumed work.
The project is expected to spend around $1.6 billion inside the state over its five-year construction period, according to a new study funded by Restore the Mississippi River Delta, a coalition of environmental groups. During the building phase, the project expects to generate an average of 3,095 jobs across five parishes in Louisiana, mainly in construction and significantly higher-paying than average local wages, the study says.
“This project will bring more wetlands than any other individual restoration project in the world, and it will bring a whopping number of new earnings, jobs and revenue to coastal Louisiana,” says Simone Maloz, campaign director for Restore the Mississippi River Delta, at a Tuesday news conference announcing the study’s findings. “It is exactly the scale of the project we need to address the very serious challenge we face.”
The study estimates that for Plaquemines Parish, where the project is being built, the construction will lead to $308.2 million in total wage earnings, $65.4 million in tax revenue and an average of 540 jobs over a five-year period.
But Mitch Jurisich, a third-generation oysterman and parish council representative, was dismissive of the idea that the project would help more than hurt his community’s economy in the long term and described the study as “political propaganda.”
