Business leaders and coastal restoration activists say the state’s 2017 Coastal Master Plan not only presents an opportunity to save Louisiana’s coast but also an opportunity to grow and diversify the Lafourche and Terrebonne economies.
The Courier reports the master plan features $14.8 billion in projects that could benefit Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes.
Those projects include the $8.3 billion upgrade to the 98-mile Morganza-to-the-Gulf hurricane-protection system and a channel that would increase water flow into the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, among others.
The size and scope of the projects is fueling a belief that “water management” could be a new economic sector for the parishes.
Simone Maloz, executive director of Thibodaux-based coastal advocacy group Restore or Retreat, tells The Courier the master plan could provide an opportunity to diversify the local economy, freeing it from a reliance on the oil and gas industry.
“People are thinking about how do we make this an industry and how do we export this industry to other places as well,” Maloz says. “This could be workforce development, it could be diversity, and it could be an economic driver for our area.”
