With the coronavirus-stressed economy now in a recession and perhaps headed to a depression, some business and political leaders are looking to speed up major infrastructure projects as a way to stimulate economic activity and get tens of thousands of laid off employees working again.
State Sen. Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, is asking members of the state’s congressional delegation to request an emergency exclusion from permitting requirements from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which, if granted, could speed up work on coastal restoration projects like the $800 million Mid-Breton Sediment Diversion.
The diversion project, which is already funded with BP oil spill settlement dollars, was fast-tracked by the federal government in early 2019. But fast-tracking is a relative term when it comes to a project of this size, and the environmental review process required by the corps could take a couple of years, if not more.
Henry says he has reached out to U.S. Rep. Garret Graves and other members of the delegation about pushing for an emergency exclusion as a type of public works project.
“We need some exceptions and not to the detriment of the coast but to protect the coast,” he says. “I think it’s time for us, not just in Louisiana, but other states to streamline these projects so we can get folks back to work.”
Bernhard Capital Partners Principal Jeff Jenkins supports the effort, though he admittedly has a vested interest in saying so. BCP, a private equity firm, owns companies that do coastal restoration and infrastructure work.
Still, Jenkins says, Louisiana’s industrial construction sector is taking a major hit on two fronts—the coronavirus and record low oil prices—and won’t recover without a major public works-style initiative.
“These projects are designed, the money is in the bank and the contractors have been hired,” he says. “The delay is all because of the permitting process, so this is a way we could speed things up.”
Henry is also pushing at the state level for quicker deployment of some $1.2 billion in federal flood mitigation money the state was awarded in 2018. Gov. John Bel Edwards has created the Louisiana Watershed Initiative to determine how best to spend the dollars across the state’s seven watersheds.
Henry says, given the crisis at hand, he thinks some of the money should be spent more quickly.
“This money is sitting in a bank waiting for a third party group to determine where it is spent,” he says. “It’s important we speed that process up and get people working again.”
The head of the state agency overseeing the $1.2 billion Louisiana Watershed Initiative disagrees.
“The money is not ‘sitting in the bank,’” says Pat Forbes, executive director of the Office of Community Development. “We have submitted our action plan for the use of the funds to HUD, but we have not received full approval, so … there are no funds available for reimbursement, much less in the bank.”
What’s more, Forbes says the state has been working aggressively on the initiative but that there is no quick way to responsibly spend money on flood mitigation projects.
“Abandoning the Watershed Initiative in favor of trying to quickly build every project anyone sends with little regard for efficacy or adverse impacts would do little to nothing in terms of economic boost to offset the effects of COVID-19,” he says.
