MMS Grant for Lake Pontchartrain

The Minerals Management Service (MMS) has approved a grant for $699,400 to Tangipahoa Parish in Louisiana through the Coastal Impact Assistance Program (CIAP) for the first phase of a proposed shoreline protection project on the northern edge of Lake Pontchartrain.

Grant funding for the first phase of the project will provide for engineering and design service, coordination of land rights, and administration costs.  The project is located along the northwestern rim of Lake Pontchartrain in Tangipahoa Parish, approximately fifteen miles southeast of Ponchatoula, Louisiana.
      
The second phase of the project will include construction of a detached breakwater system to reduce wave energy along the highly erodible northern rim area of Lake Pontchartrain. This feature is planned to extend approximately 18,000 feet, from Pass Manchac to the Tangipahoa River.

The CIAP was created by the Energy Policy Act of 2005.  Through the program, MMS will provide $250m in grants annually, from 2007-2010, to six eligible Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas producing states:  Louisiana, Alabama, Alaska, California, Mississippi, and Texas.  The funding to Louisiana included $127.5m for each of the fiscal years 2007 and 2008, $120.9m for 2009 and $119.6m 2010.  Nineteen Coastal Political Subdivisions (parishes) share in the funding of projects outlined in the state’s approved plan.