March 9th 2024 Lafayette LA
This is the latest on the proposed Vermilion River dredging projects.
The projects include:
1. A smaller spot dredging project by the City of Lafayette near the confluence of the river and coulee Mine near the Rotary Point area. This project addresses the areas in the river with the most severe shoaling and was the same area where the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) executed a similar project in 1997 after the near major flood of 1993.
2. A larger dredging project proposed by the USACE that also addresses navigation of the river. We have heard conflicting information concerning the extent of this dredging project (start and stop areas) so we will address this in a later article as we clarify the project scope.
The media wrote a news article regarding these two projects and you can read it at this link.
News Article Headline and Link Below
Update on Dredging
If you read the newspaper article in the link above, you’d see that the LCG City Council approved the spot dredging project and the article says the spot dredging project is supposed to be bid in March 2024. This is good news. In communications with LCG Public Works we were told a pre-bid meeting has already been held and was well attended by a number of prospective bidders. DTV has advocated to LCG Public Works for the dredging contractor to utilize a small hydraulic dredge to avoid disruptions to traffic by opening and closing bridges to allow for barge traffic if a bucket dredge is used. A hydraulic dredge can pump the spoil to the disposal area via a floating pipeline. And excessive opening and closing our older bridges could potentially lead to a bridge failure causing the bridge to be shutdown for an extended period. This also could also lead to a delay for the project waiting on bridge repairs. The picture is a small hydraulic dredge that was used by St Martin Parish to dredge Catahoula Lake in 2023. This dredge can be transported by truck and has a low enough profile to fit under low clearance bridges like the bridges on the Vermilion River.
DTV believes LCG moving forward with the smaller spot dredge project vs. waiting for the larger USACE dredging project was the correct decision. A number of DTV Board Members and some citizens spoke in support of this project at the City Council Meeting on Tuesday March 5th. You can read more about the spot dredging project at this link. Spot Dredging of the Vermilion River in Lafayette Parish LA โ USACE Public Comment โ Dredge The Vermilion .
Please read the below regarding our communications with the USACE in a Morgan City Public Hearing Thursday 7 March 2024 for clarification regarding our recommendation to LCG as well as other related news.
USACE Public Hearing Thursday 7 March 2024 Morgan City LA
Several members of DTV attended a public hearing conducted by the USACE in Morgan City. The public hearing was in regard to a study of the lower Mississippi River basin from Cario IL to the GOM.ย At that meeting we had a chance to visit with Dave Ramirez, who is the engineer in charge of River operations for the USACE New Orleans District. We asked him about the probability of the USACE major Vermilion River dredging project slipping further or not getting done. He replied as long as the money has been appropriated, they have to do it. I told him I had heard from representative Higgins’s office that the project had slipped until 2026. He had not heard that. So, net-net, We believe LCG made a good decision to go ahead with their spot dredge project because anything can go wrong and the USACE project may never get done. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen, but we’ll see.
Other Issues
Lots of other issues were discussed at the USACE hearing and were recorded into the official public record. We spoke about the following issues both publicly and for the court reporter who was taking testimonies.
1. Issues with Bayou Courtableau including maintaining the outfall ( aka the Grimmett canal) which is in a severely compromised state. Note that the Corps knew about this issue and seem to be confused as to whose responsibility it is to maintain this channel. Being the Grimmett is in the West Atchafalaya floodway, and was constructed by the USACE you would think that this responsibility lies with the USACE?
2. Lacking cooperation from the USACE concerning lowering the pool stage of Bayou Courtableau when there is an impending storm threat, such as a hurricane, or tropical storm. This particular issue was discussed one-on-one with Dave Ramirez with me expressing the insanity of an operation procedure that that calls for lowering pool stages every year January and December to allow room for rainfall but prohibiting doing this on a hurricane or tropical storm threatens the area.
3. We expressed concern about the USACE failing to enforce permit requirements to backfill the Dixie P/L excavation when it was built and how this caused problems when the spoil blocked flood flows and caused water quality issues.
4. We spoke about the lack of an adequate gate between Bayou Courtableau and Bayou Amy. Dave Ramirez noted the 15 foot drop between Courtableau and Amy. I told him we had gotten modeling completed to size a gate and that a gate was severely needed for both water quality in Bayou Amy and Lake Catahoula as well as a flood control resource.
5. We also discussed reconnecting Bayou Courtableau to the Atchafalaya river. I told Dave Ramirez that the land side ( outside the levees) during 2016 flood was 22 ft or greater in the river was 8 or 9 ft. during the flood of 2016 if Bayou Courtableau was reconnected to the river we could’ve moved the whole flood from Central Louisiana into the river, and greatly reduced flood stages in the Vermillion River and the Bayou Teche.
After sending these updates to our US Representative Clay Higgins we received the below response.
“Met in DC yesterday with USACE. Extensive, comprehensive discussion with the Colonel and his senior staff.”
We greatly appreciate Rep Higgins support and assistance with the USACE. Representative Higgins was responsible for securing funding for the larger USACE Vermilion River dredging project.
๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐จ๐ง
Dredge the Vermilion (DTV) is a non-profit setup to inform the public about the need to identify and to perform regional drainage projects in the Teche-Vermilion watershed.
The board of DTV are all citizen volunteers with varying backgrounds from engineering, business owners, business management, medical, and legal.
If you wish to help with our efforts please like and share our posts on Facebook(search โDredge the Vermilionโ) and please see our website at www.dredgethevermilion.org if you would like to make a donation. All donations help fund our website, Facebook and other marketing efforts, public outreach, and research.