New Orleans-- The State of Louisiana and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are wrestling over mud.
Unsatisfied with with Corps policy on dredging projects, the Jindal administration fired the latest volley in a years-long struggle over the use of Mississippi River sediment.
In the interest of keeping the river open to ship traffic, the Corps dredges in excess of 30 million cubic yards of sediment annually. The majority of that falls off the outer continental shelf into the Gulf of Mexico, lost forever.
"Every time the Corps of Engineers dredges the Mississippi River, that sediment is wasted," said Garrett Graves, Chairman of the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. "It's a critical resource."
The Jindal Administration, unable to break an impasse with the Corps, appealed to another authority.
Scott Angelle, Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, fired off a letter to U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, accusing the Corps of violating Louisiana's Coastal Resources Program and pleading with Locke to mediate a solution.
In his letter, Angelle writes that the state's objection "lies solely with the unsound dredged material disposal practices proposed for this valuable resource."
The Corps has yet to be swayed, arguing Congress mandates it dispose of sediment by the cheapest means possible.
However, Corps managers insist they have put dredge material to use, building over 12,000 acres of new land at the base of the Mississippi Delta over the last 20 years.
"We're using a really good portion of our dredge material beneficially," said Michelle Ulm, the Corps' Mississippi River Operations Manager.
Ulm said the agency is willing to put more mud to use, but federal law mandates the extra cost be shared by some non-federal entity, in this case Louisiana.
"We've actually offered to the state, over the past couple of years, to partner with us and go above and beyond what we can do under the federal standard," said Ulm.
State officials estimate that dredge material could build roughly 10 square miles of new land per year, or roughly half what Louisiana loses on an annual basis.
The appeal to the Commerce Secretary comes just as a special Obama administration panel is studying ways to speed work on Louisiana's coast.
The panel is headed by Jane Lubchenco, administrator the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Lubchenco reports, perhaps not coincidentally, to Commerce Secretary Locke.
"This is perfect timing, I think," said Paul Kemp of the National Audubon Society. "The state has really done its homework."
Graves insists the state is not making a political power play. However, in this latest fight with the Corps, the state is clearly looking for allies further up the Washington food chain.
