Bayou Lafourche Agreement Signed

The Greater Lafourche Port Commission (GLPC) has formally entered in to an Assumption of Maintenance Agreement with the US Army Corps of Engineers to extend the reach of the federally-maintained channel in Bayou Lafourche.

“This agreement is the culmination of over five years of work to demonstrate to the Corps and the nation the benefits of maintaining this additional stretch of the navigable channel in Bayou Lafourche, which provides access to our Northern Expansion development at Port Fourchon,” said Chett Chiasson, Executive Director of GLPC.

Previously, the Corps only maintained the section of the channel from the extent of the jetties in Belle Pass to just north of Port Fourchon’s E-Slip, with GLPC being responsible for maintaining the channel north to Flotation Canal. The recent action adds 1.1 miles of additional channel in Bayou Lafourche to the Corps’ regular program of maintenance dredging.

Under the agreement, GLPC will perform one final maintenance dredge cycle of this section of the channel before handing off responsibility for future maintenance to USACE.

Separate to this agreement, the Greater Lafourche Port Commission is nearing completion of its Section 203 Feasibility Study on deepening Belle Pass from its entrance at the Gulf of Mexico to the port’s Pass Fourchon waterway. The study delineates the potential for deepening draft in the channel up to fifty feet, with an eye toward developing the Gulf’s first purpose-built deepwater rig repair and refurbishment facility.

“This is just the beginning of our work to continue to evolve and develop America’s energy services port and adapt to the changing needs of both our industry and our environment. We are so grateful for the cooperation and collaborative relationship we enjoy with the New Orleans District and the Corps in general,” Chiasson added.

According to Chiasson, not only will this purpose-built facility add much-needed capacity to capture and retain nearly $100 million worth of repair work currently leaving the US in favor of foreign facilities, but the sediments generated by the channel deepening project will yield millions of cubic yards of material that can also be used to rebuild coastal wetlands.

GLPC intends to have the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) completed and out for public and agency comment later this spring, with a goal of federal authorization for a deeper channel into Port Fourchon by early 2019.