A Lafayette Consolidated Government contractor blocked the Vermilion River for hours without a permit while removing the Cypress Island Swamp spoil banks in February, potentially violating federal law.
Messages, design plans and videos obtained in a public records request show LCG contractor Rigid Constructors blocked the Vermilion River with four massive barges during the clandestine removal of the spoil banks in St. Martin Parish.
Source: The Advertiser
Guillory’s bureaucracy-busting approach could force Lafayette to spend millions filling holes it just spent millions digging out.
Researchers and engineers generally agree that solving Lafayette’s flooding problem will take a comprehensive approach.
The gist: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has contracted UL’s Watershed Flood Center to model the effect of dredging the Vermilion River. This would complete a long-awaited study — at one time expected to be finished at year’s end — that will determine the benefits and risks of digging out years of accumulated mud […]
The gist: Six new economic development districts passed introduction Tuesday by the City-Parish Council, in a rush of legislation on the council’s waning agenda for the year. The districts would levy new sales and hotel taxes to make improvements advocates say would spark economic activity in areas that need it. A vote on final adoption […]
The gist: A resolution adopted unanimously by the City-Parish Council Tuesday formally urges action on dredging the Vermilion River. Council members and dredging advocates are now targeting funding and political help while the Army Corps of Engineers completes a dredging study.
The gist: Dredging the Vermilion is becoming a political movement in Lafayette, driven by the trauma of repeat flooding events since the catastrophic no-name floods of August 2016. Studies continue as engineers and public officials debate the efficacy of digging out the bayou.
The gist: Pumps that feed fresh water into the Vermilion River were stopped days ahead of Tropical Storm Barry’s landfall. Combined with a lucky north wind, ad hoc flood control efforts lowered the Vermilion by more than a foot, potentially avoiding major flood damage along the bayou.
Sen. Bill Cassidy’s office said the Corps of Engineers will release a work plan later this week, which would be the first indication of a timeline for the Vermilion dredging project.
Lafayette doesn’t have a riverwalk like San Antonio or Chattanooga, or lots of other cities for that matter. Why, exactly, is that the case?