The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has signed a Record of Decision for the Morganza to the Gulf Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction Project, a sprawling levee system meant to shield Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes, Louisiana, from hurricane surge. The decision closes federal environmental review of the redesigned levee system, clearing a major procedural hurdle for a project that has been decades in the making roughly 60 miles southwest of New Orleans.
The Mississippi Valley Division commander signed the Record of Decision on October 14, and the Corps announced its availability in the Federal Register on Monday. The notice itself confirms that step: a Federal Register filing states that the Corps “announces the availability of the Record of Decision (ROD) for the final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the Morganza to the Gulf, Louisiana, Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction Project, Terrebonne and Lafourche Parishes.”
What the System Is Meant to Do
The Terrebonne Levee and Conservation District describes Morganza to the Gulf as a hurricane protection system for Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes, with the Army Corps serving as federal sponsor while the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development and the district itself jointly serve as local sponsors. The district says it will handle operations and maintenance once the system is complete. Per Environment + Energy Leader's reporting on the project's current scope, the system would protect roughly 200,000 people and about 52,000 structures, with the Terrebonne and Lafourche levee districts named as local project partners.
The district's own project page describes a planned system of approximately 72 miles of earthen levee with 12 floodgate structures proposed for navigable waterways, along with a lock structure in the Houma Navigational Canal measuring 200 feet wide by 1,200 feet long, built to guard against tidal and hurricane surge up to a Category 3 storm. The project's current scope reported by Environment + Energy Leader lists different dimensions — about 98 miles of earthen levee, 22 floodgates on navigable waterways, 23 environmental water control structures, and a lock complex on the Houma Navigation Canal — and is designed for a storm with a 1% annual chance of occurring.
Years of Review Behind the Signature
The newly closed review traces back to a 2013 assessment whose project features had mostly not yet been designed in detail, according to Environment + Energy Leader's account. The Corps opened a new supplemental environmental impact statement review in June 2024, and a related 2024 Federal Register notice states that constructible project features at that stage included restoration of 427 acres of intermediate marsh, 358 acres of brackish marsh, and 975 acres of saline marsh.
Wetland loss, sea-level rise, and subsidence have increased storm-surge susceptibility.
Construction Already Underway, Costs Still Climbing
Work on part of the system has already started. Reach A construction was underway in 2025.
The project's price tag has grown substantially since Congress first authorized $886.7 million for it in 2007. Lawmakers reauthorized the project at roughly $10.27 billion in 2014.
