Edmonston bill to clear way for Bayou Manchac Improvements

Edmonston legislation aimed at clearing way for Bayou Manchac improvement | Pelican Post - Online Newspaper 

Kathy Edmonston represents District 88 in Louisiana’s House of Representatives, her district’s entire northern border being Bayou Manchac which divides Ascension from East Baton Rouge Parish.  In her second term and a charter member of Louisiana Freedom Caucus, Representative Edmonston authored two bills in the current legislative session in aid of improving Bayou Manchac’s ability to drain the Amite River basin.  Companion legislation, House Bill 165 and House Bill 172 were vigorously endorsed by Amite River Basin Commission (ARBC) last month.

“The only way to have (Bayou Manchac) function in the way Mother Nature intended…is to take these measures prohibited by the Scenic Waterways designation,” said ARBC Executive Director Paul Sawyer.

ARBC recently adopted its first ever Master Plan which included among its five priority projects:

Bayou Manchac Flood Risk Reduction (East Baton Rouge, Ascension, Iberville) – Clearing sediment, realigning Ward Creek, and replacing the Perkins Road Bridge.

Amite River Basin Commission adopts first ever Master Plan | Pelican Post – Online Newspaper

But the Manchac is designated a Scenic Waterway, meaning it is subject to prohibitions enumerated in Revised Statute 56:1853.  The statute expressly prohibits “channelization, clearing and snagging, channel realignment and reservoir construction.”  At present, efforts to improve Manchac are exempted from those strictures by Revised Statute 56:1855 but the exemption is scheduled to sunset on August 1, 2026.

Edmonston’s HB 172 will extend the vital exemption to December 31, 2030, assuming ultimate passage and gubernatorial signing.  HB 172 received unanimous support in the House, a 91-0 vote moving the bill to the Senate on May 21.  It was reported out of the Upper Chamber’s Committee on Natural Resources, but with amendments, last week.  While the amendments did not relate to Bayou Manchac’s exemption from Scenic River Act’s exemption, the bill also includes a similar provision impacting the Comite River which was amended in committee.

The Senate is scheduled to take up HB 172 today.

Representative Edmonston authored a second piece of legislation (House Bill 165) that would free up ARBC to undertake its priority projects unrestrained by statutory limitation in the future.  HB 165 will eliminate the requirement that ARBC “promulgate” Amite River Basin “watershed management regulations by January 1, 2026” by amending Revised Statute 38:3306(A)(2).  It is highly unlikely that ARBC’s ambitious Master Plan items could meet that deadline.

“The approval of this master plan is a crucial step in mitigating the impacts of major flood events, such as the 1983 and 2016 floods. Projects listed in this master plan have a regional effect. This commission will do everything possible to move these projects forward for the benefit of the residents we represent,” said Ascension Parish President Clint Cointment.

HB 165 was also unanimously approved by the House of Representatives on May 21.  The bill is pending in the Senate Committee on Natural Resources.