NEW ORLEANS, La. (AP) — Federal officials want to know if Louisiana remains committed to a nearly $3 billion planned coastal restoration project that litigation has stalled.
Federal officials warned in a Friday letter to the head of Louisiana's Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority that they expected the state to return federal funds allocated for the project if the state decides not to move forward with it. Without providing a deadline for response, federal officials requested a “clear statement” from the state that it plans to follow through on the project as designed.
The Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion project is Louisiana's flagship coastal restoration project in response to a rapidly vanishing coastline caused by subsidence, erosion and sea-level rise propelled by climate change. The project would channel 75,000 cubic feet (2,100 cubic meters) of sediment per second from the Mississippi River into the nearby Barataria Basin in Plaquemines Parish to create between 20 to 40 square miles (52 to 104 square kilometers) of new land over five decades.
But soon after the project broke ground in August 2023, Plaquemines Parish authorities sued the state agency overseeing the project, the CPRA, alleging a flawed permitting process as they raised concerns over the project's impact on local communities. And in January, local oyster companies and an environmental group sued federal agencies permitting the project on the grounds it will affect water quality, negatively impact commercial fisheries and harm bottlenose dolphins. The project has been largely halted as negotiations drag on.
Proponents, including environmental groups and a range of state lawmakers, are concerned the project may be significantly reduced or canceled. It would be a major blow to scientifically backed plans to respond meaningfully to coastal land loss in a state losing approximately a football field of land every 100 minutes, according to the environmental coalition group Restore the Mississippi River Delta. The coalition said it was concerned that Governor Jeff Landry's administration was “wavering” in its commitment to the project.
Spokespersons for Landry and the CPRA declined to comment.
The letter from federal officials was signed by representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of the Interior, and the Department of Agriculture.
Those four agencies are trustees overseeing federal funds obtained in a settlement following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf Coast. Louisiana is also part of a trustee group of affected states drawing on the funds.
The CPRA reported $519.3 million has been spent on the project out of the $2.92 billion set aside for its construction, according to a presentation at an Oct. 11 state Senate hearing. This includes $378 million budgeted for mitigation and stewardship programs for impacted communities and industries.
In their letter, federal officials told Louisiana returned funds would be used for “future restoration activities” but did not specify if they would remain earmarked for projects in Louisiana.
They pointed out the Mid-Barataria project has undergone years of evaluation and included significant impact mitigation for affected groups.
“No other single restoration project has been planned and studied as extensively over the past decades,” the letter said. It noted the project would lessen the impact of storms on coastal communities and reduce flooding in surrounding areas.
The Mid-Barataria project is “the linchpin" of Louisiana's plans to protect its vanishing coastline, said Ethan Melancon, advocacy director of the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana.
He said the project, mimicking natural land creation processes, would allow for a constant supply of sediment to fight against coastal erosion. He argued it would be much more effective and long-lasting than alternatives proposed by the project’s opponents, such as using dredging material to offset land loss.
Federal officials said in the letter there would be “no guarantee” of approval of alternative projects.
Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Brook on the social platform X: @jack_brook96
The nearly $3 billion Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion project along the Mississippi River, intended to stave off coastal land loss in southeastern Louisiana, is seen during a flyover with the environmental coalition group Restore the Mississippi River Delta, Aug. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Jack Brook)
Rudy Giuliani must turn over sports memorabilia and other prized possessions to two Georgia election workers who won a $148 million defamation judgment against him, including his New York City apartment, more than two dozen luxury watches and a 1980 Mercedes once owned by movie star Lauren Bacall, a judge ruled Tuesday.
But U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman in Manhattan also said Giuliani does not have to give the election workers three New York Yankees World Series rings or his Florida condominium — for now — noting those assets are tied up in other litigation.
The property Giuliani must relinquish is expected to fetch several million dollars for Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss. They won the $148 million judgment over Giuliani’s false ballot fraud claims against them related to the 2020 presidential election. They said Giuliani pushed Donald Trump’s lies about the election being stolen, which led to death threats that made them fear for their lives.
Under Tuesday's order, Giuliani must turn over within seven days his Manhattan apartment, estimated at more than $5 million, as well his interest in about $2 million that he says Trump's 2020 presidential campaign owes him for his services.
Also on the list of assets that must be given to Freeman and Moss are a 1980 Mercedes-Benz SL 500 previous owned by Bacall, a shirt and picture signed, respectively, by Yankees legends Joe DiMaggio and Reggie Jackson, a signed Yankee Stadium picture, a diamond ring, costume jewelry and 26 watches, including a Rolex, five Shinolas, two Bulovas and a Tiffany & Co.
In court documents filed earlier this year, Giuliani estimated the worth of the Mercedes at about $25,000, and the watches, World Series rings and costume jewelry at about $30,000. He said the value of his sports memorabilia was unknown.
One of those watches was given to Giuliani by his grandfather and he asked that he be allowed to keep it because of its sentimental value. But Liman rejected the request, saying Giuliani could have had it exempted if he proved it was worth less than $1,000 but he did not do so. The judge added, “However painful the circumstances, a party cannot claim that every family heirloom should be exempt.”
Liman wrote that Giuliani's surrendering of the assets to Freeman and Moss would “ensure that the liquidation of the transferred assets is accomplished quickly and consistently by the Plaintiffs’ chosen counsel, maximizing the sale value of the unique and intangible items and therefore increasing the likelihood of satisfaction of the Plaintiffs’ judgment.”
Lawyers for Giuliani did not immediately return email messages on Tuesday.
To date, Giuliani has not paid Freeman and Moss anything.
“We are proud that our clients will finally begin to receive some of the compensation to which they are entitled for Giuliani’s actions,” Aaron Nathan, a lawyer for Freeman and Moss, said in a statement. “This outcome should send a powerful message that there is a price to pay for those who choose to intentionally spread disinformation.”
Giuliani had asked the judge to bar Freeman and Moss from selling any of his assets until after his appeal of the $148 million judgment is completed. Liman also turned down that request, saying Giuliani could have asked the federal court in Washington, D.C., where Freeman and Moss won their defamation case, to stay any asset sales pending his appeal, but did not.
“The Court also does not doubt that certain of the items may have sentimental value to Defendant,” the judge wrote. “But that does not entitle Defendant to continued enjoyment of the assets to the detriment of the Plaintiffs to whom he owes approximately $150 million. It is, after all, the underlying policy of these New York statutes that ‘no man should be permitted to live at the same time in luxury and in debt.’”
As for the World Series rings, Giuliani's son, Andrew, filed court documents earlier this month saying he actually is the rightful owner. He said his father gave him four rings — one for each of the Yankees’ championships in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000 — as gifts in 2018. Rudy Giuliani received the rings during his tenure as mayor of New York City. The younger Giuliani's claim is pending in federal court in Manhattan.
Freeman and Moss also asked Liman to order Rudy Giuliani to turn over his condo in Palm Beach, Florida, estimated to be worth more than $3 million. But that property is tied up in other litigation, with Giuliani claiming it should be exempt because it is his primary residence. Freeman and Moss have a lien on the Florida property.
Liman said he would take up the Florida condo at a hearing set for Oct. 28, and he barred Rudy Giuliani from selling the property or taking any action that would diminish its value in the meantime.
After the $148 million verdict, Giuliani filed for bankruptcy, which froze attempts by Freeman and Moss to collect the award. But a judge in July threw out the case citing repeated “uncooperative conduct,” including a failure to comply with court orders and disclose sources of income.
FILE - Wandrea "Shaye" Moss, a former Georgia election worker, is comforted by her mother, Ruby Freeman, right, as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol continues to reveal its findings of a year-long investigation, at the Capitol in Washington, June 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
FILE - Rudy Giuliani speaks during a news conference outside federal court in Washington, Dec. 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
