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N.O. lock project is excluded from spending bill
WASHINGTON -- For only the second time since 1999, Congress is not financing the much-delayed $1.3 billion Inner Harbor Navigation Canal Lock Replacement Project.
The project isn't included in the $33.5 billion energy and water spending bill that the Senate sent to President Barack Obama last week.
Opponents of the project, which is intended to replace an 86-year-old lock that the Port of New Orleans says is outdated, expressed hope that Congress finally might be dropping support for a project they say is unneeded and environmentally disruptive.
Supporters of the project, including Louisiana's two senators, said they plan to seek renewed financing for the project in next year's federal budget.
The project wasn't financed this year because when the Obama administration prepared its budget recommendations, it was under a court injunction by U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon pending completion of a supplemental environmental impact statement that was finished in May.
--- Financing hurdle ---
Getting financing for a project not financed by a president's budget is difficult, particularly when federal spending is restricted, as it is this year, by growing deficits.
Since the injunction was lifted in May, the Army Corps of Engineers reinstituted design work on the massive lock replacement project, using $1 million appropriated in 2008 and some left over money from 2007.
"I am committed to this project and will work with the Obama Administration and the Corps to advance the critical repair work that is needed for the existing lock, as well as the long term goal of replacing this outdated and deteriorating structure," said Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La.
--- Local groups oppose plan ---
