Senator David Vitter Press Release:

December 18, 2012

Vitter: Lake Pontchartrain Basin Restoration Act Passes Senate

Vitter secures extension of restoration efforts in area through 2017

(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Senator David Vitter today announced that he has passed the Senate’s reauthorization of his Lake Pontchartrain Basin Restoration Act, which will continue restoration efforts in the Lake Pontchartrain Basin for five more years through 2017. In June Vitter got the legislation passed through the Environment and Public Works Committee. The legislation passed by unanimous consent in the Senate last night.

“Since passing the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Restoration Act in 2001 we’ve accomplished a lot – including improvements in water clarity and the return of pelicans, oysters, and blue crabs to the lake,” says Vitter. “But the work isn’t done, and my legislation allows us to continue to restore one of our nation’s estuary treasures and help the local communities address water infrastructure problems.”
“The Pontchartrain Restoration Program has been instrumental in improving the environmental health of the Pontchartrain Basin,” said Carlton Dufrechou, on behalf of the Pontchartrain Restoration Program Executive Committee. “It’s been the catalyst for over 100 projects that have reduced pollution from sewerage plants, dairy operations, and helped preserve Louisiana’s fragile coast.  And the results are quantifiable.  Lake Pontchartrain is again fishable and swimmable.”

The Lake Pontchartrain Basin Restoration Act was the first bill that Vitter helped pass into law as a freshman Congressman in 2001.  The Act created a partnership between the federal government and local stakeholders to restore and support the lake and its surrounding areas. It also granted Lake Pontchartrain restoration efforts with similar status as the Great Lakes and Florida Everglades restoration efforts. Through this program, Vitter has enabled nearly a decade of cleanup efforts and restoration in the Lake Pontchartrain Basin. He also got it reauthorized in 2006.

Lake Pontchartrain is one of the largest estuaries in the United States and is surrounded by over 1.5 million residents, making it the most populated area in the state of Louisiana. The 16 parishes in the Lake Pontchartrain Basin are Ascension, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberville, Jefferson, Livingston, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. Helena, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa and Washington.

The legislation still awaits passage by the U.S. House of Representatives before it can become law.

In Case You Missed It: Extending Lake Pontchartrain's restoration efforts: An editorial (Times Picayune, 6/25/12)

Excerpts: “The decades-long effort to clean up Lake Pontchartrain has been boosted by federal funding made possible by the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Restoration Act…

“At the urging of Sen. David Vitter, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed a measure reauthorizing the act for five more years, through 2017. The full Senate should support the bill to continue efforts to restore one of the region's most important environmental assets.”

Times Picayune
Extending Lake Pontchartrain's restoration efforts: An editorialMonday, June 25, 2012

The decades-long effort to clean up Lake Pontchartrain has been boosted by federal funding made possible by the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Restoration Act, and it's good to see Congress has begun the process to reauthorize that law.

At the urging of Sen. David Vitter, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed a measure reauthorizing the act for five more years, through 2017. The full Senate should support the bill to continue efforts to restore one of the region's most important environmental assets.

The lake was in sorry shape when environmentalists began efforts to clean it up more than three decades ago. Poorly treated wastewater from Jefferson Parish had flowed into the lake for years, and the once pristine lake had been turned into a slushy soup by decades of dredging for clam shells to be used in roadbeds and other foundations.

In the mid-1980s, however, Jefferson Parish agreed to replace its outdated sewage plant and pump treated water to the Mississippi River instead. A few years later, at the urging of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation and other advocates, the state shut down dredging, saying it violated federal water quality standards.

But to make even further progress, advocates needed the financial muscle of the federal government. That finally came in 2000, when then U.S. Rep. Vitter introduced the lake restoration act and pushed hard for its passage in the House, while Sen. Mary Landrieu sponsored the bill in the Senate.

The act created a partnership between the federal government and local entities to restore the lake and other bodies of water that flow into it. The 640-square-mile Lake Pontchartrain is one of the nation's largest estuaries, and the act granted efforts to save it a status comparable to restoration campaigns in the Great Lakes and the Florida Everglades. More importantly, the act spurred Congress to appropriate millions of dollars for projects to restore the lake and to minimize the negative impact of human activity around it. In particular, federal grants made possible by the act have financed expensive sewer and water improvements in parishes across the basin, helping improve water quality in the lake.

That's why Congress should support the reauthorization of the act -- and also approve the necessary funding to continue restoration efforts.