Parish Council OKs $500,000 for Bayou Vista drainage

Staff report
The St. Mary Parish Council on Wednesday passed a long-delayed allocation for drainage improvements in Bayou Vista. But the wait for improvements isn’t over yet.
After some procedural twists and turns, the council voted to approve $500,000 for improvements at the Bertrand-Vining Pump Station, one of two serving Bayou Vista. But no one seems sure the money will be available until the fall.
Also Wednesday, the council passed a resolution opposing the use of eminent domain for carbon capture projects, which opponents say are bad for the environment and for landowners.
The council also passed resolutions honoring a 106-year-old St. Mary resident on her birthday and a former Morgan City mayor who died recently.
Pump station
The saga of the $500,000 allocation for the Bertrand-Vining station from the Wards 5 & 8 sales tax has gone on for months. Councilman David Hill of Bayou Vista had objected to the allocation. Hill said he wondered how the parish could afford it when the administration was blocking smaller sums for other funding requests.
Chad Ross, who chairs the drainage district serving Bayou Vista, said an upgrade at Bertrand-Vining is needed to protect that community from flooding. When the allocation came back for discussion Jan. 14, Ross asked for a delay so he could update the cost estimate, which was four years old.
The news wasn’t good.
On Wednesday, Ross said the new estimate for the upgrade at Bertrand-Vining is about $1.3 million. The 2022 estimate was for $800,000.
The parish had obtained $500,000 in state capital outlay funding for the work with the expectation of a $300,000 match.
Councilwoman Dr. Kristi Prejeant Rink of Centerville put the $500,000 allocation on the council agenda. It directed the money toward “Drainage and Sewer System Improvements in the Bayou Vista area.”
The money would then be available for other work if the pump station project is delayed, she argued.
But Hill got the needed six votes to amend the motion to direct the money specifically to Bertrand-Vining. Rink was one of four council members who voted against the amended motion.
Councilman the Rev. Craig Mathews of Jeanerette, who chairs the council’s budget committee, said it’s important to realize that the parish money won’t be available until the new budget year begins in the fall. He noted that a public meeting in Bayou Vista earlier this month included strong sentiment for allocating the money.
“We need to be careful we’re not creating false expectations …,” Mathews said. “The folks who were at that meeting want action now.”
Parish President Sam Jones said he believes the work can be accomplished this year.
The drainage district recently won $1.1 million in a lawsuit against engineers who designed Bertrand-Vining, saying the station has never worked properly.
Carbon capture
The council took a unanimous stand in a resolution against using the government’s power to take private land for the public good in order to accommodate carbon capture sequestration.
Carbon would be transported by pipeline to injection sites as a way to mitigate the manmade contribution to climate change. The Louisiana Illuminator reported that 31 projects encompassing more than 100 injection wells are awaiting permit review by state authorities.
The concept has created a rift among conservatives who support oil and gas companies, which have embraced carbon capture, and those who support property rights.
Gary Musgrove and Mark Guillory represent a Rapides-based organization called Save My Louisiana, which sued state officials in November in the 19th Judicial District to stop the use of eminent domain for carbon capture pipelines. They appeared at Wednesday’s council meeting.
Musgrove warned that most of the proposed projects are in southwest and central Louisiana, where the important Chicot Aquifer would be at risk.
Water turns carbon dioxide into carbonic acid, he said.
Opponents have also pointed to a 2020 break in a carbon dioxide pipeline in Satartia, Mississippi. The rupture led to carbon dioxide poisoning, sending 45 people to the hospital.
Musgrove warned about extravagant claims of employment and tax revenue from businesses easier to tap into the growth of carbon capture.
“It will happen,” Musgrove said. “Industry will come to you dangling a golden carrot in front of you.”
Councilman Patrick Hebert of Berwick may have caught a glimpse of that carrot.
Hebert, who represents St. Mary at the Louisiana Police Jury Association, said he heard stories about a possible $15 million or $20 million in tax revenue. He and Councilman Rodney Olander of Franklin talked about the projects the parish could do with that money.
Later, Hebert and Olander heard about the downside.
“He said, ‘What do you think?’” Hebert said. “I said, ‘We’ve got a problem.’”
Resolutions
The council passed a resolution congratulating Rosemary Salsman Breaux on her 106th birthday.
A longtime grocer in west St. Mary, Breaux now spends her time enjoying the sunshine at her home, with the occasional trip to Cypress Bayou Casino.
The council also passed a resolution of respect for Cedric Lafleur of Morgan City, who died Jan. 8 at 94.
Lafleur ran a successful dairy business across South Louisiana. He was elected mayor of Morgan City in 1983.
Councilman Dean Adams of Morgan City praised Lafleur for guiding the city through the budget-scrubbing days of the oilpatch downturn in the 1980s. He was also mayor when the city was hit by Hurricane Andrew.