The state has officially canceled another large-scale plan to rebuild lost wetlands in southeast Louisiana through a controversial sediment diversion, a long-expected move by Gov. Jeff Landry’s administration drawing sharply divergent reactions.

The Mid-Breton Sediment Diversion was to be built on the east bank of the Mississippi River near Wills Point, across from Delacroix. The aim was to address land loss in the area by mimicking the way the Mississippi built south Louisiana in the first place by channeling river water and sediment into the Breton Basin.

It was meant to be a companion project to the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion, which was to be built on the west bank of the river near Myrtle Grove. The state officially canceled that unprecedented $3 billion project in July after having previously said it intended to abandon it even though it had broken ground in 2023 following years of study and planning.

Some $619 million in funds related to the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon spill had already been spent on Mid-Barataria. Around $90 million in BP funds had previously been approved for Mid-Breton. Gordon Dove, chairman of the state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, said the latest numbers he saw on money spent on the project amounted to around $70 million, though the total could now be more.

Dove said the state was working with trustees overseeing the BP funds in the hopes of earning interest from unspent money to recoup at least some portion of what has been spent while proposals for new projects are put forward.

Mid-Breton was to be about a third smaller than Mid-Barataria. Costs and strong opposition from commercial fishers as well as the two parishes in the project area — St. Bernard and Plaquemines — contributed to its demise. Mississippi Gulf Coast communities were also strongly opposed over concerns the freshwater and nutrients could reach as far as that area.

‘Never the intention’

Dove said in May that the state was moving to cancel the project. He confirmed Thursday that it had informed the Army Corps of Engineers the state was withdrawing its application for project permits, a decision now reflected on the Corps’ website.

He argued that the project was unnecessary and too costly, saying new estimates of the total price had grown to $1.8 billion. An earlier cost estimate had put it at nearly $800 million.

He pointed to already existing natural and manmade diversions on the east bank of the river, including the Caernarvon Diversion at the St. Bernard and Plaquemines Parish line, as well as Mardi Gras Pass and Neptune Pass farther downriver. He also noted land-building projects in the same area using dredged sediment, including the Lake Borgne Marsh Creation project, the state’s largest such project to date.

“You don’t have the money to do it, and you don’t have any need for it,” said Dove. “The BP money wasn’t meant for one project. That was never the intention.”

The Restore the Mississippi River Delta coalition, which includes local and national conservation groups, called the cancelation “yet another devastating blow to the future of our coast.”

“We must use all the tools in the toolbox to restore our coast,” the coalition, which has worked for years to have the diversions built, said in a statement. “The river is vital to our efforts. Canceling this project puts integral large-scale, sustainable coastal restoration years, or even decades, further out of reach.”

‘Still a need’

St. Bernard Parish lauded the withdrawal of the permit application, with officials there having long argued that the damage would have outweighed the benefits.

“We do think it would have severe damage to the seafood industry and the commercial fishing industry, which is an economic engine for St. Bernard and Plaquemines Parish,” said John Lane, director of coastal operations for St. Bernard. “And we think there’s better methods to rebuilding the coast than these large-scale diversions.”

A range of coastal advocates and scientists had long argued in favor of Mid-Breton, saying its scale was needed to address the worsening land loss crisis along that part of Louisiana’s coast.

James Karst, communications director for the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, the state’s oldest such organization, said natural and manmade river diversions have shown that such projects can build land by working with nature.

“The writing has been on the wall for a long time,” said Karst of the Mid-Breton cancelation. “We should be thinking about what else we are going to do because there is still a need.”

Dove said the state will seek to reprogram the money slated for Mid-Breton for a range of projects, including landbridge building using dredged sediment in the Barataria Basin, on the river’s west bank.

The CPRA also hopes to build a much smaller diversion in place of Mid-Barataria that would nourish land-building projects in the area while not causing major harm to commercial fishing. It is unclear if at least some of the money spent on Mid-Barataria could be used for that project.