Corps proposes Coast buyouts

The Clarion-Ledger, 2/11/9

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is proposing to spend about $1.2 billion on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast to buy some 2,000 seaside properties, relocate a small town’s public buildings and restore hurricane-damaged wetlands and beaches.

A draft proposal released Tuesday follows in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when Bay St. Louis, Waveland and Biloxi were destroyed in 2005 by a storm surge 20 feet or higher over most of this coastline.

The draft of the corps’ 40-year plan, called the Mississippi Coastal Improvements Program, will now undergo a series of reviews and face public scrutiny before being presented to Congress, possibly by November.

Before any of the work can begin, Congress must approve the plan and fund it.