Washington ,D.C. - U.S. Rep. Charles W. Boustany, Jr., R-Southwest Louisiana, discussed Louisiana’s funding priorities as well as additional representation for Acadiana and Southwest Louisiana on the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, CPRA with Governor Jindal.

“I appreciate Governor Jindal traveling to Washington to discuss the state’s needs with the delegation,” Boustany said. “We had a productive conversation, and I will work to secure long-term sustainable funding to rebuild our coast in a responsible way. In addition, the Governor and I talked about added representation for our area on the CPRA, a critical component to future rebuilding projects. The meeting I called in February proved as an important beginning to the process.”

In February, Boustany hosted a meeting with civic leaders from across Southwest Louisiana to discuss integrating strategies to attain federal and state funds for coastal restoration in the region. Boustany, who was joined by Garret Graves, Director of the Governor’s Office of Coastal Activities and CPRA Chairman, addressed reasons for disproportionate funding for Southwest Louisiana under the state’s FY2009 Coastal Restoration and Hurricane Protection draft plan.

Boustany urged the Governor to support one recommendation from that meeting

- to secure more Southwest Louisiana representation on the CPRA, which historically had less voice. According to a press release yesterday from the CPRA, “Senate Bill 367, authored by Sen. Reggie Dupre of Bourg, makes a change to the legislation that created the CPRA in 2005 by providing for the integration of the divisions of the state Departments of Transportation and Development and Natural Resources that were responsible for hurricane protection and coastal restoration respectively. The bill also expands the number of Authority members from 17 to 18 by providing an additional representative from Southwest Louisiana .”