NEW ORLEANS, April 25 (UPI) -- More than $25 million in federal money would help protect the shoreline of Louisiana from erosion, the U.S. interior secretary announced.
The Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement announced more than $25 million from the Coastal Impact Assistance Program was going to help protect Louisiana's coast.
The funding targets the construction of a land bridge that will protect the coast from erosion and preserve area marshlands. CIAP funds were created under a 2005 energy act to conserve and protect coastal environments in states along the U.S. outer continental shelf.
"This is an example of how energy revenues can be wisely reinvested in the protection of marshes, shorelines and wildlife habitat," said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar in a statement. "Louisiana's wetlands are a national treasure that have been steadily disappearing and we must continue to do all we can to protect and restore them."
A so-called marine mattress system is built from rock-filled containers that protect the area against wave erosion. The interior department said it should also help with the restoration of a marshland along the eastern border with Mississippi.
