Louisiana Porks the Taxpayers...

From The Pork Book:


$100,327,000, a 56 percent increase from fiscal year 2005, for
projects in the state of Senate Energy and Water Appropriations
Subcommittee member Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and the district of
House appropriator Rodney Alexander (R-La.) including:
$13,500,000 for the J. Bennett Johnston Waterway; $11,250,000 for
the Inner Harbor Canal Lock, which has been deemed ineffective
because of changing water traffic patterns; $2,250,000 for Mississippi
River Outlets in Venice; $1,170,000 for Barartaria Bay;
$500,000 for the Louisiana State University Sugar-Based Ethanol
Project; $442,000 for Lake Providence Harbor; $400,000 for
Louisiana Immersive Technologies Enterprise Program at the
University of Louisiana-Lafayette; $375,000 for Ascension Parish
environmental infrastructure; $172,000 for Mississippi River Ship
Channel; and $77,000 for Madison Parish Port.

One would assume that the increase in Louisiana earmarks could be attributed to
Hurricane Katrina. Unfortunately, this was not the case as the
majority of projects added by the appropriations committees do not
concern flood control or the reparation of destroyed levees. For
example, 13.4 percent of total Louisiana pork, or $13,500,000, was
allocated to one project, the J. Bennett Johnston Waterway, even
though it is only used by 4 percent of Louisiana’s commercial
traffic. And, according to the Army Corps of Engineers, the
waterway’s costs will not be justified until 2046.