In fisherman Charlie Duhe’s 60 years on the bayou, he's seen plenty of changes.

“The whole river was lined with big cypress trees,” he said, pointing to the river bank along the Blind River now devoid of the large trees.

The hardest change for him has been what's happened under the water.

“The fish are just not here anymore,” Duhe said. “I wanna cry when I see this…you can't even put a line in the water, just too much lilies and duckweed.”

Locals worry the water in the Blind River has become so stagnant that almost nothing can survive, which is why the state plans to spend $30 million to, in effect, flush out the river. It’s one of nearly 200 projects planned for a bayou building boom of sorts. On Thursday, the federal government signed off to spend nearly half-a-billion-dollars over the next four years to repair the state's vanishing coastline.

“It is the single biggest source of revenue we've ever gotten in the history of the state of Louisiana for coastal restoration,” said Scott Angelle, Secretary of the Department of Natural Resources.

For the first year, the state will spend $127.5 million on coastal work, more than five times what's currently spent.

“You've got money, honey; we know what to do with it, that's the bottom line,” Governor Kathleen Blanco joked.

WWL-TV

Gov. Kathleen Blanco.

The money's coming from royalties from off-shore production, in a bill that was passed by Congress before Katrina, to help six coastal states. It’s an acknowledgment, parish leaders said, that oil companies bear some of the costs for the damage to the wetlands.

“It was a recognition of how much coastline has been lost in the last 20 years,” said Randall Luthi, Director of Minerals Management Service. “A recognition that there are projects that should be able to work.”

The projects include redirecting rivers, to restoring barrier islands, to pumping treated sewage into swamps. Work is scheduled to begin within the next year and should be completed by 2014.

“This is reconnecting, very much, the natural forces to do what they're supposed to do,” said Sidney Coffee, Chair of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority.