08:30 AM CST on Sunday, December 11, 2005

WWLTV.com

Governor Kathleen Blanco seems to be taking a major step in consolidating south Louisiana’s levee boards and making sure that the group overseeing the levees be limited to a focus on flood protection.

In a memo issued to the newly-formed Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority – and obtained by Eyewitness News – Blanco asks the group to develop plans for the next legislative session that would include language that appears aimed at the single levee board concept.

Blanco charged the group to come up with language that would enable the constitutional abolishment of some levee districts and the creation of a new district in the Greater New Orleans area that would have the following objectives.

Removing opportunities for political patronage

Demanding a focus on flood protection

Provide constitutional protection for the new district

And creation of regional levee protection

At least one member of the group said the move could be the first step in levee board reform.

The state legislature received some criticism for an inability to consolidate the area’s levee boards during the recent special session.