State of Louisiana Cancels Mid-Breton Sediment Diversion
NEW ORLEANS (Oct. 9, 2025) – The state of Louisiana has withdrawn the state and federal permit applications for the Mid-Breton Sediment Diversion, effectively cancelling another cornerstone project of the state’s coastal program.
Restore the Mississippi River Delta, a coalition of national and local conservation groups, issued the following statement:
“Cancelling the Mid-Breton Sediment Diversion is yet another devastating blow to the future of our coast, our communities and our economy. The Mid-Breton decision, which follows the cancellation of the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion earlier this year, marks another disappointing turn away from the state’s science-backed, bipartisan and publicly supported coastal program. Despite extensive public engagement in developing the project, the cancellation occurred without public input or explanation to the communities most impacted.
The Mid-Breton permitting process was going to provide valuable data and research about the east side of the lower Mississippi River, and the project was also a central component of the state’s Coastal Master Plan. This cancellation disregards the decades of transparency and significant effort that went into research, permitting, community engagement and modeling for the project.
Reconnecting the Mississippi River to surrounding wetlands will deliver sediment, freshwater, and nutrients needed to build and maintain land and complement other project types in the basin, such as marsh creations and ridge restorations, by protecting these projects and extending their lifespan. We must use all the tools in the toolbox to restore our coast. The river is vital to our efforts. Cancelling this project puts integral large-scale, sustainable coastal restoration years, or even decades, further out of reach.”
Similar to the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion, the Mid-Breton Sediment Diversion was included in the 2007, 2012 and 2017 coastal master plans and was assumed to be built and operating in the 2023 Coastal Master Plan. In 2016, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation committed $90 million to the engineering and design of the Mid-Breton diversion, and a firm was selected in 2018. In 2019, CPRA signed a construction manager at-risk contract to pave the way for construction, and approximately two months ago CPRA met with the Legislature to request approval to continue expending funds on permitting activities on the project in its FY26 Annual Plan.
About Restore the Mississippi River Delta:
Restore the Mississippi River Delta is working to protect people, wildlife and jobs by reconnecting the river with its wetlands. As our region faces the crisis of land loss, we offer science-based solutions through a comprehensive approach to restoration. Composed of conservation, policy, science and outreach experts from Environmental Defense Fund, National Audubon Society, the National Wildlife Federation and Pontchartrain Conservancy, we are located in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Washington, D.C.; and around the United States. Learn more at MississippiRiverDelta.org and connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.