The Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government, Terrebonne Levee and Conservation District and the U.S. Corps of Engineers signed a cooperative agreement on the $30.24 million Terrebonne Parish non-federal levee project. This agreement will enable the Corps to begin construction on non-federal levees as early as February 2009. Parish President Michel H. Claudet stated, “ I am very pleased to see this day finally arrive. It is a long awaited cooperative endeavor which will allow us to move forward and begin the construction of our levees to protect our citizens against flooding such as we experienced with Hurricanes Rita and Ike. I want to give special thanks to all of those who worked together to make it a reality, especially Senator David Vitter for his tireless efforts which made this all possible.” The project proposes repairs, replacements, modifications, and improvements to the Suzie Canal and the Orange Street non-federal levees. Senator David Vitter was present via conference call. He stated: "I secured $30 million in funding in 2006 as part of the emergency supplemental, and this money was dedicated specifically for work on levees outside of the federal government's jurisdiction," said Vitter. "Despite some difficulty with the Corps, we were able to secure the transfer of this money to state and local flood officials to get this project underway now. I intend to work closely with local officials to ensure that this project incurs no further delays, and I thank all involved parties for their hard work on this matter. This is truly good news for Terrebonne Parish." “It takes cooperation and coordination between state, local and federal entities to complete this project,” said Col. Alvin B. Lee, New Orleans District commander. “It has been a great effort by all parties to get to this point.” The signing took place at 5:15 p.m. Monday, Dec. 15, 2008 at the Terrebonne Parish Council meeting room on the second floor of the Government Tower Building at 8026 Main Street in Houma.