Hurricane Isaac is helping Gulf Coast lawmakers draw attention to stretches of their region that lack flood protection beyond the improved levees built in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

For example, a $10.6 billion plan to shield 200,000 residents of Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes in Louisiana with 72 miles of levees -- a project known as Morganza to the Gulf -- has been held up by 20 years of ongoing studies by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisiana lawmakers note.

That could soon change, Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) said, if billions of dollars in Deepwater Horizon oil spill penalties could be used to jump-start long-stalled flood projects.

Congress this summer passed the "Restore Act," (H.R. 4348), which directs 80 percent of the Clean Water Act penalties -- which could top $20 billion -- to Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas for economic and environmental restoration.

Louisiana could, Vitter said, direct some of its share to flood protection.

"We'll have some significant resources coming online through the Restore Act," Vitter said in a telephone interview.

The idea seems to rely, in part, on the blurry distinction between environmental restoration and flood protection. Restoration of barrier islands and coastal wetlands, for example, are often justified in part because they provide buffers for storm surges that are linked to the most severe hurricane damage.

When asked to whether flood protection could qualify for funding, given detailed language in the Restore Act dictating how money should be spent (E&ENews PM, July 21, 2011), Vitter said, "In various ways, yes. Particularly, if that coastal restoration is also flood protection."

Vitter added "some of it" could be used to build levees and pumps, while "much more of it" could go toward marsh and barrier island restoration.

He highlighted flood protection needs in lower Jefferson, St. Charles, Lafourche, Terrebonne, St. Charles and St. Tammany parishes. None have levees comparable to those of New Orleans, to which Congress has directed $14.5 billion since Katrina.

"These are areas that this post-Katrina system doesn't protect, that still have low levels of protection, and in some cases no protection," Vitter said. "So that's my biggest concern."

In a statement yesterday cheering the success of the post-Katrina New Orleans investments by the Army Corps, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) noted that "there have been no reports of major damage so far within protected areas."

Landrieu added that that hasn't been the case in low-lying areas outside the New Orleans floodwalls such as lower Jefferson and Plaquemines parishes.

"It's heartbreaking to watch people climb out of their attics and onto their roofs in search of safety," Landrieu said. "We must re-engage the Corps of Engineers on this. There are still too many areas without protection, and we have a lot of work left to do."