Army Corps of Engineers: Pelican Program
Protecting Essential Louisiana Infrastructure, Citizens, and Nature
(PELICAN) Program
• Establishes a PELICAN Commission to more timely and cost effectively implement needed hurricane
protection, flood control, coastal restoration, and navigation projects in an integrated and comprehensive fashion without having to come back to Congress for any other approval.
• Appropriates $40 billion to the Commission to quickly approve and fund the design and implementation of
these corps projects.
• The PELICAN Commission is composed of 9 members as follows:
o a chairperson appointed by the President
o the Chief of Engineers of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
o the NOAA Administrator
o the Louisiana member of the Mississippi River Commission
o the Governor of Louisiana
o a Louisianian, appointed by the President, with expertise in commerce
o a Louisianian, appointed by the President, with expertise in environment
o a Louisianian, appointed by the President, with expertise in flood control, and
o a Louisianian, appointed by the President, with expertise in maritime matters
• Directs the Commission to engage the Corps to develop, within 6 months and annually thereafter, a Work
Plan for designing and implementing these projects “to simultaneously protect the Louisiana coastal area
from future flooding and devastation caused by hurricanes, restore and reconstruct coastal wetlands, and
provide for navigational interest.”
• Upon the Commission’s approval of the Corps’ Work Plan, the Commission shall fund the Corps to
immediately begin implementation of the projects without having to come back to Congress for any other
approval.