On Sept. 13, Gov. Jeff Landry landed at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport for a press conference with New Orleans and Louisiana officials. Among the chaos, Landry confronted the Sewage and Water Board of New Orleans about their hurricane preparedness just two days after Hurricane Francine hit the Gulf Coast. 

“How can we recognize where the infrastructure deficiencies are today, because we don’t know whether we are going to get another storm tomorrow?” Landry asked. The Sewage and Water Board recently asked state legislators for $29 million for a new power substation to help keep the pumps running. 

Landry and other lawmakers denied the request, citing concerns about where the money will come from and how it will be used. “It’s easy to say, ‘Oh, we need $29 million,’ because this area has received billions of dollars, so why are we in the same position?” Landry said.  

Ghassan Korban, the executive director of the SWB, said funding could come from federal grants. “The structure is a little bit different where there’s a local share that’s required to match what the Department of Energy gives us,” he said in an interview with WWL. “But you know, it’s a much better alternative than not having anything being offered.”  

Mayor Cantrell, in the meeting with Landry and the SWB, pushed back against Landry, asking for funding. “I just want to continue to push for the necessary resources that the city of New Orleans needs relative to the Sewerage and Water Board, our power complex,” she said. 

Political science professor Rosalind Cook worked in the New Orleans Mayor’s Office of Communication under former Mayors Marc Morial and Ray Nagin. During Hurricane Katrina, she was the communications specialist for the Regional Transit Authority. 

“Governor Landry wanted answers to why parts of New Orleans flooded: why did drainage pumps trip offline and why were there power generator problems during the storm,” Cook said. “The Sewerage and Water Board has requested an additional $29 million from the state’s capital outlay budget was denied by state legislators. Louisiana has a predominantly Republican legislature that nearly always votes against New Orleans’ interests and New Orleans’ Democratic legislators.” 

 Landry promised he will help find the money for the new substation. “We are going to sit down and put those numbers together. I think that that is actually important,” he said.