Louisiana Revised Statutes Tit. 34, § 3401. Object and purpose

It is the object and purpose of this Chapter to provide for the Mississippi River Deepening Project, allowing more efficient deep draft navigation access to the New Orleans and Baton Rouge reaches of the Mississippi River via Southwest Pass by enlarging in phases or stages the existing channel to a project depth of forty-five feet;  to authorize the first phase of the project;  to designate the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development as the assuring and coordinating agency of the state;  to furnish to the United States such assurances as may be required by the Congress of the United States as a condition for such project, including, among other things, that the state or an agency, department, or subdivision thereof will provide such lands, servitudes, and rights-of-way or other rights or interest necessary to said construction and maintenance of the project, including, suitable areas for initial and subsequent disposal of dredged material and all alterations and relocations of submarine pipelines, cables, and other structures and improvements necessary for project purposes, berthing areas and local access channels, public terminal and transfer facilities and prohibition of the erection of structures within one hundred feet of the project channel, and also agreements to indemnify and hold harmless the United States from claims arising out of the construction, maintenance, and operation of the project in certain instances;  to share the portion of the costs, and to reimburse to the United States all or such portion of the costs, of the construction and maintenance of the deepened channel as may be required by the Congress;  to impose upon and exact from commercial waterway commerce such tolls, charges, and user fees as may be required and as may be authorized by the Congress to be used for such purposes as so authorized.