FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

1/27/10

Landrieu Welcomes $474.7 Million Award for Regional Medical Complex

Senator authored key provision in the Recovery Act to create arbitration panel.

WASHINGTON — United States Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., Chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Disaster Recovery Subcommittee, today welcomed a federal arbitration panel’s award of $474.7 million in compensation for hurricane-related damage to Charity Hospital in New Orleans.  Charity Hospital has been closed since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Sen. Landrieu secured an amendment in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that required the President to establish an arbitration system for Public Assistance projects from Katrina and Rita.  

“Today’s ruling is a huge victory for the people of Louisiana, particularly the New Orleans region, and shows why we needed an independent arbitration system in place to settle this and ongoing disputes,” said Sen. Landrieu.  “The panel’s award is more than three times what FEMA had offered and nearly the full amount requested by the state of Louisiana.  It is our own stimulus bill and will be the cornerstone of building a new, modern, cutting-edge medical complex to help restore much-needed patient care that has been missing since Hurricane Katrina closed up Charity Hospital. The hospital will have a $2 billion impact on our region’s economy and is another important step in building a better FEMA that is more responsive to the needs people affected by disasters.”

The Federal Emergency Management Agency had valued the damage from Hurricane Katrina at $124 million and offered to settle the matter for $150 million.

For more information about the arbitration panel, please visit: http://landrieu.senate.gov/releases/09/2009807531.html.