Restoring Louisiana's Coast Will Require Restoring Its Democracy -- Governor Jindal Is Trying to Und
The Mississippi's River southernmost delta is home to a rich ecosystem, robust, culture and booming economy. Wetlands provide critical storm protection for the Louisiana's coast. A recent poll by America's Wetland Foundation found that 74 percent of Louisiana residents "consider saving the coast to be the most important issue [in the state] of our lifetime." For Delta citizens, flood protection is a matter of survival. Louisiana wetlands are disappearing at a rate of approximately 1 football field every hour and coastal communities are already washing into the Gulf of Mexico. To date, roughly 2,000 square miles of land have disappeared under water and the erosion is accelerating. The disappearing land once buffered communities including New Orleans from catastrophic storm surges.
Managing the Mississippi River Delta is a daunting challenge, but the greatest barrier to restoration and flood protection is politics. Last year, a board of flood experts, acting to protect New Orleans, ignited a battle that has starkly pitted the public welfare against the sycophantic fealty of Louisiana's toadying politicians to a rapacious oil and gas industry.
The Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority -- East (SLFPA-E) oversees the greater New Orleans levee system. The deterioration of the wetlands that protect the levees surrounding New Orleans led the SLFPA-E to file suit against 97 oil and gas companies. While the Army Corp of Engineers diversion projects have contributed to wetland shrinkage by starving the delta of sediments, study after study, including those conducted by the state and the oil industry, point to oil and gas activities as a principle culprit in the loss of Louisiana's wetlands. The petroleum titans have dredged approximately 10,000 miles of canals through Louisiana's fragile wetlands in their thirst for oil and gas allowing wave action and salt water from the Gulf to infiltrate and destroy what is left. State issued dredge permits require these companies to restore the injured wetlands. Petroleum industry practice is to ignore those permit mandates.
SLFPA's suit seeks to force these companies to finally repair the damage they have inflicted on coastal wetlands as the law requires.
These permit violations are not victimless crimes. In breaking the laws that require wetland restoration, these companies endanger everyone who depends on Louisiana's productive and delicate coasts. The protection of the many should take precedence over the protection of the money, but Louisiana's servile politicians seem more concerned with protecting cash flow for the most profitable industry in history -- an industry that provides local pols their largest source of campaign lucre.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-f-kennedy-jr/louisiana-wetlands-jindal_b_5162230.html