Forced Marsh

[barb162]

By ROBERT S. YOUNG and DAVID M. BUSH
Published: September 27, 2005

IN the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, there has been much talk of rebuilding Louisiana's coastal wetlands and barrier islands. This proposal, which could cost an estimated $15 billion, has been advocated by Louisiana scientists, engineers, politicians and environmentalists alike, who explain that the state is suffering the highest rate of land loss in the nation and imply that restoring this land would reduce the damage from future storms.

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And even if we could rebuild these wetlands, maintaining them at a time of rising ocean levels is probably untenable. We would be creating our own little Holland, with a need for ever-more expensive construction and maintenance far into the future.

Last, if the government is going to spend $15 billion on restoration, let's put all the country's wetlands on the table. We seriously doubt that any objective scientific cost-benefit review would find that spending all that money in Louisiana makes sense.

We believe there are many concerned and honest advocates for the project to restore coastal Louisiana. But their effort should not be mislabeled as "storm protection," and we shouldn't allow our emotional response to a natural disaster to cloud our long-term thinking about the best way to spend our money on repairing America's coastal regions.


Robert S. Young and David M. Bush are professors of geology at, respectively, Western Carolina University and the University of West Georgia.


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/27/opinion/27young.html?th&emc=th

[applegrove]

1. I think it is a little soon to be deciding either way. If the arctic ice

melts as fast as they say it will - all coastal American cities are going to need work.