Latest Mississippi River Delta news: October 10, 2012

10.10.2012 | In Latest News, Uncategorized

Team addresses coastal questions
By Amy Wold, The (Baton Rouge) Advocate. Oct. 10, 2012.
“Stemming the loss of Louisiana’s coastal wetlands will take not only science and engineering but also billions of dollars and a national commitment that the work is worth doing…” (Read more)

Senators differ on BP penalties
By Jordan Blum, The (Baton Rouge) Advocate. Oct. 10, 2012.
“WASHINGTON — As reports and criticisms circulate that the federal government may move outside of the federal RESTORE Act framework in the BP oil leak settlement talks, Louisiana’s two senators are taking different approaches…” (Read more)

Corps of Engineers needs to fix MR-GO damage: Editorial
By Editorial page staff, The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, La.). Oct. 10, 2012.
“Congress said in 2007 that it wanted the Army Corps of Engineers to pick up the entire cost of replacing wetlands destroyed by the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet. The corps is continuing to ignore that directive, however. Lt. Gen. Thomas Bostick, chief of the corps, insisted again last week that Louisiana should pay 35 percent of the $2.9 billion tab. State officials said the corps is demanding that the state sign a letter giving up its claim that the corps is required to pay the full cost. The state refused to capitulate, and rightly so…” (Read more)

Justice Department has obligation to Gulf Coast, not to BP
By Congressman Jo Bonner. Oct. 10, 2012.
“Last week, published reports surfaced that the ongoing negotiations between BP and the U.S. Justice Department to determine fines and penalties related to the 2010 Gulf oil spill have taken a bizarre turn…” (Read more)

Editorial: Do not undo the RESTORE Act
By Editorial Page staff, Sun Herald (Biloxi, Miss.). Oct. 9, 2012.
“We urge U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder not to allow Department of Justice negotiations with BP to undermine provisions of the RESTORE Act…” (Read more)

Senators to Obama: Don’t shortchange the Gulf Coast
By George Talbot, al.com. Oct. 8, 2012.
“Gulf Coast political leaders are continuing to push back against a potential settlement between the U.S. Department of Justice and BP that would shift control of billions of dollars in fines from the 2010 oil spill away from the states and to the federal government…” (Read more)

Gulf Coast could lose some BP spill funds in deal with Obama team
By Ledyard King, Gannett Washington Bureau. Oct. 8, 2012.
“WASHINGTON — Gulf Coast lawmakers spent nearly two years laboring to pass legislation that would make sure their states received most of the fine money energy giant BP Plc will pay for the April 2010 oil spill…” (Read more)

5 in race for U.S. District 1
By Jordan Blum, The (Baton Rouge) Advocate. Oct. 8, 2012.
“WASHINGTON — Chatting in the office of National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Pete Sessions, a Texas Republican, Louisiana Congressman Steve Scalise is comfortable discussing his rising role in the GOP…” (Read more)

Tab Benoit explains Voice of the Wetlands
By Dave Walker, The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, La.). Oct. 7, 2012.
“In Sunday’s (Oct. 7) episode of “Treme,” Tab Benoit performs twice with Big Chief Monk Boudreaux and Anders Osborne, collaborators with Benoit in the Voice of the Wetlands All-Stars musical aggregation. The band is an offshoot of the volunteer nonprofit Voice of the Wetlands organization Benoit founded in 2004 to raise awareness about the loss of wetlands in southern Louisiana. The 9th Annual Voice of Wetlands Festival is scheduled for Oct. 12-14 in Houma, La…” (Read more)

Editorial: Criticism of Army Corps of Engineers warranted
By Editorial Page staff, American Press (Lake Charles, La.). Oct. 5, 2012.
“The upgraded levee system that protects the City of New Orleans passed the test provided by Hurricane Isaac.

That’s the good news. However, the Category 1 hurricane revealed other problem areas outside the major levee system with catastrophic flooding in Plaquemines and St. Bernard parishes and along the southwestern and northern rim of Lake Pontchartrain…” (Read more)

BP Oil Spill Settlement: Gulf Coast Senators Sign Bipartisan Letter Seeking Fair Deal
By Roberta Rampton, Reuters. Oct. 5, 2012.
“WASHINGTON, Oct 5 (Reuters) – Senators from the U.S. Gulf Coast urged President Barack Obama on Friday to ensure that any legal settlement for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill does not undermine a recently passed law that would funnel billions of dollars worth of fines to their states…” (Read more)

Louisiana “dead zone” scientist wins $500,000 MacArthur “Genius Grant”
By Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, La.). Oct. 5, 2012.
“Each fall, marine ecologist Nancy Rabalais pours a bottle of oxygen-starved water from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico into an urn at the Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge. It’s part of an annual water rite at the church. Most congregants bring water they collect from summer vacations – in, say, Perdido Key, or perhaps Cape Cod.

But Rabalais’ water is scooped up in her research aimed at tracking the size of the annual low-oxygen “dead zone” along the coasts of Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi…” (Read more)