Latest Mississippi River Delta News: July 14, 2015

The Birds of British Petroleum
*features Erik Johnson, NAS & David Muth, NWF
By David Gessner, Audubon Magazine. July – August 2015
“There are times you can’t be sure of much in the Gulf, but amid all the confusion, one thing is undeniable: Habitat is going away, and it is going away fast, the land sinking and sea rising like nowhere else on earth, to the point where organizations working in the region report that the Mississippi River Delta loses “a football field” of coastal wildlife habitat every hour. We are not talking about geological time here but about whole marshes and small islands that have disappeared since I last visited.” (Read More)
 
Measure could aid local levee work
By Sean Ellis, Houma Courier. July 11, 2015
“The Army Corps of Engineers will have to comply with the same wetlands protection standards imposed on private property owners under a measure passed by the U.S. House. If the Senate approves the measure, the corps — instead of local levee districts — could be required to pay to repair wetlands damaged by building federally approved levees like Morganza-to-the Gulf in Terrebonne. ” (Read More)
 
Louisiana wetlands loss is blue crab’s gain; study to examine habitat
By Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, The Times-Picayune. July 13, 2015
“Scientists will examine how the Louisiana blue crab population has remained relatively stable over the past two decades despite the massive changes in Louisiana’s coastal landscape. The answer, it appears, is “submerged aquatic vegetation,” or SAVs — underwater grass that apparently grows in patches where wetlands have been lost. ” (Read More)

$2 million BP offer accepted by West Bank levee authority
By Andrea Shaw, The Times-Picayune. July 13, 2015
“ BP’s $2 million offer to the West Bank levee authority, to resolve claims stemming from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil disaster, was accepted Monday (July 13). The Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-West board of commissioners approved the settlement during a special meeting at Our Lady of Holy Cross College in Algiers. ” (Read More)