Latest Mississippi River Delta News: August 31, 2015

New Orleans hurricane defenses rely on swamps as much as levees
*features Alisha Renfro, NWF
By Kim Brunhuber, CBC News. August 28, 2015
“The storm surge itself interacts with the plants and it causes friction and slowing the storm surge down, decreasing the height of that storm surge,” Renfro says. So not only can it protect the coastal communities, it can also help protect the infrastructure that we’ve built around our coastal communities from things like large hurricanes.” (Read More)

Planners: Re-channel the Mississippi River to save other parts of the delta closer to New Orleans (video)
*features Steve Cochran, EDF By John Snell, WVUE. August 28, 2015
“It’s such a powerful engine, this river,” said Steve Cochran, director for Mississippi River Delta Restoration at the Environmental Defense Fund, who oversaw the competition. “How can we use the most of it? “The concept of re-engineering the river is nothing new, having been discussed among engineers since the 1970s. However, it rarely draws much public attention.” (Read More)

How Hurricane Katrina Redrew the Gulf Coast
*features David Muth, NWF & Theryn Henkel, LPBF
By Helen Thompson, Smithsonian.com. August 28, 2015
“For still-damaged wetlands, “the most important thing we can do is fix the system—unleash nature to recover its capacity for resiliency,” says Muth. That means diverting the river to restore damaged wetlands and doing our best to control exotic species.” (Read More)

Katrina Ten Years Later: Can New Orleans Weather the Next Storm? (video)
*features Doug Meffert, NAS
By Rhonda Schaffler, The Street. August 25, 2015
“For still-damaged wetlands, “the most important thing we can do is fix the system—unleash nature to recover its capacity for resiliency,” says Muth. That means diverting the river to restore damaged wetlands and doing our best to control exotic species.” (Read More)

How to Fix Louisiana’s Eroding Coast? These Designers Have a Plan.
By Steve Cochran (EDF), Environmental Leader. August 31, 2015
“Will Changing Course help the Mississippi River Delta region turn a corner? We think it might as it builds on a strong plan already in place. Louisiana’s 2012 Coastal Master Plan includes innovative approaches for reconnecting the river with its dying delta. But it also asks how we could maximize the use of the river for restoration, while balancing the needs of a world class navigation system and improving flood control for the whole region.” (Read More)

Good Day CENLA (video)
*features Doug Meffert, NAS
KALB. August 28, 2015
“The main progress is the development of a robust ambitious, but realistic, 50 year, 50 billion dollar plan for integrated coastal restoration and levee protection.” (Read More)

New Orleans Becoming the Next Atlantis?
By Romellaine Arsenio, HNGN. August 29, 2015
“If nothing is done over the next 15 years, another 300 to 500 square miles of Louisiana will disappear,” John M. Barry, a historian and former member of one of greater New Orleans’s levee boards has stated. “And loss will continue after that, turning New Orleans into a potential Atlantis with walls of levees holding back the sea.” (Read More)

Corps of Engineers is responsible for restoring wetlands destroyed by MR-GO: Editorial
By Editorial Board, The Times-Picayune. August 29, 2015
“It was the corps that built MR-GO and the corps that refused for so long to close it. It is the corps that must fix the grievous damage that was done.” (Read More)

Obama may back Louisiana use of offshore oil revenue for coastal restoration, state officials say
By Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune. August 29, 2015
“The president was quite attentive in wanting to know what has worked, what is in progress, and what we need in order to continue implementing our coastal master plan so that Louisiana and its people can continue to live and work along the nation’s most unique coast,” Kline said. “I told the president that a streamlining of the federal approval process and the trimming of red tape would be of great help in implementing our Master Plan for a sustainable coast.” (Read More)