Latest Mississippi River Delta news: Nov. 4, 2015
Mississippi’s Gold Dust: Can Sediment Save Louisiana’s Disappearing Coastline?
By Richard Grant, Al Jazeera America. Nov. 1, 2015.
“A hulking old engineering boat moves slowly up the mile-wide Mississippi River. The Dredge Jadwin operates like a gigantic vacuum cleaner, sucking up sediment from the riverbed and spewing it out to the side through a long pipe. “For us, sediment it’s basically a problem,” says Randy Stockton, master of the Jadwin, built in 1933. “It clogs up the shipping channel. It silts in the river ports. The more of it there is, the harder we work to move it. But down on the coast this stuff is like gold dust.”…” (read more).
Study: Reproduction of dolphins hurt by BP oil spill
By Cain Burdeau, Associated Press. Nov. 3, 2015.
“NEW ORLEANS – Dolphins living in a Louisiana bay polluted by BP’s massive 2010 offshore oil spill have had a very difficult time giving birth long after their bay was covered in slicks, a new study shows…” (read more).
Plan to fix coastline would cut off Plaquemines, lower coast
By Dennis Woltering, WWL-TV. Nov. 3, 2015.
“NEW ORLEANS — As erosion robs Louisiana of a football field of coastline an hour, the land is sinking and the sea is rising. “The delta is consolidating and shrinking,” said Jonathan Hird of Moffatt & Nichol…” (read more).
Design competition finalists would abandon coastal communities
By Jacob Batte, The Daily Comet (Thibodaux, La.). Oct. 31, 2015.
“The future of some Louisiana coastal communities would be in doubt under proposals produced as part of an environmental design competition under consideration by the state…” (read more).
Study suggests Louisiana coastal communities may not exist in 50 to 100 years
By Andy Cunningham, WDSU. Oct. 29, 2015.
“New Orleans and the region is protected by one of the most advanced flood control systems on the planet. But not even that, according to some scientists, will be enough to keep the Gulf of Mexico at bay forever…” (read more).
Congressional delegation opposes ‘land grab’
By Jacob Batte, The Houma Courier. Oct. 30, 2015.
“Louisiana’s entire congressional delegation signed a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers expressing “serious concern” over an attempt to turn nearly 500 acres of sugarcane fields and swamps into wetlands…” (read more).