Latest Mississippi River Delta News: September 3, 2015
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State conservation group commends decision to hold Corps liable for MRGO wetlands restoration *features Rebecca Triche, LWF WVUE. September 2, 2015 “This is a big win for the greater New Orleans area and the state of Louisiana,” said Rebecca Triche, executive director for Louisiana Wildlife Federation (LWF). “The MRGO destroyed wetlands that are critical in protecting New Orleans and the surrounding area from storm surge and this decision signals an end to delays in moving forward with restoration.” (Read More) …
Latest Mississippi River Delta News: September 2, 2015
‘Natural’ river diversion at center of coastal restoration conflict (video) *features John Lopez & Theryn Henkel, LPBF By David Hammer, WWL-TV. September 1, 2015 “It was coastal scientist John Lopez of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation who first dubbed this cleft Mardi Gras Pass, and he’s now giving it credit for actually starting the work that Louisiana has yet to muster the resources to pursue.” (Read More) Strategies: Entrepreneurs preventing the next Katrina By Rhonda Abrams, USA Today. August …
MRGO Must Go Coalition Applauds $3 Billion Court Decision Moving Critical Restoration Forward
For Immediate Release: Contact: John Lopez, Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, 504-421-7348, jlopez@saveourlake.org Samantha Carter, National Wildlife Federation, 504-264-6831, carterS@nwf.org MRGO Must Go Coalition Applauds $3 Billion Court Decision Moving Critical Restoration Forward 10 years after Katrina, critical ecosystem and storm buffer still awaits restoration (NEW ORLEANS – September 2, 2015) In a landmark decision last week, U.S. District Court Judge Lance Africk of the Eastern District of Louisiana ruled in favor of the State of Louisiana, finding that the U.S. Army …
Latest Mississippi River Delta News: September 1, 2015
Our views: Gov. Bobby Jindal’s master plan on coastal restoration ‘is the framework for an effective response’ The Advocate. August 31, 2015 “If there are issues dividing the candidates running for governor, coastal restoration is not among them. In fact, there’s a striking level of agreement about the principles of a state plan to use Mississippi River water and sediments to rebuild the sinking coastline.” (Read More) Ten years after Katrina, New Orleans is still a ticking time bomb By …
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) …
Katrina 10 – A Coastal View of Katrina Ten Years Later
This week marks a decade since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita slammed into the Gulf Coast, killing nearly 2,000 people and devastating communities and coastal wetlands. Louisiana has come a long way in the past 10 years in restoring coastal areas that act as a natural buffer against storm surge – but there is still much work to do to achieve comprehensive restoration that can protect our communities from future storms. Below is a look at some of the damage caused …
Conservation Groups Commemorate Katrina Anniversary by Urging President to Prioritize Restoration
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Emily Guidry Schatzel, National Wildlife Federation, 225.253.9781, schatzele@nwf.org Elizabeth Van Cleve, Environmental Defense Fund, 202.553.2543, evancleve@edf.org Jacques Hebert, National Audubon Society, 504.264.6849, jhebert@audubon.org Jimmy Frederick, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, 225.767.4181, jimmy.frederick@crcl.org John Lopez, Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, 504.421.7348, jlopez@saveourlake.org Conservation Groups Commemorate Katrina Anniversary by Urging President Obama to Prioritize Restoration Coastal Restoration Is Key to City’s Long-Term Resiliency, and Administration Has Opportunities to Advance Efforts (NEW ORLEANS, LA—Aug. 26, 2015) As President Obama and …
Tagged EconomicsLatest Mississippi River Delta News: August 26, 2015
Decade after Katrina, efforts aim to restore Louisiana coast *features Steve Cochran, EDF By Randy Lee Loftin, Dallas News. August 25, 2015 “What the Louisiana coast needs, just about everyone agrees, is multiple lines of defense against storms — starting with the ones nature put in place. Coastal wetlands help buffer big storms before they hit the mainland by absorbing some of the power of waves. Some research says storm surge, the dramatic rise in water levels pushed by hurricane …
Latest Mississippi River Delta News: August 25, 2015
10 Years After Katrina, Louisiana Is Becoming A Model For Climate Resilience *features Doug Meffert, NAS, John Lopez, LPBF & Simone Maloz, ROR By Kate Sheppard, Huffington Post. August 24, 2015 “But the most recent master plan, released in 2012, is a “masterpiece,” Meffert said, based on sound science for what the region can expect as the climate changes and seas rise.”It did what no other master plan or general plan had done before — drew a map of Louisiana …
Latest Mississippi River Delta News: August 21, 2015
The Next Big One By Chris Mooney, The Washington Post. August 21, 2015 “Louisiana has roughly 5,700 square miles of wetlands. If it keeps losing them at the current rate — estimated at a football field an hour — New Orleans could someday lie right up against the Gulf of Mexico, more exposed than ever to another natural disaster. And Nyman and many other coastal scientists say that wetland-building river diversions like the one at Pass a Loutre — only …
Latest Mississippi River Delta News: August 19, 2015
All Louisiana governor candidates support multibillion-dollar diversion plans to slow coastal land loss By Cain Burdeau, The Advocate. August 19, 2015 “The candidates largely voiced similar approaches on what they see as the steps necessary to take. Each one backed a $50 billion, 50-year master plan devised by Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration to slow land loss by diverting the Mississippi River’s mud and water into injured estuaries. The idea is to restore the river’s delta-building capacity. The river has been …
The History of Coastal Restoration in Louisiana: More than 40 years of planning
By Estelle Robichaux, Restoration Project Analyst, Environmental Defense Fund and Gaby Garcia, Science Intern, Environmental Defense Fund The damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall in Louisiana’s bird’s foot delta nearly 10 years ago, brought regional and national attention to the state’s dramatic and ongoing coastal land loss crisis. But this crisis, as well as innovative and large-scale solutions to reverse wetland loss, had been studied, discussed and planned by scientists and decision-makers for decades. In a series of …
Latest Mississippi River Delta News: August 17, 2015
Our Views: Threat to Louisiana’s people, heritage due to coastal erosion, rising seas is real The Advocate. August 17, 2015 “Sometimes, the phraseology makes Louisiana’s plight seem academic, but coastal land loss and rising sea levels have had a huge impact on our state within living memory. This is not an issue of 100 years ago or 200 years ago, but very much a contemporary impact on our way of life.” (Read More) Five Louisiana projects under consideration for Funding …
Latest Mississippi River Delta News: August 14, 2015
Louisiana restoration projects to get another $52 million in Transocean fines *features MRD statement By Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune. August 13, 2015 “We are very pleased that all five of our submittals have ended up in the draft funded priority list,” Kline said. “Additionally, we are pleased that there are two projects proposed by federal council members that directly benefit coastal Louisiana. We believe this is a step in the right direction toward restoring the long term health of the …
Restore the Mississippi River Delta Launches “Restore the Coast” Community Engagement Campaign
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Emily Guidry Schatzel, National Wildlife Federation, 225.253.9781, schatzele@nwf.org Jacques Hebert, National Audubon Society, 504.264.6849, jhebert@audubon.org Elizabeth Van Cleve, Environmental Defense Fund, 202.553.2543, evancleve@edf.org Jimmy Frederick, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, 225.317.2046, jimmy.frederick@crcl.org Restore the Mississippi River Delta Coalition Launches “Restore the Coast” Community Engagement Campaign Campaign Highlights Important Role Louisiana Leaders Play in Coastal Restoration (August 14, 2015 – NEW ORLEANS) This weekend, the Restore the Mississippi River Delta Coalition is launching the “Restore …