Latest Mississippi River Delta News: May 18, 2015
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Pipeline moves Mississippi River sand to create 12-mile land bridge across three parishes By Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune. May 15, 2015 “The flag-planting occurred about the eight-mile point in the project that’s building a ridge and marsh platform out of sand dredged from the Mississippi River near the Phillips 66 Alliance Refinery south of Belle Chasse and pumped inland. For the past five years, segments of the project have deposited the ridge and marsh, as much as 3 1/2 feet …
Latest Mississippi River Delta News: May 15, 2015
House approves committee to consider lifting oyster lease moratorium By Jeremy Harper, Houma Today. May 13, 2015 “The House of Representatives approved a resolution Wednesday creating a commission to review lifting the state’s moratorium on new oyster leases.” (Read More) A deeper Mississippi River on the Horizon By Kathryn Stone, Maritime Executive. May 14, 2015 “On Wednesday the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced its plans to draft a supplemental environmental impact report looking into expanding an area of the …
Latest Mississippi River Delta News: May 14, 2015
Thirty Million Gallons Under the Sea By Antonia Juhasz, Harper’s Magazine. June 2015 Issue “For the next fourteen hours, we would sail toward the site of BP’s Macondo well, where, in April 2010, a blowout caused the largest offshore-drilling oil spill in history. Once there, Atlantis’s crew would launch Alvin and guide it to the bottom of the ocean, reaching depths as great as 7,200 feet below the surface. Over the next twenty-two days they would send the submersible down …
Latest Mississippi River Delta News: May 13, 2015
BP oil spill: Judge rejects fight to delay environmental fines By Jennifer Larino, The Times-Picayune. May 13, 2015 “A federal judge has denied a request to delay a decision on how much BP owes in environmental fines from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill until after the company pays all damage claims related to the disaster.” (Read More) Coastal senators float revenue-sharing proposals for energy bill consideration By Nick Juliano, E&E Daily. May 13, 2015 “The long-running effort by …
Latest Mississippi River Delta News: May 12, 2015
Wetland Resources Invents Ways to Save Coastline Faster By Eve Abrams, WWNO. May 12, 2015 “Shaffer says coastal Louisiana’s biggest problem is saltwater intrusion. Not only do cypress and tupelo protect against hurricanes, they build back the land through their roots, which trap sediment, and their leaves, which decompose extremely slowly in the marsh. But these trees die in saltwater. Restoration requires freshwater.” (Read More)
Latest Mississippi River Delta News: May 11, 2015
Bill would inject a $10 million into coastal restoration By Antwan Harris, WWLTV. May 10, 2015 “A subcommittee on water and energy included the funds for the 2016 fiscal year after much debate in Washington. The money will be used to restore the coast using dredging material and would add about 3 miles of wetlands every year over the next 50 years. Overall the plan would add about 900 new miles of land with better protection while pushing the erosion …
Latest Mississippi River Delta News: May 8, 2015
After the oil spill: Still looking for answers 5 years later amid Louisiana beauty and hidden concerns By Katie Oxford, Houston Culture Map. May 08, 2015 “I see spin whenever I see the BP ads. They give you the impression that ecology wise, resolution has occurred in the Gulf of Mexico. All’s well. They say things like, “I’m from Louisiana – I grew up here,” to sell sentiment. They don’t mention the complexity of the ecosystem. The necessity of time …
Latest Mississippi River Delta News: May 7, 2015
Gulf Oil Spill Completely Destroyed this Island *features Natalie Peyronnin, EDF & Doug Meffert, NAS By Stephen Luntz, IFL Science. May 06, 2015 “As Natalie Peyronnin of the Environmental Defense Fund explains. “The oil comes down, it kills the mangroves, which then kills the root system. And the root is holding together this island, and without that root system holding together, the sediment it just erodes away.” An island 5.5 acres in size (2 hectares) has largely vanished.” (Read More) …
Latest Mississippi River Delta News: May 6, 2015
NOAA announces long-term Gulf of Mexico ecosystem research priorities NOAA. May 06, 2015 “As part of the final version of the science plan for the NOAA RESTORE Act Science Program, today NOAA announced 10 long-term research priorities in the Gulf of Mexico, including how the Gulf’s waters, natural resources, fisheries and coastal communities are all interconnected. NOAA’s program supports research on the Gulf’s long-term ecological sustainability and its fisheries.” (Read More) Ducks Unlimited secures funding for Texas, Louisiana projects By …
Latest Mississippi River Delta News: May 5, 2015
NOAA announces new Deepwater Horizon oil spill searchable database web tool NOAA. May 04, 2015 “A new online tool developed by NOAA to manage and integrate the massive amounts of data collected by different sources during the five years following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, called DIVER for Data Integration, Visualization, Exploration, and Reporting, is now available for use by research teams and the public at https://dwhdiver.orr.noaa.gov.” (Read More) St. Bernard residents could see flooding, higher insurance after tax …
Latest Mississippi River Delta News: May 04, 2015
Mississippi River diversion proponents use full-page ad to state their case *features MRD statement, Natalie Peyronnin, EDF, By Amy Wold, The Advocate. May 04, 2015 “A full-page advertisement that ran Sunday in a number of publications in Louisiana, including The Advocate, highlights the need for large, land-building diversions to be built along the Mississippi River as part of the state’s coastal restoration plan. Andy Nyman, a wetland scientist at LSU, said scientists discussed the need to counter misinformation being spread …
Latest Mississippi River Delta News: May 1, 2015
Bayou Lafourche dredging could start next month By Jacob Batte, Houma Courier. April 29, 2015 “A nearly $20 million project to dredge more than eight miles of Bayou Lafourche is expected to begin within the next month, officials said. The Bayou Lafourche Freshwater District received three bids Monday for the second phase of a large-scale project that aims to increase Mississippi River water flow into the bayou.” (Read More) Recycled Christmas trees used to build up land in Bayou Sauvage …
Latest Mississippi River Delta News: April 30, 2015
NOAA study finds marshes, reefs, beaches can enhance coastal resilience NOAA News. April 29, 2015 “The resilience of U.S. coastal communities to storms, flooding, erosion and other threats can be strengthened when they are protected by natural infrastructure such as marshes, reefs, and beaches, or with hybrid approaches, such as a “living shoreline” — a combination of natural habitat and built infrastructure, according to a new NOAA study.” (Read More)
Latest Mississippi River Delta News: April 29, 2015
Engineering a better future for the Mississippi Delta Phys.org. April 28, 2015 “River deltas, low-lying landforms that host critical and diverse ecosystems as well as high concentrations of human population, face an uncertain future. Even as some deltas experience decreased sediment supply from damming, others will see increased sediment discharge from land-use changes. Accurate estimates of the current rate of subsidence in the Mississippi Delta are important for planning wetland restoration and predictions of storm surge flooding.” (Read More)
Latest Mississippi River Delta News: April 28, 2015
Scalise, Richmond pleased with proposed funding for La. coastline restoration The Ripon Advance. April 27, 2015 “The inclusion of these funds in this appropriations bill moves the ball forward for vital coastal restoration projects while also keeping the spotlight on the national importance of Louisiana’s coastline.” (Read More) Still not RESTORE-d Gambit. April 27, 2015 “On the fifth anniversary of the BP disaster, much national and international attention rightly turned to the Gulf Coast, as it surely will this summer …