NEWS RELEASE: Oil Spill Recovery Projects Proposed by Louisiana Deserve Prompt Review
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Contacts: Steven Peyronnin, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, 225.413.6924, stevenp@crcl.org Sean Crowley, Environmental Defense Fund, 202.550-6524-c, scrowley@edf.org John Lopez, Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, 504.421.7348, johnlopez@pobox.com Chris Macaluso, Louisiana Wildlife Federation, 225-344-6707, chris@lawildlifefed.org David J. Ringer, National Audubon Society, 601.642.7058, dringer@audubon.org Emily Guidry Schatzel, National Wildlife Federation, 225.253.9781, guidrye@nwf.org Karen Gautreaux, The Nature Conservancy, 225-788-4525, kgautreaux@tnc.org Oil Spill Recovery Projects Proposed by Louisiana Deserve Prompt Review Conservation groups say prompt review necessary so restoration can begin (New Orleans–July 11, 2011) Conservation …
As Flood Waters Recede, New Land Appears in West Bay
By David Muth, National Wildlife Federation On June 22, members of the Mississippi River Delta Restoration Campaign visited the West Bay Sediment Diversion site to make a preliminary assessment of effects of the great Mississippi River flood of 2011. What they found exceeded expectations. Standing where flood water had risen to waist deep level or even deeper, they now stood in ankle deep water on a hard sand bottom. Based on this observation, there is every expectation that when the Mississippi flood waters …
Audubon Honors 50 Influential "Women of the Gulf"
By Margo Ludmer, National Audubon Society On May 23, Audubon’s Women in Conservation program recognized 50 women for their outstanding efforts in the wake of the last summer’s BP oil disaster. Confronted with the worst spill in U.S. history, this distinguished group of women conservationists took immediate action to relieve and restore important ecosystems along the Gulf Coast. The veritable army of women leaders worked tirelessly along the front lines, making invaluable contributions to the recovery process through volunteering, grassroots outreach, …
Tripp to Task Force: Mississippi River Delta Restoration Must Be a Top Priority
By Jim Wyerman, Environmental Defense Fund Environmental Defense Fund’s Senior Counsel Jim Tripp yesterday delivered an impassioned plea at the Galveston, Texas public meeting of the President’s Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, calling on the multi-agency group to prioritize restoration of the Mississippi River Delta as key to ecological and economic recovery of the region. After working more than 35 years on Louisiana coastal issues, Tripp brought a seasoned vantage point to the big question of what the task …
Faces of the Delta: Alberta Lewis
In the third installment of our Faces of the Delta series, you will meet Alberta Lewis: long-time New Orleans-area resident, plantation owner, delta restoration advocate, and king cake doll creator. Name: Alberta Lewis Location: Arabi/Poydras, St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana Occupation: Retired business owner, miniature porcelain artist (designs king cake dolls for a well-known bakery), plantation owner and community activist. Tell me about your connection to south Louisiana. I was born in the 9th Ward of New Orleans in 1923 and lived in …
Sportsmen Tell Congress: Restore the Mississippi River Delta
This piece was originally posted on the National Wildlife Federation’s Wildlife Promise blog. Outdoor industry leaders from across the country are in D.C. this week, asking Congress to dedicate BP’s Clean Water Act fines from the oil spill to Gulf restoration. The oil spill hit the Mississippi River Delta particularly hard. The Delta hosts as many as 10 million ducks and geese during the winter and is famed for its diverse fishing opportunities. But this region was in trouble even before …
Myrtle Grove Diversion Modeling Reveals New Information on Land-building Potential
By Maura Wood, National Wildlife Federation The Myrtle Grove Medium Diversion is one of five highest priority near-term Louisiana Coastal Area (LCA) restoration projects authorized by Congress in the Water Resources Development Act of 2007. It is also one of a handful of projects authorized with the express authority to make changes in the project to respond to the impacts of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. This opens the opportunity to modify Myrtle Grove to divert sediment and build land. In order …
House Gulf Caucus Moves to Secure BP Oil Spill Money for Restoration
By Brian Moore, National Audubon Society A bipartisan group of legislators has come together to form the new House Gulf Coast Caucus. The group of eleven lawmakers from the Gulf Coast region is co-chaired by Reps. Steve Scalise (R-LA) and Kathy Castor (D-FL). The group met for the first time during the last week of May to discuss how best to secure Clean Water Act penalty money for the Gulf of Mexico region. Currently in the House of Representatives, there …
Faces of the Delta: Chris Dier
In the second installment of our Faces of the Delta series, you will meet Chris Dier: Wetlands restoration advocate, Chalmette resident, and Louisiana culture enthusiast. Name: Chris Dier Location: Chalmette, Louisiana Occupation: Student, University of New Orleans Tell me about your connection to south Louisiana. I was born in New Orleans East and raised in Chalmette until age 17. My family moved to East Texas after Katrina, but moved back in 2006 to live in a FEMA trailer and rebuild …
Meet Stephanie Powell
Stephanie is the field director for the joint Mississippi River Delta restoration campaign. She is responsible for running the field operations of the campaign, including writing and implementing a national field plan, contributing strategic and political analysis and working with staff to build grassroots support for restoration efforts. Before joining the campaign, Stephanie was the executive director of the Southern Energy Network, a regional organization dedicated to working with youth to combat climate change, advance renewable energy and promote a smart, …
Hurricane Season Starts Today: A Renewed Call for Restoration
By Elizabeth Skree, Environmental Defense Fund The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) is predicting an above-average hurricane season, which starts today, so communities along Louisiana’s coast are bracing for yet another possible disaster. The historic Mississippi River floodwaters have barely begun to recede. Additionally, the Gulf is still recovering from last summer’s devastating BP oil disaster. These tragic events, in addition to the ongoing rapid land loss along Louisiana’s coast during the last eight decades, continue making the state’s …
Big Sky View of the Big Spring Floods: 2011 Mississippi River Flood Imagery
By Seyi Fayanju, Environmental Defense Fund When you hear about the floodwaters coursing through the Mississippi River Valley, it’s hard to visualize just how much water is rushing south towards the Gulf of Mexico. Now, courtesy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Mississippi River Floods May 2011 Flickr site, the Atlantic Magazine, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans District’s Flood Fight 2011 Flickr site, Louisiana State University’s Earth Scan Laboratory and NASA’s Earth Observatory (to name a few), you can see the …
Faces of the Delta: Mike Hymel
“Faces of the Delta” is a community profile series that shines light on the diverse and unique cultures of Southeast Louisiana. During the next few months, readers will learn what coastal Louisiana means to a fisherman on the bayou, a faith leader in the Vietnamese community of New Orleans East, a teacher in the Lower 9th Ward, and many more community leaders who know that restoring the coastal wetlands of Louisiana is key to community recovery after the catastrophes of …
Building a Blue Ribbon Resilient Community in Plaquemines Parish
By Karla Raettig, National Wildlife Federation As part of its Blue Ribbon Resilient Communities initiative (BRRC), America’s Energy Coast (AEC) held its second BRRC Leadership Forum on May 16 and 17 in Belle Chasse, Louisiana. The focus of the forums is to bring key stakeholders together to discuss the threats and opportunities in communities throughout the Gulf Coast. The Belle Chasse forum focused on how to ensure a safe and prosperous future for Plaquemines Parish because rapid land loss has …
Natural Solutions for an Unnatural Disaster?
As the Mississippi River reaches historic flood levels, local communities and the entire nation watch and wait, hoping the levees will hold and that catastrophic flooding will be avoided. The safety of the people and towns along the Mississippi is the government’s first priority. But after the floodwaters recede, there will be tough questions to answer regarding river management and preventing future natural disasters. Was this flooding truly a natural disaster, or did poor government policies cause it or at …
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