Latest Mississippi River Delta News: September 11, 2015

With a master plan and the money, can a state unite to restore its protective wetlands?
*features Kim Reyher, CRCL & Alisha Renfro, NWF
By Emily Holden. E&E. September 11, 2015
“This is the time when we move from planning to action,” Kimberly Davis Reyher, executive director of the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, said at a gubernatorial debate at Nicholls State University last month. “One of these gentlemen is going to preside over a period of ambitious implementation of new restoration policies and projects. We’re going to see many new projects, and we’re going to see projects that are larger, more complicated, more expensive and arguably more important than anything we’ve seen so far.” (Read More)
 
New Orleans sees limits to adaptation efforts as sea level rises
*features Alisha Renfro, NWF
By Emily Holden. E&E. September 10, 2015
“Parts of Louisiana are sinking, or subsiding, at more than 10 times the rate that the sea level is rising, leading to a higher net sea-level rise. Subsidence levels will stay about the same, but sea-level rise will significantly increase over the next 50 years, according to Alisha Renfro, a coastal scientist with the National Wildlife Federation.” (Read More)
 
Industry hardened by Katrina girds for landscape changed by climate
*features Restore or Retreat
By Emily Holden. E&E. September 8, 2015
“At current loss rates, nearly 1,000 more square miles will be underwater by 2050, according to the coastal advocacy group Restore or Retreat. Man-made levees keep sediment from traveling down the Mississippi River to create land at the delta, and industry dredging and oil and gas production activity have caused further damage and allowed salt water to intrude and destroy more wetlands.” (Read More)
 
Record amount of sediment dredged from Mississippi River, helping restore marshland
By Amy Wold. The Advocate. September 9, 2015
“More than 20 million cubic yards of sediment, enough to build 2,000 acres of land, was taken from the bottom of the Mississippi River and pumped into wetland areas along the lower channel — a record amount of dredged material moved to marshes in a single year.” (Read More)
 
Project would improve wetlands east of Leeville
By Meredith Burns. Houma Courier. September 10, 2015
“Lafourche Parish’s plan for Restore Act money proposes setting aside $270,550 for engineering and permitting to build new wetlands, restore degraded marsh and reduce wave erosion along La. 1 east of Leeville.” (Read More)
 
Marsh work to address land loss
By Meredith Burns. Daily Comet. September 8, 2015
“About 1,650 acres of marsh could be built along Catfish Lake in south Lafourche as part of the parish’s spending plan for Restore Act money. The parish’s multi-year plan, now open for public comment on the parish’s website, outlines how officials plan to spend $1.3 million relating to the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill.” (Read More)
 
Pipeline may carry river sediment to area marshes
By Meredith Burns. Daily Comet. September 6, 2015
“Lafourche’s plan for Restore Act money proposes setting aside $434,760 for engineering and permitting to build marsh in the parish’s southern reaches using sediment from the Mississippi River.” (Read More)

Why Doesn’t New Orleans Look More Like Amsterdam?
By Lorena O’Neil. The Atlantic. September 2, 2015
“The concept of subsidence was not a term on the lips of New Orleanians five years ago,” says GNO Inc. executive vice president and chief operation officer Robin Barnes. She talked about the impact Waggonner and his team have had by engaging the community as they designed the plan. “The concept of water as part of our culture—we didn’t used to talk about water except when it rained. Living with water, not fighting water is something that is now part of the mainstream discussion.” (Read More)