Coastal Projects

They arrived by barge to Raccoon Island, just south of Cocodrie, tall white sacks weighing in 2,000 pounds filled with what many of us might otherwise mistake for sandbags.[…]

It’s a rather simple matter to underestimate the worth of Louisiana’s barrier islands. When the freshwater river flow slacks off a bit and shrimp are able inch closer to the coastline, barrier islands attract anglers and guides like moths to a flame.[…]

While all of the manpower and dirt-turning is located on Louisiana’s coastline and in the Gulf of Mexico, some might argue that the real grunt work of coastal restoration takes place some 1,200 miles away in Washington, D.C. — where the state expects to get the lion’s share of the $50 billion needed for its 50-year Master Plan that has been approved by the Louisiana Legislature and Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority.[…]

The level of cancer-causing pollutants left behind in Gulf waters by the BP oil spill was greater than reported by the federal government, according to a report issued this week by a group of independent scientists.[…]

Louisiana’s planned and existing diversion projects continue to yield controversy, but they’re not a one-size-fits-all approach.[…]

There’s widespread agreement that puncturing levees and diverting sediment-rich Mississippi River water into adjacent wetlands is key to saving the southeast Louisiana coast.[…]

The first loads of sand have arrived for the Caminada Headland beach restoration that will help fortify parts of Lafourche against storm surge, parish officials said Monday.[…]

According to Dr. E.L. Corthell, former president of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the breakdown of the Mississippi River Delta’s coastal wetlands is in part a debate of commercial use and flood control versus conservation. It’s about short-term benefits versus long-term benefits and finding a way to battle a rising sea and disappearing earth.[…]