From the Times-Picayune:
The closing will end 45 years of navigation on the 60-mile shipping channel that provided a shortcut from New Orleans to the Gulf of Mexico. Although the corps contended that the channel, completed in the 1960s, had minimal impact on Hurricane Katrina's storm surge, MR-GO took the brunt of criticism for the massive flooding in St. Bernard Parish and part of New Orleans during the 2005 storm.
Environmentalists also have blamed it for killing off thousands of acres of cypress wetlands and marsh, vital to helping the area absorb the pounding of hurricanes.
....
The corps has been working with state and federal agencies to devise a supplement to the MR-GO closing plan to address restoration of areas affected by the shipping channel. The plan could include marsh creation, barrier island building, shoreline protection and freshwater diversions from the Mississippi River.
This is good news, one step in the right direction, but's only the beginning of a vast amount of work that needs to be done to restore the marshes and coastal areas of Louisiana. The people spoke out long and loud, and the Corps responded - finally.
I'm glad to read that they are trying to restore the wetlands.
ReplyDeleteRuth, it's about time.
ReplyDeleteAnd how much is that going to cost?
ReplyDeleteEven if you restore all the wetlands, even if that could be done tomorrow, NO is still below sea level and there's no actual plan for dealing with that.
This sounds like good money after bad.
What New Orleans and the coast of south Louisiana need is a plan to build structures similar to what keeps the Netherlands above water. The rest of the country cannot afford to lose south Louisiana and New Orleans, but by the time the country faces that reality, it may be too late.
ReplyDeleteThe country?! What about New Orleans facing it? How about a little responsibility?
ReplyDeleteLida Ann has already had meetings with ecologists and engineers. It'll take about 3 billion to get a system similar to the Netherlands for Galveston and Bolivar. The problem is that NO has sucked so much of the money into its gaping maw of corruption and incompetence that it'll be Hell getting any money for the Galveston plan... the Ike Dike.
People along the Texas coast aren't getting ANY FEMA money, no $2000 gift cards here. People are opening up their wallets, taking out the money, and paying out the ass for walls, roofs, tarps. All while New Orleanians continue driving up rents and crime in Houston and Austin.
I am really very mad about this.
If you think the rest of the country can't live without NO, just sit back and watch. There's more than one port along the Gulf, you know. And NO, not even one of the biggest or most critical.
I say no more money for NO until there's some plan for how to spend it. And "rebuilding the dikes" is not a plan. That plan didn't work... member?
Lindy, I'm sorry for the people of the Texas Gulf Coast, and I wish the folks in Texas could get the all the help they need. It's not a zero-sum game - we'll get ours if NO and south Louisiana go to hell. That's all I'm saying of this matter to you.
ReplyDelete