[StBernard] Coalition calls for faster restoration of wetlands destroyed by now-closed Mississippi River Gulf Outlet

Westley Annis westley at da-parish.com
Wed Aug 26 19:05:21 EDT 2009


Coalition calls for faster restoration of wetlands destroyed by now-closed
Mississippi River Gulf Outlet
by The Times-Picayune
Wednesday August 26, 2009, 11:14 AM

A coalition of advocacy groups this morning called on the federal government
to double its efforts to restore the wetlands, marshes and barrier islands
that help protect the Gulf Coast from hurricanes.

The MRGO Must Go coalition held a news conference and media tour to show
what it says is slow progress in restoring wetlands along the Mississippi
River Gulf Outlet to protect the Lower 9th Ward and St. Bernard Parish, two
communities devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

"The more vulnerable coastal communities are to hurricane damage, the more
it costs the federal government--and taxpayers--to help those communities
recover after a storm," said Pam Dashiell, co-director of the Lower 9th Ward
Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development. "Katrina devastated both
the Gulf Coast and the U.S. economy, causing nearly $90 billion in property
damage alone."

The severity of Katrina's damage in Louisiana was caused, in part, by the
fact that the state has lost 1/3 of its original wetlands - about 2,000
square miles -- an area larger than Delaware, the group said.

"Scientists agree that these lost wetlands could have helped reduce
Katrina's storm surge," said Charles Allen, assistant director of the Center
for Bioenvironmental Research at Tulane and Xavier Universities and
co-director of the Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and
Development. "Wetlands are 'horizontal levees' that in many cases are more
economical and effective at damage prevention than man-made vertical levees
because they absorb storm energy, slow incoming waves, wind, and surge
waters. It is widely recognized that we urgently need to restore these
wetlands and coastal forests to prevent similar or worse storm damage in the
future."

While the corps now has closed the MRGO, the agency's MRGO Ecosystem
Restoration Plan - which must be completed before it seeks funding from
Congress to rebuild the wetlands and cypress forests that will help protect
the area - won't be completed until March 2011.

"The ongoing corps projects are significant, but there must be a continued
sense of urgency to rebuild the natural deltaic ecosystem, infrastructure
and the Mississippi River navigation system," said Col. David Dysart, chief
administrative officer for St. Bernard Parish government.

"It must be priority number one,'' added St. Bernard Parish President Craig
Taffaro. "The corps should do everything it possibly can to expedite design
and construction of critical restoration projects.''




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