René O'Deay gBlog

Last July, the wetlands flyover tour was co-sponsored by the state, the America's Wetland Foundation and the National Guard. The intention? To give lawmakers from other states a glimpse of Louisiana's crumbling "energy coast."

Lawmakers from as far away as Puerto Rico, New Hampshire and Alaska climb aboard for a bird's-eye view of the watery coastline. In many places, it's more water than coast.

From the air, they tour a portion of the 1,900 square miles of submerged coastal Louisiana. They learn that 1.7 miles of marshland will reduce the elevation of storm surge by about a foot. Cypress and tupelo forests also have huge buffering effects:the trees capture energy and hold floodwaters. Over the years, man-made changes to the natural hydrology of the Mississippi River and the coastal region have destroyed once-extensive coastal forests, prairies and marshes. To date, Louisiana's land loss equals an area the size of Delaware — and it's growing.

"This makes me more sympathetic to my friends in Louisiana," says Rep. John Grange a Republican from Kansas. "During Katrina, you saw human suffering, but you didn't see the ecological impact like we did today."

Back on the ground, it's evident that the effects of oil and gas pipelines and transportation canals — watery highways of saltwater intrusion into now-devastated fresh-water ecosystems — have made an impact on the group.� Source: The Gambit

And for those of you who think New Orleans needs to quit living and stop asking
for 'handouts':

Guarding the Coast The oil and gas industry's front organizations, including America's Wetland Foundation run by Big Oil front man, R. King Milling ("Coast Guarding," Aug. 26, 2008, The Gambit), is nothing more than an attempt to have taxpayers foot the bill for Big Oil's destruction of our wetlands in its oil-and-gas operations along the coast over the last 50 years, which returned billions in profits to its already gloated coffers.

While Milling and the other oil and gas henchmen on the Coastal Restoration and Protection Authority ponder ways to avoid responsibility for Big Oil's destruction of our wetlands, we lose more miles of coastline.

What will it take for the citizens of Louisiana, the Gulf Coast and our elected leaders to wake up and finally hold the oil companies responsible for their destructive behavior? Evidently, $4 per gallon of gas and destruction of our homes, property and loved ones is not enough. Vincent L. Bowers: letter to Editor The Gambit

So, it isn't just the government and Army Corps of Engineers who are responsible for the destruction in New Orleans and Louisiana and Mississippi, from Katrina, the oil companies themselves have caused a major portion of the problem.
And if you bought gas and oil and natural gas from Louisiana....

The Chief of Houma Nation of Louisiana in Isle de Jean Charles on the aftermath of Ike and Gustav:

Brenda Robichaux, the principal chief of the United Houma Nation, says it broke her heart when she saw what Gustav did.

“I was in tears as I was walking because this is our community. You know, and it's very, very important that we can maintain our life here,” she said.

She says about 100 people live on the island, most of them members of her tribal nation. “We’ve lived here for generation after generation. And so it's family.”

Chief Robichaux says she gets angry thinking about how much this area has lost. The grassy fields with oak trees where kids played, cattle grazed and the barrier islands that offered storm protection.

“You know, why hasn’t the coastal erosion issue been addressed sooner? Why hasn’t those barrier islands been restored? Why hasn’t the oil and gas industry had to repair the location canals that they built that made this community so fragile and so vulnerable?”

People here say what happened to Isle de Jean Charles during Gustav should be a message to the rest of Louisiana. Coastal erosion has destroyed their protection. And now the way of life they have known for generations is in jeopardy.

“This community is a tale of what we can expect for other communities along our coast,” said Natalie Snider from the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana.

Isle de Jean Charles destruction