Louisiana is losing 24 square miles of its fragile coast to erosion each year and the state is making an appeal for federal help to save the wetlands that are critical to the nation and the region's 2 million inhabitants.
Gov. Mike Foster and Louisiana's congressional delegation are seeking help with an ambitious $14 billion plan to save the largest stretch of coastal wetlands in North America, located at the mouth of the mighty Mississippi River.
"This is a race against time," says Sen. John Breaux, D-La., in a videotaped presentation being distributed by the Campaign to Save Coastal Louisiana.
More than 1,900 square miles of the coast has been lost since 1932 and another 700 square miles will be lost in the next 50 years if some action isn't taken, according to data and computer estimates compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey.
Charles Groat, director of the USGS survey, has compared the vanishing Louisiana marshlands to the environmental problems in Florida's Everglades and the mid-Atlantic Chesapeake Bay, both of which have received federal aid.
The loss of another 700 square miles of coastal wetlands in Louisiana would not only be an environmental disaster, it would impact fisheries, the energy industry, transportation, and people who live in New Orleans and other communities.
"It's not just about a state losing its coast," said Sidney Coffee, director of public affairs for the governor's Office of Coastal Affairs. "We feel strongly that this is a national priority because of what happens on this coast."
Unlike the beaches of Florida or Texas, the Louisiana coast consists of swamps, bayous, and barrier islands stretching from the Mississippi west to Texas. More than 5 million migratory birds visit the area, which also has richest marine life in the Gulf of Mexico.
Preserving what's left of the dwindling coast is also of major importance to the energy industry because 25 percent of the all oil and gas consumed in the United States comes ashore in Louisiana by tanker, barge or pipeline.
"Much of the infrastructure that supports that delivery ... has been located and built under this gigantic ecosystem," said R. King Milling, chairman of the Whitney National Bank in New Orleans. "Very little of it was built to withstand the direct assault of the Gulf of Mexico, which is what would happen as that ecosystem finally deteriorates."
More than 30 percent of U.S. fisheries' catch also comes from coastal Louisiana. An estimated 95 percent of the marine life in the Gulf of Mexico spends parts of its lifecycle in the coastal wetlands.
Milling, who heads up the governor's coastal advisory commission, said Louisiana can't afford to do what is needed without federal help, adding that serious decisions must be made.
"The real issue is whether all these factors will have a meaningful import in terms of this country and whether the country is prepared to let this area go," he said. "I know it sounds horrible, but it is fact."
Also at stake is the rich culture of south Louisiana, because the coast protects New Orleans and other cities from the ravages of hurricanes. The Crescent City sits below sea level and stands at risk every hurricane season.
In Terrebonne Parish southwest of New Orleans, lifelong resident Clifford Smith said it's a matter of "survival" for the millions of people who live in south Louisiana.
The 68-year-old civil engineer said that, in his lifetime, 400,000 acres of the parish's land have been lost from where he lives to the Gulf of Mexico. "I am now more exposed to the Gulf of Mexico than when I was born because we don't have a buffer between us the Gulf."
Some responsibility for the vanishing coastline is laid on the federal government because of the levee system started in 1940s to control the Mississippi River. The purpose was to improve navigation and protect cities in times of flood but the levees cut off the vital nutrients and sediments necessary to building wetlands.
In the 1940s and '50s increased oil and gas exploration brought pipeline canals that further sliced up the wetlands. Some canals brought salt water into freshwater marshes and others held excess water in the marshes and swamps, upsetting the ecology of the coast.
Hurricanes and storm surges have also done untold damage to the coast over the years by tearing up barrier islands and eroding bays and lakes in south Louisiana. In the past they were the buffers that protected residents from the Gulf's most vicious storms.
The road map for restoration, "Coast 2050: Toward a Sustainable Coastal Louisiana," calls for action from federal, state and local authorities. The plan proposes river diversions, improved drainage and watershed structure, and restoration of barrier islands. The massive 20-year project would be one of the largest engineering projects in U.S. history.
In addition to government agencies, environmental groups and businesses, including oil companies, have joined the campaign to save the coast. Shell Oil donated $3 million in seed money for the campaign.
Diversion of river water would be critical to restoring the delta but the challenge will be doing that on a "working coast," according to Robert Twilley, a University of Louisiana at Lafayette scientist who is leading a feasibility study on the project.
"This is not a barren land or a national park like the Everglades," he said. "You have oil and gas energy needs, you've got navigation needs, you've got fisheries, highways, schools. You just can't flood the river back into this flood plain."
Twilley's team will present their findings as part of the presentation to Congress.
Louisiana is planning a two-pronged proposal to Congress.
First, they want a provision in the pending energy bill that would use some of the offshore oil and gas royalties paid to the federal government for coastal restoration. The energy bill is currently in a conference committee.
Louisiana is also hoping to get a coast-wide, comprehensive authorization next year under the Water Resources Development Act, the law that was used to authorize federal dollars for the preservation of the Florida Everglades.
Three constitutional amendments on the Oct. 4 ballot in Louisiana will help the state take the first steps on cost sharing and reducing liability for the state, Coffee said. Backers hope passage of the measures will send a strong message to Washington that the eroding wetlands must be saved.
"We know we cannot save every acre of land and we are not attempting too," said Coffee. "Part of this coast is going to be lost. But we are trying to do is sustain the value of it and make it a sustainable coast for the future."
Although state and federal officials are united behind the "Coast: 2050" blueprint for saving the wetlands, shrimpers and oystermen are concerned about the impact freshwater diversions might have on their livelihoods.
Some coastal residents are also moving further inland because they fear the storms more than in the past. With less land and more water at their doorsteps they don't have the buffer to withstand the fury of the Gulf's summer storms.
"We used to worry about a category four (hurricane)," said Smith, who lives only 30 miles from the Gulf. "Now we worry about a tropical storm."
