Sand Levee, Rock Levee, Ocean, Beach and Oil Rigs…Port Fourchon, Louisiana, Jefferson Parish. Photo source: © © New Orleans Lady
“Seventy percent of the Gulf of Mexico shoreline is vulnerable to extreme erosion during even the weakest hurricanes, according to a 2012 report by the U.S. Geological Survey. USGS
Excerpts;
The geography of the Louisiana coastline is quickly changing. A state-commissioned report predicts rising water could swallow more land along the Gulf of Mexico, if nothing is done to address damage caused by climate change and commercial activity.
A new master plan of 2017 calls for an investment of more than $50 billion over 50 years…
Read Full Article, CBS News (01-18-2017)
Climate change will redraw Louisiana’s flood risk maps, Newsweek (08-18-2016)
Louisiana’s sinking coast is a $100 Billion nightmare for big oil; Bloomberg (08-17-2016)
From 5,000 feet up, it’s difficult to make out where Louisiana’s coastline used to be. But follow the skeletal remains of decades-old oil canals, and you get an idea. Once, these lanes sliced through thick marshland, clearing a path for pipelines or ships. Now they’re surrounded by open water, green borders still visible as the sea swallows up the shore…
Gulf Eats Away at Coast Outside Levee-Protected New Orleans, AP (09-14-2015)
In the past century, more than 1,880 square miles of Louisiana land has turned into open water — an area nearly the size of Delaware. And the loss continues unabated, with an estimated 17 square miles disappearing on average each year…
Lost Louisiana: The Race to Reclaim Vanished Land Back From The Sea, Guardian UK (10-15-2014)
Louisiana’s Moon Shot, Propublica (12-09-2014)
Louisiana Rethinks Its Sand Berms, The New York Times (11-09-2010)
A new study underscores the unique difficulties Louisiana faces in maintaining its fragile delta and keeping the sea at bay: Researchers found work to replenish an eroding shoreline by pumping onto it massive amounts of sand itself caused the land to sink…
Piling sand to stop erosion ultimately made the land sink, study says; NOLA (12-26-2015)
Resettling the First American Climate Refugees – Louisiana, The New York Times (05-03-2016)
