Latest news: August 25, 2011
By James S. Russell, Bloomberg. Aug 23, 2011.
“The record-breaking spring floods ‘tested the limits of the system,’ said Paul Harrison, senior director for Mississippi River and East Coast at the Environmental Defense Fund. He said the Army Corps, which has managed the river’s flow since 1824, ‘wants to continue to invest in the old system rather than look at these events as an opportunity to create a 21st-century system.’
Similar criticism has come from Congress, flood-plain managers, and other major interests, and more people are daring to say that the river defenses need to be redesigned from top to bottom.”
By Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune. August 22, 2011.
“Gov. Bobby Jindal has appointed National Audubon Society Vice President G. Paul Kemp to a seat on the board of commissioners of the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East that has been vacant for a year.”
By Pete Spotts, The Christian Science Monitor. August 24, 2011.
“Barrier islands and coastal wetlands can blunt the impact of surges and their waves. But heavy coastal development along the country’s Gulf and East Coasts have often compromised those natural barriers. Louisiana‘s sinking delta and the loss of its wetlands are perhaps the most striking example, many coastal-restoration specialists say.”
Reported by: John Snell, Fox 8 Live. August 25, 2011.
“Spring flooding in the Mississippi River Valley system may have left behind loads of misery, but appears to have deposited a surprise near the mouth of the river.
One coastal restoration project– long thought to have been a dud– now appears to be working, according to coastal scientists who have viewed the West Bay Diversion.”