Matt Zborowski
Staff Writer
This year marks separate anniversaries of two catastrophic environmental events for the US Gulf Coast in general, and Louisiana in particular. It was this time a decade ago that New Orleans and surrounding regions were reeling from the fallout of Hurricane Katrina, which caused the deaths of more than a thousand residents while displacing tens of thousands more.
Much of the more than $100 billion in damages were attributed to the gradual loss of coastal wetlands over the preceding decades.
A study published in 2007 by the US Geological Survey found that between 1932 and 2000, more than 1,900 square miles of land was lost-greater than the size of Delaware-from Louisiana's coastal lands due to either erosion or subsidence.
Almost 5 years after Katrina and about 130 miles southeast of New Orleans, while the Gulf Coast region was still in the midst of recovery from the storm, the deepwater Macondo well blowout and subsequent oil spill resulted in deaths of 11 workers and, according to a January ruling from the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, the discharge of 3.19 million bbl of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Numerous species were harmed, killed, or at best displaced from their natural habitat while BP PLC worked to halt and clean the gushing oil.
Gulf Coast preservation
In the years since Katrina, New Orleans has rebuilt and the population has approached pre-Katrina levels. The city's economy has grown at a rate above the national average, with job creation surging. Recovery has far exceeded expectations, and it seems only another Act of God could halt the city's momentum.
How the gulf region has recovered since Deepwater Horizon is less clear, as, for one, it's impossible to track what became of all the oil that was released into the sea.
For the trouble, BP in July agreed to settle federal and state Deepwater Horizon claims for $18.7 billion over an 18-year period. The principle target of money received from BP has been and will be restoration of the Gulf Coast through entities such as the Deepwater Horizon Natural Resources Damage Assessment (NRDA) Early Restoration Program. Thus far $318 million have been allocated for Louisiana outer coastal restoration, which encompasses four projects.
One announced in June involves excavating as much as 13.4 million cu yards of high-quality sand from Ship Shoal-9 miles offshore on the Outer Continental Shelf-and transporting it through a temporary pipeline to construct 1,100 acres of barrier island habitat at the Caillou Lake Headlands, also known as Whiskey Island.
"Restoring barrier islands protects vital wetlands along the Gulf Coast and is part of BOEM's continuing commitment to work with states and communities to restore and protect our coasts from the effects of storms and climate change," explained Abigail Ross Hopper, director of the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
Four other recent projects along Louisiana's coastline have already used 11 million cu yards of OCS sand: Caminada Headland Beach and Dune Restoration Increment I, Cameron Parish Shoreline Restoration, Raccoon Island Backbarrier Marsh Restoration, and Pelican Island Restoration. BOEM notes that prior to the recent work, the Holly Beach, La., coastal restoration project in 2002 was the only of its kind in the gulf to use OCS sand.
Additional restoration funding from BP and Transocean Ltd. will funnel through the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, and Gulf Coast Restoration Trust Fund.
Action speaks loudest
Major projects requiring billions of dollars funneled through government entities don't typically reach completion in one fell swoop. Hundreds of these types of projects have been pitched to the organizations tasked with doling out restoration funds, with only a small fraction reaching the implementation phase.
Seeing through advancement of such projects is critical. Because the long-term responses to Katrina and Deepwater Horizon should collectively make the Gulf Coast more resilient than ever.
