The latest version of the state’s coastal restoration plan, released today, offers a much grimmer view of the future than before. Twice as much land could be lost if the state does nothing. Even if everything works as planned, about 27,000 buildings may have to be elevated, flood-proofed or bought out, including about 5,900 in St. Tammany.

When the state officials drew the cost-benefit limits of expensive coastal restoration on a map of coastal Louisiana, some Native Americans found themselves on the wrong side of a government decision. Again. They’d like justice, but they’ll settle for help in maintaining their way of life. Neither is likely.

The island is endangered for the same reasons that much of coastal Louisiana has become part of the Gulf of Mexico: The land is sinking, river levees are preventing it from being replenished, oil and gas drilling accelerated erosion — and on top of that, seas are rising.