After a yearlong planning process, state officials are working on a report that will recommend ways for six coastal parishes to deal with rising water and sinking land. The report could shape coastal communities for decades to come. Some of the ideas are controversial, such as limits on residential construction and higher taxes in areas of extreme flooding.
Nearly 20 percent of the nation's oil and gas passes through Port Fourchon, accessible only by a battered, two-lane road. With the Gulf of Mexico rising and wetlands crumbling, it's on the way to becoming an island.
Thousands of people may be forced to move inland in the coming years, according to the state.
Cattle rancher Earl Armstrong and fishing guide Ryan Lambert spoke about witnessing coastal loss firsthand.
The highest rates of sinking afflict communities protected by levees, New Orleans among them.
The risks associated with a rising sea level will only increase if greenhouse gas emissions are not brought under control, scientists assert.
Savings reach $20 million if levees are raised before they're armored. Subsidence puts area flood insurance at risk.
The need to resist Big Oil and the Jindal administration's shameless pandering to it has begun to forge a broad-spectrum political alliance.
The Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East is expected to file suit Wednesday against more than 100 oil and gas companies for contributing to the disappearance of Louisiana’s wetlands. The lawsuit argues that decades of drilling, dredging and extracting has destroyed wetlands that once provided a cushion against hurricane storm surge, forcing the agency to spend more on flood protection.
Research shows that we won't be able to rebuild the coast the same way it was created, with sediment flowing down the river.
