Will outraged state officials scuttle a major post-Katrina reform in their effort to please the oil industry?
Author Archives: Bob Marshall
From 2013 to 2017, Bob Marshall covered environmental issues for The Lens, with a special focus on coastal restoration and wetlands. While at The Times-Picayune, his work chronicling the people, stories and issues of Louisiana
Posted inEnvironment
No easy task to prepare flood protection system if hurricane approaches
It’s easy to think of the 130-mile long system of floodwalls and levees as a ring around New Orleans. But because the food protection system must accommodate ships passing through the city, there are many openings that must be closed as a storm approaches. It starts 4 days before landfall.
Posted inEnvironment
What are the key issues in lawsuit against oil & gas companies for coastal loss?
Legal and political context to help you understand the court battle ahead.
Posted inEnvironment
Science to be key factor in lawsuit against oil and gas companies for coastal loss
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.
Posted inEnvironment
Marine Fisheries Service expresses concerns about Myrtle Grove diversion
The agency’s concerns mirror those voiced by opponents of diversions.
Posted inEnvironment
Corps puts barge gate through its paces — successfully; agrees to operate it
Problems dogged a year-long effort to close and open the gate successfully.
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
30 years of time-lapse satellite images show coastal Louisiana wasting away
Time-lapse images illustrate what we knew was happening: Over 30 years, islands and beaches have moved north, channels have widened, and marshes have turned to open water without a blade of brass for miles. But they also show portions of the coast growing, reinvigorated by restoration projects.
Posted inEnvironment
Coastal restoration efforts complicated by lack of plan for Mississippi River
Though the river is crucial to the economic and environmental well-being of 31 states, there’s no plan to manage competing uses of the river water. Shipping companies, municipal water supplies, industrial plants and coastal restoration projects all need water. How will we decide who gets what?
Posted inEnvironment
Tricky ‘barge gate’ on Lake Borgne is closed and opened successfully — almost
Congress may require the U.S. Army Corps — rather than the local flood authority — to operate the gate.
Posted inEnvironment
Historic study to find out what the Mississippi River really carries to help coastal restoration
Less than half of the water, and just 19 percent of the sediments, carried in the Mississippi River past the Atchafalaya make it to the Gulf. The finding casts new light on the potential of diversions to create land in adjacent basins — a key strategy in the state’s $50 billion plan to save southeast Louisiana from washing away.