Resolution Passed Calling for 8/29 Commission
Mark Schleifstein of the New Orleans Times-Picayune writing on June 19, 2008 in an article entitled, Levee authority backs national '8/29 Commission' investigation reported that the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority had passed a resolution asking Congress to create a 8/29 Commission to investigate the government's handling of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The resolution was proposed by John Barry, the author of Rising Tide.
Barry stated,
"I'm really asking that they take a comprehensive look at the entire Mississippi River system, the entire Mississippi valley, from New York state to Idaho," Barry said. "They should look, for instance, at the dams on the upper Missouri River in detail, because they have a real impact on the amount of sediment that's carried in the river, which has a real impact on the erosion of wetlands in Louisiana."
"If the nation understood the reality of the negative impacts on us in the metropolitan area of economic decisions upstream that were made in the national interest," it might lead to better decisions in flood control involving both protection from hurricanes and high rivers."
John Barry has said it exactly right. I am not aware of anyone speaking more closely to my own thinking on the causes and solutions related to the loss of Louisiana's coastal wetlands than John Barry. The idea of a 8/29 Commission is an excellent one. The scope he suggests addresses exactly the issues that I have been raising in this blog. The loss of coastal wetlands in Louisiana is a national problem caused by the management of the Mississippi River drainage basin by the federal government.
I am not suggesting the federal government should not manage the Mississippi River drainage basin. I am just urging the federal government to acknowledge and take responsibility for their predominant role in causing coastal land loss in Louisiana.
Erich P Rapp.
