Louisiana Coastal Wetlands Lawyer & Attorney : Erich P. Rapp : Kean Miller Law Firm : Serving New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Louisiana

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. 

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John Barry, the author of Rising Tide, has published an Op-Ed piece in the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday April 23, 2008 entitled: Who Should Pay to Protect New Orleans. I have never seen the cause of the coastal land loss problem described more succinctly or the solution described more accurately.

Barry points out what I have been saying less artfully for many years. The most fundamental reason that the coastal wetlands in Louisiana has been lost, particularly below New Orleans, is the reduction in the sediment load in the Mississippi River drainage system. This reduction has resulted from the construction of dams in the tributaries with particular emphasis on the dams built in the Missouri River in North and South Dakota. The lower portion of Louisiana's "bird's foot" did not erode to open water because of levees in Louisiana. Below a point, no levees separate the wetlands from the river and yet the land continues to dissolve into the Gulf. The problem is not the result of a local action.  

Louisiana derives no direct benefit from those Corps dams in the Dakota's and Montana. They were built to control flooding and improve navigation on the Missouri River. In fact, the Corps of Engineers claims that it has no authority to manage the Missouri River system and those dams for the benefit of the Mississippi River or its users in any way. The Mississippi River is treated as disconnected and unrelated to the Missouri River for all purposes that the Corps of Engineers considers.

John Barry is exactly right when he says the coastal land loss problem in Louisiana has been caused as the result of actions that benefited other parts of the nation far removed from Louisiana. The protection and restoration of coastal Louisiana is a national problem requiring federal action.

Erich P Rapp

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