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

I have generally tried not to wholesale copy things into my blog, but the following blogger's letter seems worth repeating in another blog. The blog NOLA - Dishu has published an open letter from Matt McBride to the Army Corps of Engineers urging them to release hurricane storm surge modeling to the public in advance of Hurricane Gustav. I would like to join in supporting this request and I reprint Matt McBride's letter in its entirety as follows:

Dear Corps officials, (as well as government representatives, New Orleanians, and media representatives),

I am writing you to make a request. In light of the possible effects of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Gustav upon the Greater New Orleans area, I would ask that the Corps and its partners at LSU and the University of North Carolina make public the results of storm surge model runs which are (or soon will be) created as part of the Lake Pontchartrain Forecast System (LPFS).

As I understand it, the Corps has contracted with UNC's Institute of Marine Sciences (contracts W912P8-06-P-0334 (from 2006, for $279,117) and W912P8-08-P-0082 (from earlier in 2008, for $101,512)) and their partners at LSU to provide forecasts of surge levels within Lake Pontchartrain when tropical systems are approaching New Orleans. This enables the Corps to determine when to lower the gates at the three interim closure structures along the Lake Pontchartrain south shore. The system is explained on a few webpages at LSU:

http://www.cct.lsu.edu/site38.php
http://www.cct.lsu.edu/~estrabd/LPFS/
http://www.cct.lsu.edu/~estrabd/LPFS/distributed-lpfs.pdf
http://www.cct.lsu.edu/~gallen/Preprints/CS_Allen07a.pre.pdf


In light of the Corps' "12 Actions for Change" specifically Action Number 9, "Effectively Communicate Risk," it would be tremendous goodwill gesture to the public across the country to know what the Corps knows about the surge risk before the storm makes landfall.

Doing so would be in the same spirit that allows the National Hurricane Center and other organizations to make the results of hurricane track and intensity model runs available to public. Doing so allows government agencies and members of the public to plan more effectively, and allows the media to get more accurate information out to the public as they plan.

As part of your public outreach during the coming days, I urge you to upload the model results to your website so that everyone can be apprised of this vital information which will inform your decisions.

Best regards,

Matt McBride

Spread the word on Matt McBride's request.

Erich P Rapp.

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I am watching the weather forecasting models project paths for soon to be Hurricane Gustav into the coast of Louisiana. As this occurs, I find myself reflecting on the federal government and the Corps' efforts (and in some cases lack thereof) for the past three years with regard to coastal restoration and hurricane protection. The efforts to rebuild and improve hurricane protection levees around New Orleans are considerable but far, far from complete. The federal government and the Corps' efforts at coastal restoration during the same period are almost non-existent.

If Hurricane Gustav were to strike New Orleans, we can only speculate at the results and the impact that another hurricane will have on coastal restoration efforts. My predictions, however are as follows: 1) the levees in lower St. Bernard Parish will be breached and over topped; 2) the lake will not flow into New Orleans proper as long as the Corps is able largely to close off the drainage canals and the industrial canal from the lake and the Gulf; 3) the city will experience significant flooding, but less than Katrina from the inability of the pumping system to remove the rain water from the streets. 

If the city does not fill with lake water and flood a large number of otherwise occupied homes, the hurricane will be further encouragement for the federal government to accelerate and complete hurricane protection and coastal restoration efforts. If an enormous number of otherwise occupied homes are destroyed, the result will be the opposite. It will discourage the government from further efforts to improve hurricane protection levees and  from undertaking new efforts at coastal restoration. To stay on track and continue the recovery of New Orleans and Louisiana's coastal wetlands, the efforts of the government up to this date will need to show signs of success.  

Ironically, the coastal wetlands below New Orleans are largely gone because of unintended but not necessarily unanticipated consequences of Mississippi River flood control and navigation improvement undertaken by the federal government and the Corps after the 1927 Mississippi River flood and continuing into the 1970's. The cause of coastal wetland loss in Louisiana is largely the result of the changes in the Mississippi River system outside of Louisiana  undertaken by the federal government and the Corps for the benefit of commercial interests often far removed from Louisiana. Yet in spite of the fault of the federal government and the Corps, further damage to New Orleans and southeastern Louisiana may well discourage further efforts to restore New Orleans and Louisiana's coastal wetlands. In the aftermath of another hurricane, the situation may be presented as a hopeless and largely the result of local causes.  

The reality behind all of these events is that the federal government and the Corps have known since the wetlands began eroding away in the 1930's that the coastal wetlands were subsiding and dependent on new sediment from the Mississippi River to offset the subsidence. 

By reducing the sediment load in the river as the result of construction of dams and reservoirs (primarily on the Missouri and Arkansas Rivers) and by containing the river within levees, the federal government and the Corps knew before their efforts began that a result of these undertakings would be the loss of coastal wetlands in Louisiana. It is not difficult to find academic and government reports back into the 19th century acknowledging the process of regional subsidence offset by sedimentation from the Mississippi River. I would by happy to provide more detailed references to those who need them.

Now, we wait to see the extent to which the consequences of the sins of the federal government and the Corps will be visited upon the City of New Orleans and the coastal wetlands of Louisiana yet again as a result of Gustav.

Erich P Rapp. 

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On Thursday August 21, 2008, Sheila Grisset of the New Orleans Times Picayune reported in an article entitled, Levee Commission Members Say they Oppose Corps Surge Protection Plan, that the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority had advised the Corps of Engineers that the levee commissioners opposed the Corps plan to provide permanent surge protection from Lake Pontchartrain by requiring the synchronized operation of two pump stations on each of three outfall canals during a hurricane.

The Levee Commissioners instead endorsed a plan previously identified as the "best technical solution" for the 17th Street, Orleans and London Avenue canals. This plan would require converting all three high-level canals to ground, or grade-level, canals as exist in East Jefferson, so that rainwater could flow by gravity into the lake. The plan would also would rely on a single new pump station in each canal to provide both surge protection and rainwater drainage and decommission the existing New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board stations.

Corps officials said Congress hasn't provided authorization or money to build the more expansive, far more expensive canal-conversion/single-station projects."The reality is, we're limited by authority and appropriations," Col. Jeff Bedey told Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority members during Thursday's meeting. "Congress has asked us to come back and tell them what it will cost, and then Congress can make its decision. If they give us the authorization and the money ... we'll do the work," he said.

Although Bedey said the corps don't yet have good development estimates, a Corps official advised last month that the more expensive project could cost as much as a billion dollars more in just the 17th Street Canal.

Erich P Rapp.

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Concrete from the Twin Spans bridges will be dismantled in 2009 and used for a coastal protection project according to Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal speaking on Tuesday June 17, 2008. Jindal stated,

“Using material from the twin span bridges to build reefs like these is a first in Louisiana. In the past, limestone has been shipped in from out of state, but this historic project uses material already on hand and reduces the cost of building this valuable habitat.”

The Coastal Conservation Association of Louisiana, in partnership with Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development and NOAA Office of Coast Survey are planning to construct two inshore artificial reefs in Lake Pontchartrain. The reefs will be constructed from the concrete bridge rubble. They will provide a habitat for marine life on an area of about one to two acres.

For more information on this project, see the WWL article dated June 10, 2009 entitled, Concrete from Twin Spans to Help with Coastal Restoration.

Erich P Rapp.

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