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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The Bismarck Tribune published an editorial on March 7, 2008 entitled, Missouri River Study Could Be Spendy. The editorial concerns the current effort of certain interests along the Missouri River to have a new study done of the river and its tributaries.

The states along the Missouri River north of Sioux City, Iowa would like to see the Corps of Engineers conduct a new "Section 216 Study" of the Missouri River and its tributaries. In sum, these states would like to see the Corps rethink how it balances the navigational interests in the Missouri River which apply to those along the river south of Sioux City, Iowa against other interests in the river such as recreation, flood control, drinking water uses, irrigation, environmental protection, etc...

Most people in Louisiana probably do not think much about the Missouri River, but historically most of the sediment that built the coastal wetlands of Louisiana came down the Missouri River which enters the Mississippi River just north of St. Louis. After the Corps completed a series of dams in the upper Missouri River, very little sediment continued to flow down the Missouri into the Mississippi River. The old adage about the lower Mississippi River was that the water came from the Ohio River and the mud came from the Missouri River. Hence, the Missouri River's nicknames was the "Big Muddy" and "Dark River,"  and the residents along it used to say the water of the Missouri River was "too thick to drink, too thin to plow."

The people of the upper Missouri River recognize that the volume of barge traffic on the Missouri River has fallen to the point that it is not a significant economic issue any more. Thus, these people north of the navigable section of the Missouri River would like to remove or at least de-emphasize navigation as a factor in deciding how to manage the Missouri River.

This move should be of interest to Louisiana. If the river can be managed in a way that increases sediment load in the river, this could aid Louisiana's efforts to restore the coastal wetlands. The reservoirs behind the large dams on the Missouri River trap sediment, but management techniques and construction techniques exist for flushing sediment through such reservoirs.

The impact that the operation of the Missouri River has on Louisiana should be considered in any new study of the Missouri River. This impact has not been considered in the past and that needs to change.

Erich P Rapp.

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