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

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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Although efforts to stem coastal wetland loss in Louisiana are already grossly underfunded, the Corps of Engineers is seeking reimbursement for a part of the cost of dredging the Mississippi River to maintain the navigation channel from the budget for coastal restoration projects authorized and funded pursuant to the Breaux Act. See the editorial in the New Orleans Time Picayune on Monday February 18, 2008 and the related article in the New Orleans Times Picayune on Thursday February 14, 2008.

The Mississippi River Commission, which is related to and controlled by the Corps of Engineers, is taking the position that the State of Louisiana and the Corps of Engineers must pay for any increase in dredging costs that result from any coastal restoration project in Louisiana that diverts water and sediment from the Mississippi River.

Officials for the State of Louisiana believe that the transfer of this cost to the Breaux Act coastal restoration projects will effectively shut down the restoration projects.

Interestingly, Garret Graves, the Chairman of the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority and member of the Breaux Act task force suggested that perhaps the Corps should be responsible for the damage to the Louisiana coastal wetlands that resulted from the Corps management of the Mississippi River.

Melanie Goodman, the Corps' Breaux Act program manager replied that actions related to navigation "a century ago" which are damaging the coastal wetlands in Louisiana are in the past and not subject to reimbursement.

Of course, this entire blog is dedicated to the idea that the Corps is making decisions and undertaking actions everyday that adversely impact the Louisiana coastal wetlands and that the continuing series of interconnected decisions dating back many years is, in fact the responsibility of the Corps of Engineers and the federal government.

The Corps' two part defense is that it did not know they were damaging the coastal wetlands of Louisiana many years ago when they built dams and levees on the Mississippi River and its tributaries. This is, of course, not true. The Corps has known since the 19th century that the coast of Louisiana was subsiding and that the sediment from the Mississippi River offset the subsidence.

The additional implication from the Corps' claim about the past is that the Corps is not taking new actions today that adversely impact on the coast of Louisiana. This is also not true. The Corps makes management decisions about the Mississippi River and its tributaries such as the Missouri River and the Ohio River, everyday that deny or reduce sediment transport to the coast of Louisiana. In many ways, an analytical disconnect exists between management of the more northern portions of the Mississippi River drainage basin and the coast of Louisiana. The analysis of Corps projects in the Missouri River or the upper Mississippi River or the Ohio River almost never consider the impact of these projects on sediment transport to the coast of Louisiana, and those decisions and actions continue day after day and year after year up to the present and likely far into the future. The Corps' suggestion that the damage they have caused to Louisiana's coast is the result of actions far in the past is simply not true. It is also the result of events planned and executed in the present.

Erich P. Rapp.

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