From BTNEP:

The Barataria-Terrebonne Estuary Foundation (BTEF) and the
Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program (BTNEP) invite the public to
celebrate the delicious resources of Louisiana, major sponsors to the BTEF
and the release of “Louisiana Estuary Cuisine,” BTNEP’s signature cookbook
at a Taste of the Estuary. Join your local, state and federal public
officials, local Chef Brandon LeBlanc, and supporters of BTEF and BTNEP,
on Friday, October 30, 2009 in the Cotillion Ballroom of the Nicholls
State University student union from 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm, for a four course
gourmet meal with wine pairing, and entertainment by the Lost Bayou
Ramblers. Ticket price is $50.00 and covers your delicious four course
meal and a copy of the cookbook. RSVP is strictly required, as each guest
must present a ticket for the event upon arrival. RSVP’s must be made by
4:30 pm on October 14, 2009 to Sandra Helmuth at sandra@btnep.org or by
calling 1-800-259-0869.

Enjoy an evening of food, music, and people at a Taste of the
Estuary.  At this event, BTNEP will honor major donors who have
contributed to the Barataria-Terrebonne Estuary Foundation. The recipes
for each course will be from “Louisiana Estuary Cuisine: A Culinary Guide
to Cooking with Plants and Animals in Louisiana.” You’ll be able to take
home your copy of the cookbook and try your hand at these unique and
fantastic recipes, all of which feature Louisiana products.

Throughout the evening you can pick up free educational materials
from BTNEP, hear Cajun music by the Lost Bayou Ramblers, and get to meet
the author and Executive Chef Brandon LeBlanc, photographer Lane Lefort,
and graphic design artist Marian Brister Martinez who all contributed to
the new cookbook.  Additionally, members of your legislative delegation
both on the national and state level are invited to join us.

Tickets are available by contacting the BTNEP office at
1-800-259-0869 or email Sandra Helmuth, sandra@btnep.org.

From LEAN:

When: Thursday, October 1, 2009 at 6:00p.m.
Where: New Iberia High School

Save Lake Peigneur, Inc. is asking concerned citizens to attend the DNR Public Hearing for the Mineral Board Approval of the Operational Agreement between the DNR and AGL Resources/Jefferson Island Storage & Hub.

The hearing will be held at New Iberia High School, 1301 E Admiral Doyle Dr. New Iberia, LA (on the corner of Jefferson Terrace & Admiral Doyle), at 6PM.

Jefferson Island Storage and Hub LLC. (JISH) natural gas storage facility, owned by AGL Resorces, Inc., currently operates two storage caverns and an extensive pipeline facility near Lake Peigneur in Erath. The company plans to expand the facility, pending the settlement of current litigation against the State of Louisiana.

The hearing is scheduled to address concerns before the State makes a decision whether or not to approve a principal agreement that would settle the litigation and enable AGL Resources to expand its natural gas storage facility at Jefferson Island.

Storage of natural gas and other substances including carbon dioxide in existing caverns and new caverns would be permitted. The current agreement cites the withdrawal of three million gallons of drinking water daily from the Upper Chicot Aquifer, however the agreement would also allow for the request of additional water removal from the Aquifer.

Save Lake Peigneur, Inc. has requested for a federal Enviromental Impact Statement to be conducted prior to approval of this agreement or permitting.

For More Information About This Issue Go To http://www.savelakepeigneur.org/site.php

From LACoast.gov:

South Louisiana (south of 31 degrees latitude) aerial photography taken in 2008, in color infrared (CIR) format and at one-meter resolution, is now available at the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources / Louisiana Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration’s SONRIS GIS website.

The SONRIS GIS website can be reached in a few different ways, one of which is via this URL:
http://sonris-www.dnr.state.la.us/gis/sonris/viewer.htm

From LEAN:

…
The 23nd annual LEAN People’s Conference will be held on Saturday, September 26, 2009.

We decided to mix it up a bit this year. We decided to move the conference to the Lod Cook Alumni Center at LSU in Baton Rouge, a very nice facility on beautiful University Lake. We have also decided to focus more on celebrating all of your accomplishments and getting us all inspired to do more. This year the conference will feature the LEAN Awards Ceremony, some updates on the good things that are going on and a featured speaker and film showing that should be a real treat! Come reconnect with your LEAN family, get recharged and reinvigorated and just generally pass a good time!

After the LEAN conference we hope that everyone will be able to head over to Alligator Bayou to attend a fundraising event that Alligator Bayou Tours is holding to raise funds for their Save Alligator Bayou campaign. There will be a live Cajun band and plenty of wonderful Cajun food.
…
Featuring keynote speaker, explorer, writer and filmmaker, Jon Bowermaster.
With the first ever screening of Jon’s latest film which focuses on Louisiana and features some of our LEAN family!
…
Begun in 1999, Jon’s OCEANS 8 project is a series of expeditions launched to explore the world’s oceans from the seat of a sea kayak. Used as both transportation and as floating ambassadors, sea kayaks allow Bowermaster and his teams – comprised of some of the world’s top photographers, filmmakers, scientists and navigators – to reach corners of the world rarely seen. The goal of each expedition is adventure crossed with an assessment of the health of the seas and the lives of the people who live and depend on them.

His reporting on the relationship between man and the sea continues, with new films on the Galapagos, Louisiana and the Maldives in-production. His blog – “Notes From Sea Level” (www.jonbowermaster.com) – gives him a daily forum for continuing the conversation with a growing audience. He is currently finishing two new films, “What Would Darwin Think?” about the relationship between man and the Galapagos and “SoLA” about Southern Louisianans and the water that surrounds them – creeks, rivers, bayous, the Gulf, the Mississippi.

From LaCoast.org:

Chalmette, LA — With hurricane season heating up, the Army Corps of Engineers, levee board and parish government officials, environmental organizations, and community leaders will meet on Tuesday to answer questions on efforts to restore wetlands destroyed by the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet and increase storm protection.
The forum is being coordinated by the MRGO Must Go coalition.  Free dinner will be served.

WHAT:
St. Bernard Parish Community Forum
WHO:
Timothy Doody (Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East President)
William McCartney (St. Bernard Parish Coastal Zone Management Administrator)
John Lopez (Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation Coastal Sustainability Program Director)
Greg Miller (U.S. Army Corps Senior Project Manager)
Ron Chapman (NUNEZ Associate Professor of History)
William Hyland (St. Bernard Parish Historian)
WHEN:
Tuesday, August 11th 6:30-8:30pm
WHERE:
St. Bernard Council on Aging (next to government complex)
8201 A. West Judge Perez Drive, Chalmette, Louisiana

**Interview Opportunities**
The MRGO Must GO coalition is a group of 17 environmental, community, and social justice organizations working together to restore and protect Coastal Louisiana and the people who reside there.  Contact Amanda Moore, National Wildlife Federation for more information: (225) 229-1944.

MRGO Must Go Coalition members include: American Rivers, CAWIC, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, Environmental Defense Fund, Global Green, Gulf Restoration Network, Holy Cross Neighborhood Association, Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, Levees.org, Louisiana Environmental Action Network, Louisiana Wildlife Federation, Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper, Lower Ninth Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development, MQVN Community Development Corporation, National Audubon Society, National Wildlife Federation, Sierra Club – Delta Chapter.

From Louisiana Environmental Action Network, Tuesday July 28th:

Damages to the Spanish Lake Basin from change in water level continue.

PARIEVILLE, LA – A large number of dead fish floated up to the end of Alligator Bayou today near the control structure that connects it to Bayou Manchac. Foul odors had been noticed in the area starting around Wednesday of last week but the large numbers of dead fish were only noticed today. It appears that it could have been easily a few hundred fish that were killed. Species that have been seen include many catfish, gar and buffalo. These species, particularly the gar, are generally tolerant of adverse conditions.
…
Unfortunately this is not a complete surprise. It was expected that, with the extremely low water levels that were recently implemented, the water would become starved of oxygen and choked with algae, phytoplankton and potentially higher concentrations of waste materials.
…
We think that it is a tragedy that this treasure, which has been used by so many people over many generations to hunt, fish and recreate, is being badly damaged and rendered unusable.

From LACoast.gov

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District and its local sponsor, the Louisiana Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration, have prepared a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Scoping Report for the Louisiana Coastal Area (LCA) Amite River Diversion Canal Modification Feasibility Study. The NEPA Scoping Report outlines the NEPA scoping process, provides background information regarding the proposed action and describes the scoping comments and issues identified during the NEPA scoping comment period (December 22, 2008, through February 23, 2009).

The NEPA Scoping Report also indicates where in the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement individual scoping comments would likely be addressed.

The NEPA Scoping Report will be provided to all scoping participants who provided their addresses, and is also available upon request to Renee Sanders at Renee.Sanders@la.gov or William Klein at william.p.klein.jr@usace.army.mil.

From the Gulf Restoration Network:

If you haven’t already done so (and even if you have), please take action NOW! This landmark legislation is one of many steps that must be taken to protect our coast and communities from the devastating impacts of climate change. Rising sea-levels and stronger storms pose a serious risk to our entire ecosystem. Reducing global warming pollution by investing in clean energy and green jobs will help protect vulnerable cities and communities like Lake Charles, Grand Isle, Houma, Thibodaux, New Orleans, and many, many more.

Please tell Congress to protect the coast today.

We can’t restore our coast without immediate action on climate change. This bill is our best chance. We must send a message that now is the time to act to protect ourselves and generations to come.

From lacoast.gov:

Nearly 600 acres of coastal marsh in Cameron Parish are being restored through the combined efforts of Ducks Unlimited, NOAA, Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, and the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority.

Ducks Unlimited is constructing approximately 50,000 linear feet of marsh terraces on Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge and Miami Corporation property in Cameron Parish to restore 570 acres of coastal marsh.

“This project was made possible because of the strong group of partners,” DU Manager of Conservation Programs Bob Dew said. “We had a short window of opportunity to make this happen, and everyone pitched in to make it a reality.”

The work on Cameron Prairie NWR is being funded by a $150,000 grant from NOAA. CPRA helped by contributing $2 million towards the Black Lake Terracing project near Hackberry, Louisiana, a portion of which was used as match to secure the NOAA grant. The remaining funds from CPRA will be used as match to secure an additional $1 million of NAWCA funds in the future.

“This project is a wonderful collaboration of private and public groups coming together to implement meaningful wetland restoration in an area still very much recovering from the ravages of past hurricanes. The NOAA Community-based Restoration Program believes in helping groups like Ducks Unlimited be a vehicle for restoration within the local community,” NOAA Restoration Center’s Marine Habitat Resource Specialist Cheryl Brodnax said.

Marsh terraces – long, narrow ridges of soil built in areas of marsh loss – offset impacts of saltwater intrusion, reduce wave action that can cause additional coastal erosion, improve water quality, and spur plant growth.

The project restores and protects the natural habitat for the nation’s waterfowl that migrate to Louisiana each winter and will provide over 19 miles of marsh edge that is beneficial to coastal fisheries.

Louisiana’s coastal marshes host up to 10 million of the nation’s wintering waterfowl every year. Unfortunately, despite efforts by conservation organizations and governmental agencies, 25-30 square miles of marsh continue to be lost each year.

“The State of Louisiana is not just aiming to restore wetlands to protect communities and infrastructure, but also to preserve and protect the cultural heritage and wildlife that make our coast so important and unique,” said CPRA Chairman Garret Graves. “A project like this one, in which the state works with a conservation organization like Ducks Unlimited to provide better protection, better habitat for waterfowl, and to preserve the resources that make our state such a tremendous place to hunt and fish, is extremely valuable and a large part of our overall coastal restoration effort.”

With more than a million supporters, Ducks Unlimited is the world’s largest and most effective wetland and waterfowl conservation organization with more than 12 million acres conserved. In Louisiana alone, one million acres of coastal marsh have disappeared in the last half-century, and an additional 500,000 acres are projected to be lost by 2050.

See what’s new on the Breaux Act Web site!  Visit www.LaCoast.gov

From Levees.org

Please go to YouTube and watch our new short video about how the Corps of Engineers used taxpayer funds to attack its critics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZXFK8z9WXo

The more people who visit this video and comment on it, the higher it goes in the YouTube rating! Click here!

In a sworn affidavit, a former managing editor of Nola.com, New Orleans’ largest online newsource describes how the Army Corps of Engineers used significant tax payer resources to attack critics of the Corps.

According to the affidavit, a cadre of 20 people, for over 3 years, have hidden their identities and posted comments on the Times-Picayune affiliate’s articles and forums that smeared New Orleanians and obscured the facts of the Corps of Engineers’ responsibility for the failure of its flood protection.

The affidavit also described how many of the comments “appealed to racial division and at times engaged in racial slurs against African Americans.”

Levees.org discovered evidence of this activity six months ago, and early this year submitted a written request to Nola.com/Times Picayune for all the comments data.

But their lawyer, Neil Rosenhouse of Sabin, Bermant & Gould told us that, while there is no legal reason to deny us access to the comments, they still won’t give them to us.  They cited “policy.”

Don’t we, the citizens deserve to know the full extent of the Corps’ unethical behavior?

If you agree, write to Jim Amoss, Editor of the Times Picayune at this address jamoss@timespicayune.com, and say this:

“I deserve to know the full details on how the Corps of Engineers has been using my tax payer money to protect its image.  I deserve to see all the comments that came from the Corps’ computers.”

You could also leave a message on Mr. Amoss’s voice mail by calling his direct line: 504-826-3475.

In response to this disturbing information, Levees.org has filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).  We requested all communications between the Corps of Engineers and its $5 million dollar PR firm Outreach Process Partners (OPP) which recently claimed on its website to play a “fundamental part” of reducing the volume of negative news stories about the Corps.

The PR firm spoke of “fostering strategic relationships” with news outlets.  The Times Picayune is one of the news outlets that OPP boasted of “providing media support.”

These revelations – the sworn affidavit, and the OPP claims  – are two more reasons we deserve the 8/29 Investigation Act, a truly independent analysis of the flood protection failures, and the organizational component, that occurred in August 2005.