Vermilionaire

From Gulf Restoration Network:

WLAE-TV, a New Orleans PBS Affiliate, is proud to announce the launch of its new coastal restoration program, Category Five/Wetlands Watch. The show is an in-depth exploration into the dire state of Louisiana’s coastal wetlands, the economic impact of its continued destruction, and the possible solutions that could save Louisiana.

The program will run for six months and aims to paint a large-scale portrait on the condition of Louisiana’s wetlands. The program will provide viewers with the essential knowledge needed to understand how Louisiana’s coast was formed and how it was eaten away. Subsequent episodes will explore the economic vitality of Louisiana’s wetlands to the fishing, oil and shipping industries and how its deterioration effects all of America. The series will conclude with an analysis of the various solutions proposed to slow the coast’s erosion and to rebuild America’s wetlands.

For more information please visit www.wlae.com

From the Gulf Restoration Network:

The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana invites you to participate in a marsh restoration project at Rockefeller Refuge in Southwest Louisiana. Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge, located in eastern Cameron and western Vermilion Parishes, has been impacted heavily by erosion and has lost nearly 10,000 acres of wetlands. Working with many partners, sponsors and volunteers, the Coalition will plant nearly 10,500 plugs of marsh cordgrass along the shorelines within the refuge.  We will be planting on multiple days and you can volunteer for one day or multiple days.

Where: Rockefeller Refuge, 5476 Grand Chenier Hwy, Grand Chenier, LA 70643
When: Starting Monday, June 22 and anticipated completion on Thursday, June 25  8:30 am to approximately 4:00 pm

All planting equipment (gloves, shovels, dibbles, etc.) will be provided. Volunteers should bring closed toe shoes (boots preferably) and a change of clothes. Lunch and drinks will be provided to all volunteers.   Please register to let us know if you plan to attend. Register Online

From Nola.com:

U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu said she expects Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to announce within two weeks a new, final arbitration process for lingering disputes over federal payments for public buildings damaged in Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Hundreds of projects across the Gulf Coast are affected, but the largest price tag — and perhaps the most intense dispute — comes from Charity Hospital. The Federal Emergency Management Agency remains opposed to the state’s request for $492 million that accounts for more than 40 percent of the construction budget for a replacement medical complex.

Landrieu, who sponsored the arbitration amendment in the federal economic stimulus bill in part because of the Charity case, did not divulge all the details of the new group. But she said it would comprise experts who are independent of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which remains an arm of Napolitano’s department.

The senator’s amendment, worded generally, requires that the Obama administration establish an “arbitration panel” to hear Public Assistance disputes from Hurricane Katrina or Rita for projects with a price tag of at least $500,000.

The law states: “The arbitration panel shall have sufficient authority regarding the award or denial of disputed public assistance applications for covered hurricane damage under section 403, 406, or 407 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act.” No other details are included, giving discretion to the administration.

FEMA’s Public Assistance Program compensates local and state governments, along with non-profit entities, for expenses and damages related to federally declared disasters.

The senator said it is her understanding that arbitrators would have immediate jurisdiction over any Katrina or Rita disputes, regardless of where a particular project may be in the existing appeals process.

FEMA’s regional office in Texas recently rejected the state’s appeal of the agency’s $150 million offer for Charity. Under existing procedures, the next step would be hearings in front of FEMA officials in Washington, D.C. Louisiana officials have throughout the Charity dispute criticized the Stafford Act appeals process as unfair because it amounts to an agency reviewing its own decisions.

Landrieu declined to offer a time frame for when the Charity question could be settled.

In the mean time, she said she has no immediate plans to ask Congress for money to finance the hospital. Settling the Public Assistance amount, she said, will allow the state to finalize its construction budget. At that point, Landrieu said she would consider the federal appropriations process as an option should the state need additional money.

From Nola.com:

Marking the start of the 2009 hurricane season on Monday, elected officials and environmental leaders gathered in the Lower 9th Ward to applaud the closing of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet and encourage residents to continue demanding that the Army Corps of Engineers restore coastal wetlands.

Hosted by MR-GO Must Go, a coalition of environmental and community organizations, the “Rally For Restoration” was both a celebration of the past year’s successes and a reminder of the enormous work to be done in rebuilding Louisiana’s strongest line of defense against future storms, healthy coastal wetlands.

The rally was held at the base of the levee along Florida Avenue that separates the Lower 9th Ward from the Bayou Bienvenue Cypress Triangle, an overflow swamp dotted with dead cypress trees. Saltwater intrusion caused by the MR-GO killed those trees, along with more than 27,000 acres of wetlands, said Amanda Moore with the National Wildlife Federation.

The loss of wetlands, which act as a natural buffer against storms, increased storm surge during Hurricane Katrina, with the MR-GO helping to funnel the surge into the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and the Industrial Canal, where it caused multiple levee breaches.

The corps formally agreed to seal off the MR-GO with a rock dam in December, and its construction is nearly done.

“Right now, as we speak, the MR-GO is being closed, ” Councilwoman Cynthia Willard-Lewis said. “That would not have happened if people had not consistently, collectively and courageously raised their voices.”

The channel’s closure, however, is just the first step, speakers said. Under the 2007 Water Resources Development Act, Congress authorized the corps to study possible wetlands restoration projects, calling for its completion by May 2008. The study has yet to be finished.

“Their deadline keeps slipping, so that’s why we’re asking people to stay involved and hold the corps accountable, ” Moore said.

Beth Galante, executive director of the New Orleans arm of the nonprofit Global Green, said: “All of us here today who have been working so hard in our communities . . . know for a fact that all our efforts will be wasted if the Corps of Engineers does not stand up and restore the wetlands.”

Clarkson said she had recently returned from a five-day trip to the Netherlands with Sen. Mary Landrieu, corps officials and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, where they visited wetlands that had been successfully reconstituted.

“We told (the corps officials) repeatedly, ‘This is what New Orleans will do, ‘ ” Clarkson said. “The Dutch reclaimed their wetlands. They reclaimed their freshwater from saltwater. And if they can do it, we can do it.”

From the New York Times:

“Can we actually save the Netherlands? Or should we abandon part of the country?” This is the basic question Dutch leaders were asking themselves within the context of global warming after witnessing Hurricane Katrina’s devastating blow to New Orleans in 2005.

During a visit to the Netherlands last week, a delegation from Washington and Louisiana heard that Katrina was a wake-up call for the Dutch because it showed them that levees could fail and that there could be catastrophic damages.

Partly for this reason, the Dutch government appointed a commission — the second Delta Commission — in 2007 with a broad mandate spread over a very long term (2100-2200). The commission was asked to evaluate the potential effects of climate change in the Netherlands and to propose measures to “climate-proof” the country: keep it safe from flooding, while preserving its status as an attractive place to invest in, work and live.

The commission concluded that a regional sea level rise of 0.65 to 1.3 meters (2.13 to 4.27 feet) by 2100 and of 2 to 4 meters (6.56 to 13.12 feet) by 2200 should be taken into account. The sea level along the Dutch coast has already risen by approximately 20 centimeters (7.87 inches) over the past century. “Climate change is now forcing itself upon us: a new reality that cannot be ignored,” wrote the commission in its report, published last year.

“It’s not that we believe that the sea level will rise by 2 meters, but we do need to make sure we take the necessary measures,” professor Louise Fresco, a Delta Commission member, told the American delegation, led by U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson during a briefing in The Hague on the commission’s findings.

To read the whole article, click here

From the DailyComet.com:

The state’s $5.3 billion spending plan for construction projects was passed by the House Friday despite debate over plans to spend millions on coastal restoration and keeping the Saints in New Orleans.

But lawmakers stopped short of adopting the companion legislation needed to pay for the work.

House Bill 2 prioritizes the construction and renovation of roads, levees, sewerage systems, buildings and other infrastructure. It also contains $300 million in surplus money assigned by Gov. Bobby Jindal for coastal restoration, a line item that came under fire during debate.

To read the whole article, click here.

From LACoast.gov:

Children Lend a Hand for Coastal Restoration Louisiana Star Tab Benoit Gets the Project Rocking

WHO: Tab Benoit, National Wildlife Federation, and Louisiana Wildlife Federation

WHEN: 4:00 p.m., Sunday, April 19, 2009

WHERE: Nature & Your Neighborhood (Tent #19, Governmental Plaza, near St. Louis St.), Baton Rouge Earth Day Festival

PHOTO OPPORTUNITY: Benoit will appear at the Nature & Your Neighborhood tent at approximately 4:00 p.m. to help launch a banner project calling for a federal commitment to Louisiana’s coastal wetlands.  The 40+ foot banner, which reads “Our Coast.  Our Future.  Restore the Wetlands,” will be decorated with the handprints of children attending the 20th annual celebration of Louisiana Earth Day.  Benoit also plans to display the banner onstage during his 5:00-6:30 p.m. performance on the Earth Stage.  The banner will continue to be decorated by children throughout Louisiana until reaching its final destination in Washington, D.C. this fall.

Contact: Maura Wood, National Wildlife Federation (225-205-2804 or woodm@nwf.org)

From Levees.org:

Levees.org’s rally protesting Louisiana State University’s decision to downsize the LSU Hurricane Center and fire its key personnel drew a large crowd of chanting sign-waving protesters.
The event also drew substantial local and national media.

The Associated Press which has dubbed Levees.org “an influential citizens group” reported on the Thursday morning rally at LSU Health Science Center on April 16.

Charles Delzell, president of the LSU chapter of the American Association of University Professors, said of Dr. Ivor van Heerdens dismissal, “It’s a clear case of retaliation for criticizing the Army Corps.”

Click here for more on the story.
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/43149572.html?index=1&c=y

Click here for a photo slide show.
http://www.levees.org/photos

And you can click here for a short video (65 sec).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-KrUec2-QM
Thanks for your support of the goals of Levees.org

For more info visit www.levees.org

From Dr John and GRN:

Dr. John here from my backyard in Nawlins.  I like sittin’ here and I hate havin’ to evacuate to some place I don’t wanna’ be.  We never even heard that word growing up here.  That’s because we used to be safe until somebody stole our wetlands. That’s the only thing been protecting us all these years and we gotta’ put ‘em back out there so I don’t gotta’ get up and go over and over again.

I tell you, the good doctor’s got a cure for fixin’ those wetlands…collect the money from the oil companies who destroyed over half of them, and use it to let our mighty Mississippi do its thing, build land, au naturale.

For some reason though Shell and their friends in the industry don’t think they owe anything, so we gotta’ let them know we’re wise to ‘em and want action now.  A good place to let them know is at this year’s Jazz Fest.  Shell acts like it’s their fest now, but our Jazz Fest did just fine for decades without ‘em.

So we gonna’ be flying a plane around the Fairgrounds draggin’ a banner “Shell Hear The Music – Fix The Coast You Broke!”   Come on out to the Fest and wave at it with me.  I’d appreciate if you’d contribute to keep the plane flying as long as possible at http://www.healthygulf.org/shellpays Every single tax deductible dollar will go to more airtime for more eyeballs. So join me and Mr. Bill and Gulf Restoration Network and many others to send this message to Shell.  I’ll be tossin some of my gris gris on the grounds, too.

Love and posterity for all y’all,
Dr. John

From Levees.org

Exactly one day after Levees.org held a press conference denouncing the muzzling of hurricane experts who speak out on the metro New Orleans flood, Ivor van Heerden, frequent critic of the US government, was given the ax.

Van Heerden, the brave coastal scientist who led the state’s independent Team Louisiana investigation into the levee failures during Katrina, has been given notice by Louisiana State University that he will be terminated as a research professor in one year.

Van Heerden believes he was let go because LSU is concerned that his frank talk with the media has and continues to hurt LSU’s chances of getting federal dollars.

At Levees.org’s press conference this week we denounced the silencing of experts.

We cited the case of Gorden Boutwell, a highly respected local geotechnical engineer who served on two levee investigation teams post Katrina.  In June 2007, he wrote to me that he was ashamed for his society (American Society of Civil Engineers) because it was understating the Corps of Engineers’ role in the catastrophic levee failures.  However, he forbade me from publishing his remarks because a member of the Army Corps of Engineers had approached him and told him that if he spoke out critically of the Corps, that his engineering company would be destroyed.

Gorden Boutwell died in September 2008. I brought his letter to the media – an important letter that I had held back nearly 2 years – because I believe that is what Mr. Boutwell wanted me to do.

The threat to Mr. Boutwell, like that to van Heerden was verbal.  There is no smoking gun.

And that makes it hard to show conclusive proof that the federal government silences those who speak out.  It’s hard to quantify the extent of the muzzling of experts who are critical of the Corps of Engineers or other federal agencies.

But Gorden Boutwell a crusty, outspoken engineer was afraid.

And now, van Heerden, a fine scientist is fired.

These are two more reasons to demand the 8/29 Investigation Act, a truly independent bipartisan analysis of the flood protection failures in metro New Orleans.

Click here to write your members of Congress.
http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/1625/t/2541/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=2497

To find out about what you can do, go to www.levees.org