Walking on egg shells
Yesterday was the day that shell-shocked Gulf Coast residents have been eyeing with growing trepidation for the past few weeks... (no, not Ray Nagin's inaguration) the commencement of hurricane season, 2006.
The GRN spent the week working with the Sierra Club around the Gulf to urge the public and politicians to wake up to the critical layers of protection nature provides – from barrier islands to natural flooding cycles – and what hurricanes of the past have taught us about the consequences of compromising and undermining natural systems.
Bruce Hamilton, the Club's national conservation director came down to the third coast to help us roll out our joint report, The School of Big Storms: The High Cost of Compromising Our Natural Defenses and the Benefits of Protecting Them. The report shows that if we allow the continued destruction of our natural barriers, such as coastal wetlands and barrier islands, then we take away nature’s ability to protect us by reducing the strength and impact of hurricanes.
The School of Big Storms provides a lesson from each Gulf state: Houston's floodplain redevelopment plan, the MRGO in Louisiana, the Mississippi barrier islands, coastal development setbacks in Alabama due to the protection of habitat for the Alabama beach mouse, the need to apply hurricane building codes uniformly in Florida, and a Gulf of Mexico lesson that our oil and gas infrastructure needs to be out of harm's way or if immobile, strengthened to withstand cat 5 storms.
We released the report in Mississippi by renting a plane and flying over the barrier islands, providing a great view of the problem to the media. Similarly in Louisiana, we enlisted our MRGOMustGo.org coalition partner, Carlton Dufrechou of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation to use his plane and pilotin' skills to fly the media over the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, that cancer of a navigation channel built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. During Hurricane Katrina, experts at the LSU Hurricane Center contend that the MRGO acted as a funnel – increasing the height of the storm surge by several feet and sharply increasing its speed – causing levees to crumble under the assault.
The biggest surprise of the media coverage of our flyovers was a great package that WWL put together with the Corps of Engineers standing on the MRGO levees declaring them ready for the season, and one of the camo-clad Corps honchos called the idea that the MRGO played a role in flooding New Orleans ridiculous. I almost shot Abita Reconstruction Ale out of my nose. I've heard them argue that the MRGO only added 6 inches of storm surge, which seems a stretch, but to discount any role at all? After the MRGO has destroyed ~20K acres of wetlands that would have been protecting NOLA? Ludicrous!
Please click here to send a message to Congress, urging them to seal the deal and close the MRGO forever.
Oh, and if you want to get a copy of The School of Big Storms, you can get a cd with a pdf for a $5 donation here. Or, you can recieve a hardcopy for a $10 donation, here. Or, the BEST way to get a copy is to become a member of the GRN with a suggested $35 (minimum $15) and we'll throw in a complimentary copy. Do that, here.
Aaron Viles is the GRN's Campaign Director
The GRN spent the week working with the Sierra Club around the Gulf to urge the public and politicians to wake up to the critical layers of protection nature provides – from barrier islands to natural flooding cycles – and what hurricanes of the past have taught us about the consequences of compromising and undermining natural systems.
Bruce Hamilton, the Club's national conservation director came down to the third coast to help us roll out our joint report, The School of Big Storms: The High Cost of Compromising Our Natural Defenses and the Benefits of Protecting Them. The report shows that if we allow the continued destruction of our natural barriers, such as coastal wetlands and barrier islands, then we take away nature’s ability to protect us by reducing the strength and impact of hurricanes.
The School of Big Storms provides a lesson from each Gulf state: Houston's floodplain redevelopment plan, the MRGO in Louisiana, the Mississippi barrier islands, coastal development setbacks in Alabama due to the protection of habitat for the Alabama beach mouse, the need to apply hurricane building codes uniformly in Florida, and a Gulf of Mexico lesson that our oil and gas infrastructure needs to be out of harm's way or if immobile, strengthened to withstand cat 5 storms.
We released the report in Mississippi by renting a plane and flying over the barrier islands, providing a great view of the problem to the media. Similarly in Louisiana, we enlisted our MRGOMustGo.org coalition partner, Carlton Dufrechou of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation to use his plane and pilotin' skills to fly the media over the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, that cancer of a navigation channel built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. During Hurricane Katrina, experts at the LSU Hurricane Center contend that the MRGO acted as a funnel – increasing the height of the storm surge by several feet and sharply increasing its speed – causing levees to crumble under the assault.
The biggest surprise of the media coverage of our flyovers was a great package that WWL put together with the Corps of Engineers standing on the MRGO levees declaring them ready for the season, and one of the camo-clad Corps honchos called the idea that the MRGO played a role in flooding New Orleans ridiculous. I almost shot Abita Reconstruction Ale out of my nose. I've heard them argue that the MRGO only added 6 inches of storm surge, which seems a stretch, but to discount any role at all? After the MRGO has destroyed ~20K acres of wetlands that would have been protecting NOLA? Ludicrous!
Please click here to send a message to Congress, urging them to seal the deal and close the MRGO forever.
Oh, and if you want to get a copy of The School of Big Storms, you can get a cd with a pdf for a $5 donation here. Or, you can recieve a hardcopy for a $10 donation, here. Or, the BEST way to get a copy is to become a member of the GRN with a suggested $35 (minimum $15) and we'll throw in a complimentary copy. Do that, here.
Aaron Viles is the GRN's Campaign Director
Labels: Army Corps Reform, Member Groups, MRGO, Natural Storm Defenses
posted by Aaron at 1:58 PM
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