CORPS TO CONGRESS: COAST IS IMPORTANT, BUT NOT SO IMPORTANT YOU HAVE TO DO ANYTHING RIGHT NOW

Alright, that's probably not a fair headline, but after all the buildup to this Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration interim technical report, you'll forgive Louisiana coastal residents for expecting to see a little more meat, and a little less hemming and hawing.

This is the report from the Corps of Engineers to Congress, laying out the options available to get Southern Louisiana Category 5 protection - to avoid ever seeing anything similar to Katrina play out again.

While some of the more coastally engaged national environmental groups immediately leapt upon the Corps and the Administration for some of the levee alignments laid out in one of the multiple appendices, the executive summary certainly sings the praises of our natural barriers and buffers that GRN has urged the protection and enhancement of - barrier islands, coastal marsh, forested estuaries and ridges. That's a relief. But is the Corps comfortable enough with those systems and features to avoid their inherent tendancy to build big structures, dredge big channels, and permit wetlands development? That's the $30 billion question.

The report response highlights the critical importance this federal flood-control effort represents to Louisiana, and the very future of the state's primary economic engine, New Orleans. Both Senators and the Governor commented on the plan immediately:

Sen. David Vitter, R-La., called it"nothing more than another slap in the face of Louisiana"and said the Army"decided to gut the report and remove all substance."

Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said she would demand congressional hearings to investigate omission of the five recommendations."Levee and flood control is a life-or-death situation for the people of coastal Louisiana,"she said."So it is very disappointing that this report fails to do what Congress mandated."

I attended a briefing of the House Science Committee last week at which the Governor's folks accused the Administration of pulling out all the specific recommendations that had been included in a previous draft. Seems like those fears have been borne out, and with them we see less urgency and more delay in dealing with MRGO closure, and a few other specific projects.

The bottom line is that the state of our coast is in shambles and we need action sooner, rather than later to deal with it. Every month that passes without a funded plan in place makes it that much more likely that the Katrina tragedy fades from the collective consciousness, and with it, the nation's resolve to fix what the nation's hunger for oil & gas and shipping routes to the midwest hath wrought.

Aaron Viles is the GRN's Campaign Director