CORPS TO CONGRESS: CLOSE THE COASTAL CANCER

Yes, that's right, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers bucked pressure from the shipping industry and picked a complete closure of the MR-GO at the La Loutre Ridge as the preferred option for their mandatory December report to Congress. As it's Congress which holds the purse strings for federal navigation projects, that's a critical step. As much as the GRN has maligned the Corps for past failures, we agree with this morning's NOLA Times-Picayune editorial that this is a relief. A big thank you to the MRGO Must Go coalition and the 5,000+ folks who sent e-mails to Congress demanding this step last year - apparently they listened!

Unfortunately, left out of the plan is any attempt to address the 27,000 acres of lost wetlands and cypress swamp (read: critical natural flood protection) that MR-GO has killed. In addition, the Corps plan is consistant in forwarding the Corps belief that MR-GO did non contribute to the storm surge that destroyed much of St. Bernard Parish and New Orleans in Katrina's wake. Their plan may not effectively stop future hurricane-related surge. These elements will need to be addressed by the Corps' LACPR (Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration project) that is a few steps behind the Congressionally-mandated MR-GO closure plan.

Hmm, so what did we get? We got another step along in the journey to secure our coast and communities. It's not a quick trip, but we'll be watching the Corps every step of the way.


Aaron Viles is the GRN's Campaign Director