Shell Oil is proposing a 200 mile pipeline that will span across rivers in Louisiana, block bayous in the Atchafalaya Basin, and directly impact more than 700 acres of wetlands, including 200 acres of cypress forest. The cypress forests in Louisiana’s Atchafalaya Basin is the largest continuous bottomland forest and swamp in the United States, and home to some of the best wildlife viewing, hunting, and fishing on the continent.Help us fight Shell’s pipeline, and protect this cypress forest by writing to the US Army Corps of Engineers.The recent pipeline explosion in Milford, Texas, which led to the evacuation of the entire town, is a stark reminder of the dangers that pipelines pose to local communited and the environment. (1)Shell’s pipeline would be the latest and greatest injury to the Atchafalaya Basin, a region where the Army Corps enforcement is so understaffed that they lack a boat to do inspections. Shell Oil is already violating its permit for an existing pipeline project in the same area by blocking the natural flows of surrounding bayous. This bad behavior should not be rewarded with another permit to destory wetlands and cypress forests in the Atchafalaya.Take action now and tell the Army Corps to save our cypress.Matt Rota is GRN’s Senior Policy Director.1. Hennessy-Fiske, Molly. “Liquefied gas pipeline explodes in rural Texas,” LA Times 14 November 2013
