The Control Of Nature - The Atchafalaya

New Yorker Article from 1987

Some forget....

It was known in 1987 that the Corps was "fixing" one problem and creaing another.

THANK YOU RICHARD CAMPANELLA!!!

Read Richard Campanella's article to better understand how
The Corps policies "broke" our coast and only Corps policies can fix it.

"For all the economic gains — and there were plenty — 20th-century hydrological interventions also altered the flux of terrestrial sediment to ocean systems. Particles that once pulsated messily but beneficially from the continent’s interior to its coasts now piled up uselessly behind locks and dams, or in the bedload of slackened currents. Or else they got jettisoned onto the continental shelf, sans any geomorphological or ecological benefit whatsoever. And as the century wore on, ocean currents continued to gnaw away at fragile beaches and barrier islands, and rising sea levels inundated coastal wetlands which were already subsiding under deprivation of fresh water. New residential and commercial development, meanwhile, crept ever closer to surge-prone coasts and deeper into flood plains, egged on by the availability of federal flood insurance and a false sense of security imparted by flood-control structures."

"America’s sediment budget did... not get knocked off balance by sinister or incompetent forces, but rather as an unforeseen consequence of promethean engineering projects that have produced great wealth for American society for generations. No more can we decommission dams and locks for the sake of increasing sediment supply than we can remove levees from the lower Mississippi for the sake of fast-tracking coastal restoration; millions of Americans rely on these engineering structures, and they are here to stay. Nevertheless, we should recognize that they come with a cost, and strategically augmenting the sediment load of rivers as they flow to coasts, particularly by maximizing the beneficial use of dredged sediments, is a good way to reduce that cost. Human intervention skewed North America’s sediment dynamics, and only human intervention can rebalance them."

THANK YOU RICHARD CAMPANELLA!!!

Local Shrimpers fighting for a chance

http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2013/01/gulf_of_mexico_shrimpers_hail.html

Gulf of Mexico shrimpers on Wednesday hailed a federal trade court's decision to re-examine Chinese shrimp imports from 2009 and 2010. The Department of Commerce had asked the U.S. Court of International Trade to allow it to reopen its review of those Chinese shrimp imports to the United States.

Go Denise Reed

http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2012/12/could_the_new_panama_canal_hel.html

Read Bob Marshall today (even if it means that you have to go to Nola.Com).

Denise Reed of UNO and Cheif Scientist at The Water Institue of the Gulf says the Panama Canal and the dreging needed for deep draft vessels and the resultant dredged sediment could help rebuild our coast.... but we have to be willing to think about "realignment" of our coast.  Birdfoot delta.... maybe not.

If all the options have to be on the table then ....
all the options have to be on the table.
MORE sediment from dredging going into rebuilding our wetlands is a good thing.

Now if only Charles Groat wasn't also on the staff of The Water Institute of the Gulf.

Domino Sugar... Tour what's REAL

Domino Sugar Refinery is more than 100 years old
AND the largest in the Western Hemisphere.


and as Stephen Tuck of Brunswick East, Australia said;
"emphasizing the parish's history as part of its tourism gives visitors a real chance to get to know the world of its residents, past and present. As the great historian, Manning Clark, once observed, to understand a place, it's not enough to read about it: You need to see and feel it.
Inevitably, visitors will tend to be drawn to the glamour and party atmosphere of the French Quarter. But others (like me), who long ago fell in love with Louisiana, will jump at anything that lets us get a little closer to the heart and soul of a beautiful city."

Come and Visit.... Keep it Real.

Corps may have to do the right thing! Oh My!

Corps may have to deliver more sediment!

What!?

The Corps of Engineers, the organization almost singularly responsible for the destruction of the Louisiana's Wetlands may be forced to thinking about the need Americas Wetlands have for sediment from the River!?!

What a concept!    

To do what Mother Nature intended.

"State officials also have had a running battle with the corps over its decision not to use sediment dredged from the river "beneficially," by piping it to locations where it can build land. The corps responds that it is limited in the amount it can spend on such beneficial use projects by Congress.
Another federal law authorizes the spending of $100 million on such beneficial use projects, but Congress has never appropriated money for that program."

So is it CONGRESS or is it the Corps? OR is it the ineptitude of both?

"It is crystal clear that the corps management of the Mississippi River is the largest ongoing cause of wetlands loss in the United States," said Garret Graves, chairman of the state Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority and coastal advisor to Gov. Bobby Jindal. "When you think that this is the agency responsible for regulating wetlands, their actions are hypocritical, to say the least."

Federally recognize the United Houma Nation

Read more about the United Houma Nations struggle for recognition here.

The White House promised to review the United Houma Nation's petition for federal recognition if 25,000 signatures are acquired. At this time yesterday, the count was 4868. Late last night, it passed the 5000 mark. At this pace, the number of signatures will only get to about 6500 by the December 1st deadline. We can all play a role in making this happen if we ask our friends and family to sign.

So click on this LINK to White House.Gov Petitions

CREATE an Account. 
Yes it is a pain to have to create an account. But people must create an account to register themselves as REAL people are signing the petition.
Once you create your account you will get an eMail and you will have to click on the link to validate the account and sign in.  

ONLY then can you actually sign the petition.

It's pointing and clicking.... and a few minutes of your time.

The United Houma Nation has been waiting a long time.

"The United Houma Nation has sought federal recognition for decades. The tribe has been recognized by state and foreign governments as an Indian tribe. In fact, Houma children were forced to attend a segregated Indian school until the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Located along Louisiana's Gulf Coast, the Houma Indian culture and community depend on the wetlands. The BP spill has devastated the Houma. However, BP denied the Houma's claim because they are not federally recognized.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) recommends the United Houma Nation be recognized to preserve the Houma’s culture. An NAACP report stated the oil industry lobby is blocking their request because they want access to lands that would be protected under the federal designation."

---Below is a sample of the Email you will get requiring you to confirm your account---



-----Forwarded Message-----
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Sent: Nov 12, 2011 5:30 PM
To: Your Email address
Subject: Almost done! Verify your WhiteHouse.gov account

You're only one step away from creating your WhiteHouse.gov account. Just 
click on the link below to confirm this is a working email address:

https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/user/validate/5411635/1321140545/d40494472XXXXXXXa1e4ba5070c43cc

IMPORTANT: If you created your account in the process of signing a 
petition on We the People, you still need to click on the "Sign this 
Petition" button on the petition's webpage.

Here is your WhiteHouse.gov account information, including an automatically 
generated password:

https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/user
e-mail: yourEmailaddress

password: theWebGeneratedPassword



More information about WhiteHouse.gov accounts is available in the  
WhiteHouse.gov's Privacy Policy (http://www.whitehouse.gov/privacy) and the  
Terms of Participation  
(http://www.whitehouse.gov/petitions#!/how-why/terms-participation) for We  
the People.

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SELA Phase 1 - dumping into Monticello's bottleneck

The article in the Times Picayune today (in full below)  indicates that Phase 1 of our nightmare is starting. 

We all know, from conversations with representatives at the Corps of Engineers, this means that eventually more water will get dumped faster into the Monticello Canal.  This means that the Monticello (which *already* fills during heavy rainfall) will fill faster.  We also know that without an increase in the capacity at the railroad tracks (near Airline) that this will backup in Monticello and eventually backup into the houses in Hollygrove and Carrollton and Broadmoor and Fountainebleau.   When there are very high water levels in the Monticello the drains in the streets start backing up.

Don't believe us. Ask the Corps of Engineers and S&W about the restriction (narrowing) of the Monticello at the railroad tracks near Airline. They will tell you it is real. They will tell you it is a potential problem.  They will tell you that they were working with Joseph Cao when he was in Congress to get monies to address the issue.

So our question is: where is the money to eliminate the restriction?  Without this money and a plan all that is being done is moving water from Uptown into Hollygrove, Carrollton and Broadmoor.  Our understanding was that Congress was being lobbied to provide funding to allow for the restriction to be removed.  Can anyone provide an update on the comprehensive plan for the SELA projects and how the Monticello drains (or doesn't because of the restriction) into the flow also coming from Palmetto and into the 17th Street Canal?

The article from the Times Picayune today (in full below)
The Army Corps of Engineers has awarded a $27.1 million contract to increase drainage for the Carrollton area with improvements to an underground concrete canal along South Claiborne Avenue between Monticello Avenue and Leonidas Street. The project, part of the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Damage Reduction Project, is aimed at allowing the drainage system to accommodate runoff from a 10-year rainfall event.

A 10-year rainfall  in New Orleans represents 9 inches of rain in 24 hours, a corps spokeswoman said.
The 38-month project will be built by Louisiana-based Cajun Constructors Inc., and includes about 2,500 feet of covered canal and the relocation of sewer and water lines to accommodate the project. A notice to proceed will be issued to the company this month, and the job is expected to be completed in the winter of 2014.
The new canal will parallel an existing canal in the South Claiborne Avenue neutral ground and will tie in to the existing Monticello Canal and to a similar new canal to be constructed under the South Claiborne Avenue Phase 2 contract at Leonidas Street. The new canal will be built in the traffic lane closest to the neutral ground in the west-bound roadway, and will require the closure of adjacent traffic lanes at times.
The New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board will brief the public on the project at a meeting that is not yet scheduled. The S&WB will brief residents along Napoleon Avenue about a similar project at a meeting Oct. 18 at 6 p.m. at The Salvation Army, 4526 South Claiborne Ave.
The second phase of the Claiborne project, including canal improvements on Claiborne between Leonidas and Lowerline streets, will be awarded next spring.
This is the 13th SELA contract awarded in New Orleans, financed with money made available by Congress in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, with 35 percent of the cost borne by the S&WB.

Now all we need to do is TAX the imports to pay for the testing...

Tougher rules on shrimp imports hailed
Potential rules on Gulf oysters averted
Thursday, December 23, 2010 By Benjamin Alexander-Bloch Staff writer

A food safety bill passed through Congress on Wednesday with language that increases inspection and enforcement standards on imported seafood.

The bill, which now awaits President Barack Obama's signature to become law, gives the Food and Drug Administration unprecedented power to regulate food contamination, allowing the FDA to demand food recalls, increase inspections, access food company records and require manufacturers to keep more detailed food safety plans.

The bill also retained language that prevents any immediate regulations being imposed upon the Gulf Coast oyster industry.

The Southern Shrimp Alliance, an eight-state coalition of shrimpers and processors that has long pushed for greater regulations on shrimp imports, hailed the bill's final passage as providing "a new level of federal-state partnership that allows state and local officials to act as an arm of the federal government to increase inspection and enforce safe seafood standards."

Under the bill, states would receive federal grants to train local officials and provide necessary staffing levels and lab capabilities to carry out enforcement, inspection and surveillance.

Other concepts embraced by the Southern Shrimp Alliance are increased penalties for imported food safety violations and more intricate foreign facility testing, inspections and certification.

And a year after the FDA backed down on proposed 2011 bacterial treatment requirements for raw oysters in warmer months, the new legislation makes it harder to impose regulations on the processing and consumption of oysters.

The FDA would have to conduct public health and cost assessments, and consult with federal and state officials and agencies before implementing any regulations. Also any potential regulations to oysters would require passing a report through the Senate's Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and the House's Committee on Energy and Commerce.

That report would detail how post-harvest processing could be implemented in the fastest, safest and most economical manner, the projected public health benefits and the costs of compliance on the oyster industry. The FDA would have to guarantee that any criteria would be applied equally to shellfish imported from all foreign counties.

In terms of the new stiffer import regulations, if a product -- for example, seafood -- is rejected by a port, under the new legislation it would be stamped "Refused Entry by the United States Government" and the federal government would then notify all other ports of the refused product and shipment number.

Southern Shrimp Alliance officials said the added language would help prevent "port shopping," where importers refused at one port would jump to another undetected.

The FDA would be required to inspect foreign facilities at least once every four years and a facility's certification can be withdrawn if it is linked to the outbreak of a food-borne illness. FDA inspection facilities would be set up in foreign countries to provide assistance to foreign companies that want to import to the U.S.

"The level of FDA testing enforcement must be set high enough that the consequences of importing contaminated shrimp become a greater cost of doing business than importers can sustain," said a statement from the Southern Shrimp Alliance released on Wednesday. "Only then will importers demand that their shrimp suppliers stop using illegal antibiotics and pesticides on their farms."

A separate amendment to the bill, which would have increased FDA inspections on seafood imports to 20 percent by 2015, failed. The Southern Shrimp Alliance says the FDA now inspects less than 2 percent of such imports.
. . . . . . .

Benjamin Alexander-Bloch can be reached at bbloch@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3321.

Buy LOCAL!!!! Shrimpers and subsidies

I'm not one of those people who oppose all subsidies... there's a time and a place for every tool in the toolbox. BUT providing subsidies to shrimpers... the same subsidies that have destroyed American farms (not corporate farms) won't help Gulf Coast Shrimpers. The problem is that, and I quote from the article below:
"..20 years ago, 80 percent of shrimp consumed in the United States came from domestic producers, with 20 percent imported. Now, those numbers are reversed."

What about TAXING the IMPORTS???? Why aren't we doing that? Do we really need shrimp from Vietnam when we have our own skilled shrimpers, some of whom are Vietnamese, right here? What do you think the food quality testing programs in Vietnam or China or name your county are like?

"...the price per pound dropped from $2.78 in 2000 to $1.66 in 2008, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and an April paper prepared by Texas economists for the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service, which runs the assistance program."

So why aren't we taxing the imports? Why aren't we encouraging shorter transportation distances for food stuffs? Why are the shrimp from other places so cheap? Does it really cost nothing to ship shrimp or any other food stuff across the ocean? No it costs. But trust me just like here.... the shrimpers aren't the ones making the profit, a living maybe but not racking in the dough.
If there was a limit on how much petroleum product we could use would you choose to ship shrimp from overseas with it or would you choose to use less of it to get shrimp from the Gulf Coast and feed local shrimpers in the process?

Why are our lawmakers so impractical as to provide subsidies at our expense instead of taxing the imports which I know full well is also at our expense? Wouldn't you rather tax the imports so our shrimpers can make a living shrimping rather than taxing ourselves because we've set it up so that the shrimpers can't make a living shrimping?


LINK to ARTICLE and FULL ARTICLE BELOW:
Local shrimpers to get aid
Program recognizes plummeting prices
Monday, December 20, 2010
By Benjamin Alexander-Bloch
St. Bernard bureau

For several hours one day last week, about 20 Gulf Coast shrimpers sat indoors on an unusually warm December morning in lower St. Bernard Parish, learning about a program that could net them $12,000 apiece in subsidies because of increased shrimp imports, smaller domestic catches and plummeting shrimp prices in the past five years.

It is the first time the U.S. Department of Agriculture has offered the subsidy program since Hurricane Katrina, and it's doing so because of the downturn in Gulf and South Atlantic states' shrimp catch and value.

More than 14,000 Louisianians, including about 800 from the New Orleans area, signed up by Sept. 23 for the first round of the program. The deadline for the second and final round is Thursday.

Formally known as Trade Adjustment Assistance for Farmers, the program focuses only on the years 2005 through 2008. People who quit the shrimping industry after this year's BP oil spill can qualify, if they can show they were involved in the industry in 2008 and at least one of the three prior years: 2005, 2006 or 2007.

Even before the tumult caused by the spill, the past decade has seen massive declines in the domestic shrimp industry, with the annual catch falling from 322 million pounds in 2000 to 212 million pounds in 2008.

Meanwhile, the price per pound dropped from $2.78 in 2000 to $1.66 in 2008, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and an April paper prepared by Texas economists for the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service, which runs the assistance program.

During that same eight-year period, annual imports jumped from 625 million pounds to 948 million, according to the economists' study.

Rex Caffey, director of the LSU Center for Natural Resource Economics and Policy, said that 20 years ago, 80 percent of shrimp consumed in the United States came from domestic producers, with 20 percent imported. Now, those numbers are reversed.

As a result, imports end up setting the price.

Caffey said the major blow to the Gulf seafood market has not been "natural disaster, or man-made disasters."

"It has been trying to keep up with global imports," he said.

The federal assistance program, organized locally by the LSU AgCenter and Louisiana Sea Grant, aims to subsidize shrimpers for money lost to such imports.

It has four phases. Completing the first three can garner participants a total of $4,000. The remaining phase, which involves creating an extended business plan, can bring them another $8,000.

Boat owners, spouses, children, business partners and deckhands involved in shrimping are all potentially eligible. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or lawfully admitted aliens.

Shrimpers admitted into the first phase of the program in September must complete a mandatory initial orientation by Wednesday to remain enrolled.

The last in-person orientation session will be held Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Belle Chasse Civic Auditorium. Otherwise, applicants can complete the orientation online at www.taaforfarmers.org.

Meanwhile, those interested in qualifying for the final round of the program by the Thursday deadline must contact an office of the USDA's Farm Service Agency to set up a meeting. The Farm Service Agency locations nearest to the metro New Orleans area are in St. John Parish, 985.497.3311, and Washington Parish, 985.839.5687.

During the application phase that ended in September, the Foreign Agricultural Service initially required applicants to show that their 2008 catch was smaller than in 2007 or that the price of their shrimp in 2008 was lower than the average price in 2005, 2006 and 2007. But two days before that application period ended, the Southern Shrimp Alliance successfully petitioned for "group certification" of shrimpers in most Louisiana parishes.

That certification means the Foreign Agricultural Service will now automatically accept that shrimpers in those parishes have been adversely affected by imports and qualify for subsidies without the shrimpers having to prove it individually.

. . . . . . .

Benjamin Alexander-Bloch can be reached at bbloch@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3321.

Survival of the fittest

David Stiller in his book Wounding the West: Montana, Mining and the Environment: "American businesses exist to make money for their owners; it is the modus operandi of American capitalism. A corollary to the money-making process is not spending it needlessly... Successful businesses differentiate between those expenses necessary to stay in business and those more pensively characterized as 'moral obligations.' Difficulties or reluctance to understand and accept this distinction underscores much of the tension between advocates of broadly mandated environmental programs and the business community."

Stiller was quoted in Jared Diamond's Collapse: How societies choose to fail or succeed.

Jared Diamond is trying to get the world to see that it really isn't about moral obligations or money making but long term survival.

New Orleanians get it. Now.
This is why the fight to repair the damage to our coast is so critical. It is about long term survival. This is why our mayor calls New Orleans the canary in the coal mine. In 2005 the whole world saw just how threatened the canary could be. This is why our mayor should begin to use the term I have used for New Orleans since Katrina: "America's Petri Dish". Petri Dishes are used in biology/medicine/science to selectively study issues or problems and to selectively grow potential solutions.