Development, nature eroded region's defenses

[Carolab]

{snip}

Decades of flood-control efforts to protect New Orleans and other places, combined with the region's huge oil and gas investments, have contributed heavily to the destruction of coastal wetlands that can help tame the fury of storms like Hurricane Katrina, say scientists and government officials.

Controlling the Mississippi has starved the marshes south of New Orleans of the fresh water and sediment needed to sustain them. Spring floods that once replenished the wetlands are funneled into the Gulf of Mexico.

The engineering of the river has "basically brought the Gulf of Mexico right to the doorstep of New Orleans," says Val Marmillion, a consultant to America's Wetland, a group that lobbies to restore the region south of New Orleans.

{snip}

In the past 75 years, enough wetlands to cover the state of Delaware have vanished from Louisiana's coast. Louisiana's barrier islands are also disappearing, Sallenger says. The Chandeleur Islands are eroding at a rate of 33 feet per year on one side.

Some of the changes are natural. Southern Louisiana has been sinking for centuries. The sinking is also caused by oil and gas production, which sucks fossil fuels and water out of underground reservoirs, says Bob Morton of the U.S. Geological Survey. Man's impact has been considerable, beginning with the construction of levees and concrete channels to control the Mississippi after a devastating 1927 flood.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20050831/ts_usatoday/developmentnatureerodedregionsdefenses

[bigbrother05]

1. Bush altered wetlands development

After taking office, this misAdministration either rescinded of just quit enforcing many of the regulations limiting development in designated wetlands. Have seen several reports of how the condos and McMansions have sprung up in formerly protected areas that used to mitigate the storm surge in these areas. There is plenty of blame that can be shared in regard to man's less than benign effects, but there should be no denying that this crowd made things much worse than if we had at least maintained our previous efforts.

By lumping the last 75 years together, this is roughly equivalent to Nader's meme that there is no real difference between Gore and Bush. Does anyone really think Gore would have allowed such a blatant castration of the EPA and our environmental laws?

[Carolab]

2. Of course, it was all about greed.

And this administration takes the cake, so to speak, on that one.