It’s Sept. 22, and with the Gulf Coast dazed and bloodied on the ropes, Ma Nature is throwing another haymaker. Rita is poised to come ashore as a category four hurricane sometime Saturday morning between Lafayette, La. and Galveston, Texas.

Watching the traffic inch slowly out of Houston, it is evident that our short-term memory is fine, but what about a decade from now?

Louisiana residents had known for decades that failing infrastructure and disappearing coastal wetlands were setting them up for the big one, but they weren’t ready when the big one came. A lack of resources and the need for a unified vision have been the primary culprits.

A bit of pork secured by Sen. John Breaux of Louisiana and signed into law by George H. Bush in 1990 provided a catalyst for serious consideration into the dilemma. However, the funding allotted to the Coastal Wetlands Planning Protection and Restoration Act — $35 to $45 million per year — is woefully lacking. But it did bring a lot of different people to the same page. State and federal agencies, scientists, environmental organizations joined with the Army Corps of Engineers to draft the Louisiana Coastal Area project in an attempt to protect and restore coastal wetlands. The LCA project came with an estimated $14 billion price tag over 30 years. The Bush Administration balked – perhaps the aftermath of Katrina will show what a bargain that would be.

A recent report from the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program states: “Data from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on past hurricanes suggest that the loss of a one-mile strip of wetlands along the coast of the BTES results in an estimated $5,752,816 average annual increase in property damage.”

Storm protection is surely a worthy and pivotal part of the LCA project, but the coastal wetlands mean much more to Louisiana and the nation. According to the LCA project report: “With the loss of acreage goes the loss of the various functions and values associated with internationally significant wetlands: commercial harvest of a national and international fishery resource; fur bearer and alligator farming and harvest; recreational saltwater and freshwater fisheries; North American Central Flyway waterfowl wintering habitat; ecotourism habitats for nationally endangered and threatened species; water quality improvement; oil and gas production; petrochemical industries; strategic petroleum reserve storage sites; navigation corridors and port facilities for commerce and national defense; flood control, including hurricane storm surge buffers; and the intangible value of land settled 300 years ago and passed down through generations.

The national public use value of the resource being lost is estimated to be in excess of $37 billion by the year 2050. The losses associated with ancient and historic cultures and heritage are immeasurable and irreplaceable.”

Where’d the marsh go?

As we noted last week, the great flood of 1927 was the beginning of the end for countless square miles of coastal wetlands. Dams and channelization stopped the ebb and flow of sediment that created and nourished the wetlands for millennia. Then the oil boom hit – and today more than 8,000 miles of ditches, canals and roads crisscross the marshes, carving them up and drying them out.

New evidence points to drilling and extraction of oil, gas and their accompanying saline formation waters as direct causes of subsidence (the sinking of the land.)

“When you stick a straw in a soda and suck on it, everything goes down. That’s very simplified, but you get the idea.” Is how petroleum geologist Bob Morton explained it in a 2004 National Geographic article.

Other petroleum geologists disagree with Morton but he points to the Barataria-Terrebonne Estuary System as evidence. “What I can tell you is that much of the loss between Bayou Lafourche and Bayou Terrebonne was caused by induced subsidence from oil and gas withdrawal. The wetlands are still there, they’re just underwater.” Morton said.

South Carolina and North Carolina rank third and fifth, respectively, in the nation in acres of coastal wetlands. The largest threats to these wetlands are urbanization, vacation homes, non-point pollution, agricultural/forestry practices and development. Storm surges grow, as marshes are loss in these states too.

Twisted political logic

The Bush Administration has created a NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) Task Force – the objective, to “improve” NEPA.

According to the USGS (United States Geological Survey) Web site: “The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) is the cornerstone of our Nation’s environmental laws and was enacted to ensure that information on the environmental impacts of any Federal, or federally funded, action is available to public officials and citizens before decisions are made and before actions are taken. This Act also established the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) in the Executive Office of the President to formulate and recommend national policies which ensure that the programs of the Federal government promote improvement of the quality of the environment.

The CEQ set forth regulations (40 CFR Pts. 1500-1508) to assist Federal agencies in implementing NEPA during the planning phases of any federal action. These regulations together with specific Federal agency NEPA implementation procedures help to ensure that the environmental impacts of any proposed decisions are fully considered and that appropriate steps are taken to mitigate potential environmental impacts.”

Taskforce Chairwoman Cathy McMorris (R-WA) has undoubtedly decided to blame part of the aftermath of Katrina on NEPA – “Due to the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina, we have seen massive damage caused to our energy systems and have come to understand the importance of energy production. Throughout the NEPA taskforce we have heard from numerous industries that expensive and time consuming legal and procedural delays are preventing energy production and construction projects. Now more then ever, we need to closely examine these issues and provide relief to the industries and individuals who are being crippled by high energy prices.”

I suggest to the honorable congresswoman that, had NEPA been in place when Louisiana’s coastal wetlands were being carved and served on a platter to the highest bidder, much of the devastation of Katrina would have dissipated into the murky swamps, cheniers and barrier islands of Louisiana like they have for millennia.

(Don Hendershot can be reached at ddihen@earthlink.net.)