Recent Articles

New Orleans Times Picayune Publishes Losing Louisiana Series

Erich Rapp
December 16, 2008 06:35

On Sunday December 14, 2008 and Monday December 15, 2008, the New Orleans Times Picayune has published the first two parts of a three part series on the loss of Louisiana's coastal wetlands. This series is an excellent media tutorial on what, where, when and how Louisiana is losing its coastal...

Corps Holds Groundbreaking Ceremony for Storm Surge Barrier

Erich Rapp
December 05, 2008 16:30

On Thursday December 4, 2008, the Corps of Engineers held a groundbreaking ceremony for the commencement of construction on a hurricane storm surge barrier that will prevent hurricane storm surge from entering the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO) and ultimately prevent storm surge...

Richard Appointed to Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority

Erich Rapp
November 29, 2008 02:39

On Friday November 21, 2008 Governor Bobby Jindal announced the appointment of David Richard to the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. David Richard is from Lake Charles. He is executive vice president of Stream Property Management, Inc., a property management company. He...

America's Wetland Foundation Issues Progress Report on Louisiana Coastal Restoration Effort

Erich Rapp
November 25, 2008 22:04

America's Wetland Foundation issued a Progress Report for the period 2002-2009 on Thursday November 20, 2008.  The report speaks of the Foundation's efforts to attract broad public support and bipartisan political support for Louisiana coastal restoration efforts. A noted achievement...

Converting the Obama Economic Stimulus Plan into Coastal Restoration for Louisiana

Erich Rapp
November 24, 2008 00:20

The Obama transition team has announced an economic stimulus plan aimed at creating 2.5 million new jobs. It appears that this plan presents an opportunity for new and expanded spending on coastal restoration projects. Jackie Calmes and Jeff Zeleny of the New York Times have written an...

Using a Congressional Reference Case to Seek Funding for Louisiana Coastal Restoration

Erich Rapp
October 17, 2008 19:57

As I have stated on numerous occasions in this blog, the federal government is liable for the damage to and loss of Louisiana's coastal wetlands. I believe that case could be made under the Federal Tort Claims Act in a federal district court in Louisiana. If, however, the people of Louisiana...

Encouraging Louisiana to Lobby Congress for Coastal Restoration Funds

Erich Rapp
October 17, 2008 05:20

The State of Louisiana should view the current economic crisis as an opportunity to encourage the federal government to dramatically increase funding for coastal wetland restoration in Louisiana. Now that the federal government has done the heavy lifting on credit market and financial system...

Len Bahr Starts Louisiana Coastal Issues Blog

Erich Rapp
October 15, 2008 16:35

I am happy to see that a new blogger has decided to write regularly about Louisiana coastal issues.  An article in the October 14, 2008 edition of the Baton Rouge Advocate newspaper by Amy Wold entitled, Retired official's web site seeks coastal research reports on this new blog. In the...

On the Creation of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Financing Corporation

Erich Rapp
October 10, 2008 22:43

Some months ago, Louisiana formed the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Financing Corporation.  Louisiana has stated purpose of the corporation is as follows:  The Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority's mandate is to develop, implement and enforce a...

Corps To Study Ways to Fix Damage Caused by MRGO

Erich Rapp
October 09, 2008 22:21

The US Army Corps of Engineers has begun studying ways to restore the coastal wetland damage caused by the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet (MRGO).  On Thursday October 2, 2008, the Corps announced plans to conduct public hearings on what measures can and should be taken to restore the coastal...