According to Kerry St. Pe, director of the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program, Louisiana’s coastline is disappearing much faster than once thought.
The Times-Picayune reported this week new projections show Louisiana has 10 years before land south of New Orleans is consumed by the Gulf of Mexico.
St. Pe said coastal scientists predicted three years ago it would take two to four decades for the Gulf of Mexico’s waters to eat away our coast and the south side of the New Orleans metro area. But now coastal scientists think these projections were wrong, and St. Pe predicts wetlands south of the Crescent City will disappear within the next 10 years, leaving the city a Gulf Coast town.
The loss of land has many repercussions. First, the New Orleans area and other inland cities will have little protection from storms. Southern Louisiana is a unique environment and the largest space of wetlands in the United States. Loss of these lands endangers and threatens an ecosystem found in few places.
But finally, the coastal area is pivotal in both the transportation, drilling and refining of oil, and anything that affects the oil industry will have terrible effects on the state’s economy.
Federal and state action has been too slow and small to combat the magnitude of the problem currently facing Louisiana. Government officials on both state and federal levels need to develop a plan as soon as possible. Time is the one resource our state and country do not have.
And if the state and federal governments do not act in the coming years, the problem may grow into a unresolvable disaster.
State officials urgently need to focus efforts on the reformations needed to restore the coastline and preserve cities and residents from being inundated with Gulf water. The voice of state leaders can generate change on the national level, and it is vital that they do so.
Students also should not forget the looming problem. There is not as much time as once thought, and students, especially those of the School of the Coast and Environment, have a chance to help in the efforts.
There is no end to the problems Louisiana will face if nothing is done to save the wetlands. And with little time to enact changes, time is of the essence.
—–Contact the Editorial Board at [email protected]