Whether people want to admit it or not, America needs Louisiana, especially the Mississippi River delta and thus, Louisiana’s wetlands.
According to the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area’s Web site, “The value of the agricultural products and the huge agribusiness industry that has developed in the basin produces 92 percent of the nation’s agricultural exports, 78 percent of the world’s exports in feed grains and soybeans, and most of the livestock and hogs produced nationally. 60 percent of all grain exported from the United States is shipped via the Mississippi River through the Port of New Orleans and the Port of South Louisiana.”
When two ships collided on the river Feb. 20, hundreds of ships were backed up in the Gulf of Mexico waiting to enter while the river remained closed for several days, waiting until all of the crew members were found and the ship was removed from the area.
The accident was just an example of how devastating it would be if the Port of New Orleans would cease to be. The fate of the port and the livelihood of Louisiana’s two million coastal dwellers depend on the fate of the state’s 3,800 square miles of marsh and 800 miles of swamp land.
According to a Web site detailing Sen. John Breaux’s act to protect Louisiana’s wetlands through 2010, many Louisiana industries, including commercial and recreational fishing, wildlife conservation and oil and gas production, depend on wetland areas for their survival.
The Web site reported that coastal Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico account for 18 percent of the oil and 24 percent of the natural gas produced in the United States.
Louisiana’s coastline contributes to nearly 30 percent of the total commercial fisheries harvest in the lower 48 states, and provides wintering habitat for 70 percent of the waterfowl that use the Central and Mississippi flyways.
“Unfortunately, Louisiana’s valuable wetlands are vanishing at a rate of 25 to 35 square miles each year. This is equal to losing one acre of land every 24 minutes, or losing an entire football field every 30 minutes,” Breaux said on the Web site.
Sounds important, right?
Well, President George W. Bush and a Republican-led Senate don’t seem to think so.
In a letter to the editor at the New York Times on Feb. 23, Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco expressed her concern about the Bush administration funding restoration of wetlands in Iraq but not in Louisiana:
“Having just returned from a trip to Iraq, I can attest to the critical needs of that country. The destruction of Iraq’s wetlands is certainly worthy of the United States help you chronicled. Ironically, however, the Bush administration and the Republican-led Senate will not demand the same urgency of action to save coastal wetlands at home. Each year, Louisiana loses 25 to 35 square miles of coastal marsh, largely because of federal activities. And yet in their rewrite of the energy bill, Senate Republicans killed spending provisions addressing Louisiana’s coastal loss, while our residents have done just the opposite, dedicating state dollars to a federal-state restoration effort.”
“Congress has begun restoring the Chesapeake Bay and the Florida Everglades, and now we’re restoring Iraq’s wetlands. National leaders should address an environmental and economic crisis more significant than any of these: the loss of ‘America’s Wetland’ in coastal Louisiana.”
Since Louisiana is so vitally important to America, it should be a top priority for this nation’s leaders to protect it.
If the current administration continues to spend money in other countries, domestic issues like the loss of Louisiana’s wetlands will be ignored.
Every Louisiana voter should be concerned about this issue and bring it up in the upcoming presidential election — it is our way of life and our home.