[StBernard] Residents Demand MR-GO Closure

[Westley Annis]

Every speaker in a crowd of more than 200 residents of New Orleans and St.
Bernard Parish offered a common theme at a Saturday morning meeting seeking
input on the future of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet: They want nothing
less than the complete closure of the waterway, blamed by many for
increasing flooding during Hurricane Katrina. 

Federal officials called the University of New Orleans meeting to gather
fresh public feedback for Congress. 

"Everyone was saying, 'Close close close,' and that is the message the Corps
of Engineers has to get out in this report," said Carlton Dufrechou,
executive director of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation. "The public
is demanding the channel be closed immediately. Rebuilding levees is futile
without the restoration of our coast and the key to restoring the coast
below New Orleans is closing the MR-GO." 

The 76-mile shortcut to the Gulf of Mexico eroded protective wetlands,
leaving St. Bernard and parts of New Orleans more vulnerable to storm surge.


Shipping interests that are lobbying for retaining the MR-GO could have
testified at the meeting, but did not. 

Although Congress authorized the Corps in 1956 to dredge the channel, at the
time drawing community support for the plan, the Corps now has been told by
Congress to present a plan to end deep-draft navigation on the channel in
the wake of Katrina's destruction. 


The Corps will use Saturday's input in a report about the channel's future
due to Congress by Dec. 15.