[StBernard] EDITORIAL: Good riddance to MR-GO

[Westley Annis]

EDITORIAL: Good riddance to MR-GO
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
The Army Corps of Engineers has finally agreed that it can use $75 million
appropriated for operations and maintenance of the Mississippi River-Gulf
Outlet to close it down, according to Sen. David Vitter, and that should
help speed up this critical project. 

The corps had been waiting for a specific congressional allocation to close
MR-GO. But Sen. Vitter and Sen. Mary Landrieu have been urging the corps for
some time to tap this source of money, which was appropriated late last year
specifically with closure in mind. It's a relief that the corps has finally
agreed to do so. 

Even with this decision, it's unclear exactly when the destructive shipping
channel will finally be history. A senior corps official said it could take
several months and possibly more than year for work to begin on a 950-foot
rock dike at Bayou la Loutre in St. Bernard Parish. The $35 million project
will take an estimated 170 days to complete after construction starts. 

Detailed engineering design work and construction can't even begin until a
report on how to close the channel is approved by the Assistant Secretary of
the Army for Public Works John Paul Woodley. 

Restrictions designed to protect Gulf sturgeon also could affect the
project's timetable since no major construction work can take place on that
part of the coastline during the months when young sturgeon are migrating. 

The sooner the corps can get this project under way, the better, and
Secretary Woodley should approve the report as quickly as possible. 

During its 40-year lifespan, MR-GO destroyed 27,000 acres of wetlands and
cypress forest, wiping out a critical storm buffer that left St. Bernard
Parish and parts of New Orleans more vulnerable to storm surge. 

Computer modeling by Hassan Mashriqui, a research engineer with Louisiana
State University's Hurricane Center, also shows that the MR-GO and the Gulf
Intracoastal Waterway created a funnel effect that intensified storm surge
and that MR-GO acts as a conveyer for the surge. 

The agency has taken some steps to move things along, and that's
encouraging. The corps completed a Legislative Environmental Impact
Statement, including a public hearing, while it was putting together its
deauthorization report. And a corps contractor produced a preliminary
environmental assessment of environmental threats in the area of closure
that will be part of a large study for wetlands restoration. 

St. Bernard officials are still skeptical that the corps will do the right
thing when it comes to closing MR-GO, and their lack of trust isn't
surprising given how reluctant the corps has seemed to address this
environmental disaster. 

But closure of MR-GO and restoration of wetlands along the channel are a
vital part of hurricane protection. The corps needs to approach it with a
sense of urgency.