[StBernard] EDITORIAL: A step to close MR-GO

Westley Annis westley at da-parish.com
Mon Sep 1 21:10:38 EDT 2008


EDITORIAL: A step to close MR-GO
Monday, September 01, 2008
For thousands of residents in St. Bernard Parish and eastern New Orleans,
the announcement that officials are finally seeking contractors to close the
Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet was the best news coming out of Katrina's
third anniversary.

The MR-GO proved to be a destructive conduit during Katrina, creating a
funnel effect with the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway that intensified the
storm's surge and destroyed levees along St. Bernard Parish and eastern New
Orleans.

But the MR-GO had done plenty of damage even before the storm. For decades,
it allowed saltwater intrusion from the Gulf of Mexico to destroy 27,000
acres of wetlands and cypress forest, wiping out a vital storm buffer.

Residents there and officials across the metro area have fought since
Katrina to close the channel, and the Army Corps of Engineers finally agreed
in December to use maintenance funds to close it.

Now the corps says that it is moving to hire contractors to build the
950-foot-long barrier that will close the waterway at Bayou la Loutre in St.
Bernard. The massive barrier will use 430,000 tons of rock and will be 450
feet wide at the bottom and 12 feet wide at the top. Construction is
scheduled to begin in October and end in May.

That obviously will make no difference for Hurricane Gustav, and it's
unfortunate that it has taken the corps so long to get to this point. But at
long last nearby residents have a tentative schedule for its closure.



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