[StBernard] To Fix Damage From Old Canals, Corps Plans New One

[Westley Annis]

And won't the new canal run smack through a bunch of Meraux-Foundation (MF)
owned land?

As the Church Lady says:

How conveeeenient!

JY





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	To Fix Damage From Old Canals, Corps Plans New One
	by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
	
	
	
	On paper, the proposed canal seems modest and beneficial. It would
run about
	3 miles over an empty cow pasture in Meraux, channeling water from
the
	Mississippi to ravished and sinking marshes. Scientists agree that
something
	needs to be done - and fast.
	
	"If you don't get aggressive in that area, you will find what we are
really
	concerned about: The Gulf of Mexico lapping up against the levees of
New
	Orleans," said Robert Twilley, a delta scientist at the University
of
	Louisiana-Lafayette.
	
	The corps says the freshwater will "nourish existing marshes" and
help
	rebuild wetlands, make the basins less salty and inject sediment and
	nutrients into the damaged ecosystem. It's meant to do work that was
once
	accomplished naturally by river tributaries and bayous that have
been closed
	off one by one since the 1880s.
	
	The corps also wants to bolster marshes with mud it would dredge up,
plant
	cypress trees and harden eroding shorelines with rock dikes. The
corps says
	its plan - mandated by Congress in 2007 - will restore roughly 93
square
	miles of the lost land.
	
	In locals' eyes, the biggest stumbling block is the canal. At recent
public
	meetings, hundreds showed up to denounce it.
	
	"I'm going to say here that in another 20 years we're going to be
back to
	the drawing board and saying, `Oops,' just like they said with the
MRGO -
	`oops!'" said Donald Merwin, who works at a machine shop.
	
	Some fear that the canal would be a new source of flooding.
	
	"You don't need more water! We got enough water in this parish
already,"
	spewed Mike Fireck, a 40-year-old machinist who works for Merwin.
	
	Fishermen spoke out against the freshwater diversion for other
reasons: They
	don't want to lose the salty waters they've come to enjoy in the
wake of the
	swamps' demise and the speckled trout, red fish and oysters that now
thrive
	there.
	
	Many locals - along with parish leaders and some scientists - favor
an
	alternate proposal: Re-use the nearby Violet Canal instead of
digging a new
	channel. They want the corps to re-engineer the canal by widening it
and
	installing a system of pipes to get freshwater from the river to the
back
	swamps.
	
	The corps has studied the Violet option but says it appears to be
too costly
	because about 100 structures including a bridge, a government
building and
	homes would have to be moved, said Greg Miller, a corps project
manager.
	
	"I'm very well aware of the concerns," Miller said.
	
	But he dismissed fears that the new canal would cause flooding. He
says that
	the entrance would shut off with gates and that robust levees would
line it.
	
	Engineers hope to submit their final plan to the chief of the corps
by the
	end of the year. It will then go to Congress.
	
	A scientist with a nonprofit restoration group said action is
desperately
	needed, but that he can understand why the corps' proposal has drawn
the ire
	of some locals.
	
	"Money, emotions, the environment, it hits on all those things,"
said John
	Lopez, science director for the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation.
"I can
	see where people wouldn't feel comfortable with it - from a
historical
	perspective."
	
	The Lake Pontchartrain basin, which surrounds the area of the
restoration
	project, is falling apart. Since the 1930s, about 600 square miles
of land
	have been lost, a process that has accelerated since Katrina stirred
it up.
	
	"Back of there, it used to be all cypress marsh," said Lionel "Da
Pope"
	Alphonso, a 64-year-old bar owner along the Violet Canal known for
dressing
	up as the Pope for New Orleans Saints football games. "Now it's all
flat
	grassland and open water."