[StBernard] Plans for coastal restoration debated in St. Bernard

[Westley Annis]

Plans for coastal restoration debated in St. Bernard
BY AMY WOLD
Advocate staff writer
June 17, 2013

CHALMETTE - The crowd at a coastal restoration meeting Monday agreed
something has to be done to reverse coastal land loss in Louisiana, but
sharply disagreed with how the state's plans to move forward with large
river diversions.

The state Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority held the public
meeting in St. Bernard Parish to try to address growing dissent over state
plans to build large diversions of sediment and fresh water from the
Mississippi River.

"I'm hearing a lot of negative input about those diversions," said State
Sen. Ray Garofalo, R-Meraux whose district includes St. Bernard Parish, the
east bank of Plaquemines Parish and parts of New Orleans East.

"This is an emotional issue," Garofalo said. "Let's try to not let this
deteriorate into a shouting match."

Most of the time, that was the case for the more than 200 people who crowded
into the St. Bernard Parish council chambers although some speakers vented
their anger and frustration.

Most speakers used the opportunity to express their concerns that river
diversions would damage fisheries, could cause additional flooding and
wouldn't build land fast enough.

Some questioned whether diversions would work at all.

Instead, speakers said they supported replacing the river diversions with
more dredging of sand and mud from the river or other sources and then using
pipelines to place the sediment in particular places to build land quickly.

"All we have to go by is the Caernarvon Diversion," said Capt. George Ricks,
referring to a freshwater diversion located near Braithwaite in Plaquemines
Parish.

Looking at what happened to marsh areas south of the Caernarvon Diversion
after Hurricane Katrina, he said, it appears there could be problems with
what fresh water will do to marsh.

"If diversions are the cure for the coast, then I think the medicine is
going to kill the patient," Ricks said.

P.J. Hahn, Plaquemines Parish Coastal Zone Management administrator, said
the concern isn't so much about diversions as it is about the large size of
the diversions currently being planned.

"We feel this plan was developed in Baton Rouge and passed down to the
coast," Hahn said. "The diversion rate you're trying to put in right now is
going to put a lot of freshwater but very little sediment because we all
know the river doesn't carry as much sediment as it did 100 years ago."

Hahn said he knows the argument from the state is that dredging will cost a
lot more than diversions. But, he said, Plaquemines Parish has run through
the numbers and disagrees that is the case.

According to the state master plan, which was passed last year by the state
legislature, an estimated $20 billion will be spent on creating marsh
through dredging and pumping sediment in place to build about
200-square-miles of land. In comparison, the master plan calls for $3.8
billion to be spent on diversions to create 300-square-miles of land,
according to information from the state.

Others asked that the state listen to the people who live and work in the
coastal areas that will be impacted by diversions.

"I have been an advocate of diversions since I started doing this work,"
said Woody Gagliano, environmental scientist who has worked on coastal
restoration in Louisiana since 1969. "Diversions have a definite place in
our coastal restoration. However, the place we're talking about tonight is
not an appropriate place for a larger diversion."

He said the diversion shouldn't go into the St. Bernard or the Biloxi
marshes since there are healthy ecosystems.

Robert Campo, owner of Campo Marina in Shell Beach, shared Gagliano's view
that the state needs to listen to the people who know the area.

John Lopez, director of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, was shouted
down by numerous people in the audience after he said the foundation
supports diversions because "we see no practical substitute for diversions."