Quantcast
Channel: Stuart H. Smith » Louisiana legislature
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 17

Louisiana can’t afford to do nothing about its shrinking wetlands

0
0

Restoring wetlands is certainly an expensive proposition. Even with monies available from sources such as the massive settlement that BP reached with Louisiana, the federal government and other Gulf states over the Deepwater Horizon spill, officials struggle to come up with all the funds needed to replenish coastline and bring back to life marshes and bayous that have been destroyed by energy exploration or damaged by pollution or other activities. The 50-year wetlands restoration program that Louisiana officials are promoting has a pricetag of $50 billion. That sounds like a lot of money, and it is, but sometimes taxpayers, and their elected representatives, fail to calculate the larger cost of doing nothing. Think about it. Remember the billions of dollars it took for New Orleans to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina? And most experts say the next major hurricane is likely to be worse as the wetlands -- nature's natural barrier of protection -- continue to shrink. But with Louisiana much more prone than other locales to the effects of rising sea levels, our basic infrastructure will almost certainly take a hit as coastal losses accelerate. That means there'll be washed out highways, bridges and pipelines, as well as the impact of ...


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 17

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images