Army Corps climate efforts in New Orleans may not be enough
By Mike Tidwell
Published in Grist 20 Mar 2008
No one wants to see this again — but can post-Katrina protection efforts keep the Big Easy safe?
Photo: NOAA
Here’s the good news: The Army Corps of Engineers is “racing” to complete a comprehensive levee system for metropolitan New Orleans by 2011 that actually takes into account global warming, at least in terms of sea-level rise.
Here’s the bad news: the levee system under development is wildly insufficient to the growing climate problem, according to many informed critics.
That’s because the vast and flat Louisiana coastal area — sometimes called the “Bangladesh of America” because it could disappear due to sea-level rise alone — cannot be saved just by building levees. It’s the one area of America which, to survive the rising water and bigger hurricanes of a warming world, must develop human-made barrier islands and coastal marshes as an additional emergency defense. These landforms, which can be crafted using the voluminous sediments of the Mississippi River itself, would create a vital buffer that complements the levees, according to a wide range of engineers.
“It all comes down to this: You simply can’t build the levees high enough under any scenario in Louisiana,” said Clifford Smith, a member of the prestigious Mississippi River Commission, a seven-member panel created by Congress to advise the corps on works projects. “That the corps still doesn’t act on this fact, doesn’t commit to building wetlands and barrier islands immediately, leaves me so depressed you can’t imagine it. I’m in depression over this.” Continue reading