State’s new coast still a way’s away

The end of Louisiana’s coastal erosion problems apparently have not yet been solved but hopefully it could be in sight – in the somewhat distant future.

We are still regarded as a state that has lost as much land in coastal erosion as is contained today in the entire state of Delaware.

But now, with a new governor at the helm, our state parishes are a bit anxious to get some relief from the lost land syndrome to blame a major cause of that loss to the industry that caused it. Some of our parishes have joined lawsuits for billions of dollars worth of improvement projects to repair the damage caused in the past by the negligence of our oil companies – and our government.

We need to do it or we will deteriorate to an unrestorable coastline in the future. If we don’t, the wonderful state of Louisiana will no longer be a seaport with a fabulous depot for seafood production and water sports activities.

The oil industry should not object to claims of damages to the coast caused by oil production along  our natural coastline when much of it was caused by negligence on its part to follow the rules for production along the coast. That included refilling canals dug for oil production when they were no longer used for that purpose and many other changes in the coastal landscape made for temporary needs in drilling.

Of course, our state government needs a share of the blame for destruction of our coast because it did not enforce the requirements that the petroleum companies agreed to in restoring the land to the way it was before they started their production. We therefore need to share the blame but we need to get compensation to help restore our coast to the way it was in a sea-healthy condition.

The oil companies blame the Army Corps of Engineers for building levees that denied natural deposits of silt and sand while channeling the Mississippi River out to sea. That, of course, was to protect our land from overflow of the river and gulf.

But the damage done that has to be undone was the solid coastline that has disappeared. We have to bring it back again.

There are ways to do it. And we have the great river to help us do it by diverting water and silt from it. And the oil production to help us pay for it, we hope.