BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - In a story June 20 about a diversion project in Plaquemines Parish, The Associated Press reported erroneously that parish President Amos Cormier said he was not allowed to submit documents to the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority during a meeting. He did not say this. Cormier said the board refused to let him speak at the meeting. However, video footage of the meeting showed Cormier addressing the meeting and submitting documents. The Associated Press also reported erroneously that the board gave the parish until July 29 to allow soil borings in the Mississippi River levee near Ironton. The board gave the parish until June 29.
A corrected version of the story is below:
Louisiana coastal agency threatens to sue local government
Louisiana’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority says it will sue if a local government keeps blocking a step needed to decide where to create a proposed project to use Mississippi River sediment to build wetlands
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Louisiana’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority said Wednesday that it will sue if a local government keeps blocking a step needed to decide where to build a proposed project to use Mississippi River sediment to build wetlands.
The agency’s board gave Plaquemines Parish until June 29 to allow soil borings in the Mississippi River levee near Ironton, south of New Orleans.
“We believe sediment diversions in Plaquemines Parish and other areas are vital to the future of Louisiana and the protection of populated areas in Southeast Louisiana,” Board Chairman Johnny Bradberry said in a news release. “We have no animus toward Plaquemines Parish, but we have an obligation to the people of Louisiana to pursue projects that have the greatest potential to sustain our ability to continue living and working here.”
Plaquemines Parish President Amos Cormier III said the agency’s plans are based on flawed science, and its board refused to let him speak at Wednesday’s meeting. However, video footage of the meeting showed Cormier addressing the meeting and submitting documents.
He says one, published in 2014, shows that a freshwater diversion near Fort St. Philip increased wetland loss over 52 years.
The other, Cormier said, shows that the roots holding together freshwater marsh don’t hold the earth together as strongly as those in brackish and salt water marsh and will fail under hurricane storm surge. But it said CPRA’s model doesn’t take such “vegetative dynamics” into account.
He said that study showed that Hurricane Katrina wiped out 40 percent of the wetlands in three areas, all of which had freshwater diversions.
He said the board wants to experiment on Plaquemines Parish, since the project is far bigger than any previous diversion work.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.