Coastal Land Loss in Louisiana

Coastal Land Loss in LouisianaThe Challenge Of Our Lifetime

Over approximately the past 5,000 years the Mississippi River built the land of south-east Louisiana by carrying rich soils that were washed off the land all over North America and depositing them in the Gulf of Mexico.

This land supports wetlands that provide our best protection from hurricanes as well as one of the richest fisheries in the world.

(Not to mention the City of New Orleans, world class hunting, fishing and birdwatching, rich farmland, much of the states tourism and a huge industrial corridor.)

This land is washing away

There are a number of causes of coastal land loss in Louisiana. Disconnecting the river from the land with levees, logging for cypress trees and subsidence are some but one of the most significant is the exploration for and production of crude oil and natural gas.

1956 - 2008

10

1963 2014

11

2004

2013

Scientific studies have determined that as much as 80% of land loss in some areas can be directly attributed to oil and gas activity.

Shell’s Former Chief Offshore Engineer Agrees

• Robert Glenn Bea• Former chief offshore engineer for Shell Oil Co. • Head of the National Science Foundation study team on Hurricane Katrina• 2006 Affidavit

14

Studies Conclude that Oil & Gas Activities Contributed to Coastal Loss

L. St. Amant, 1971US Bureau of Land Management, 1972US Army Corps of Engineers (S.M. Gagliano), 1973US Army Corps of Engineers, 1973US Environmental Protection Agency, 1976D.W. Davis, 1976N.J. Craig et al., 1979National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 1980Fruge, 1981Johnson & Gosselink, 1982US Fish and Wildlife Service, 1983US Geological Survey, 1983R.E. Turner et al., 1984Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, 1985Minerals Management Service, 1985LSU Center for Wetland Resources, 1985

Louisiana Geological Survey, 1987Mineral Management Service, 1987US Fish and Wildlife Service, 1987American Petroleum Institute, 1988LA Dept of Natural Resources/US Fish and Wildlife Service, 1988Minerals Management Service, 1989Penland et al., 1990Louisiana Geological Survey, 1991US Environmental Protection Agency, 1992US Department of the Interior, 1994Penland et al., 1996US Environmental Protection Agency, 1997US Geological Survey, 2001US Geological Survey, 2004US Army Corps of Engineers, 2004Louisiana Sea Grant, 2008LACPR, USACE, 2009Minerals Management Service, 2009Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, 2011

In order to drill wells for oil and gas in wet coastal Louisiana, canals are dug so that equipment can be brought in on boats and barges. It is believed that as much as 10,000 miles of canals now cut across coastal Louisiana.

Cutting canals allows salt water from the Gulf to move inland and kill marsh grasses and other plants that hold the soil together and also allows wave action and storm surge to more effectively wash the soil away.

The dominant mechanism for land loss in the identified restoration areas was altered hydrology associated with oil and gas exploration and drilling (64 percent). The second largest process contributing to land loss was the direct removal of wetlands during the dredging of exploratory canals and wellhead access canals (12 percent).

Louisiana has already lost 1,900 square miles of land (that’s larger than the state of Rhode Island) and continues to lose 25 - 35 square miles every year; that works out to a football field sized area of land lost every 30 minutes.

The oil and gas industry has done little to fix the damage it has caused even though Louisiana law requires them to repair that damage.

“Mineral exploration and productionsites shall be cleared, re-vegetated,detoxified, and otherwise restoredas near as practicable totheir original conditionupon termination of operations to themaximum extent practicable.”Louisiana AdministrativeCode 43:I.719(M)

“Areas ... shall be backfilled or otherwise restored to the pre-existing conditions upon cessation of use for navigation purposes to the maximum extent practicable.” Louisiana Administrative Code 43:I.705(N)

“Mineral exploration and production facilities shall be to the maximum extent practicable designed, constructed, and maintained in such a manner to maintain natural water flow regimes, avoid blocking surface drainage, avoid erosion.”Louisiana Administrative Code 43:I.723(D)

Coastal Zone Regulations

Permit No. 19850425

“[T]he canal will be restored to as near preproject condition as practicable by backfilling with available spoil...”

Sample Permits

Permit No. 19810436

“Slip shall be filled to marsh level with available spoil and the remaining spoil shall be used to fill the canal.”

Billions of dollars will soon be spent in an effort to save Louisiana’s coast. The vast majority of Louisianians feel that the oil and gas industry should pay for the damage it caused, not taxpayers.

Sea level rise is making it even worse but that’s a story for another day…

In 86 years, if nothing is done

In 86 years, if nothing is done

Louisiana will look something like this.

What you can do:• Contact your legislators and tell them to

make Oil and Gas fix what they broke.• Talk to your family and friends about

coastal land loss and coastal restoration.• Follow groups working on this issue and

look for opportunities to TAKE ACTION!• Restore Louisiana Now: RESTORELOUISIANANOW.ORG• Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN):

LEANWEB.ORG• Gulf Restoration Network (GRN): HEALTHYGULF.ORG• GreenARMY: GOGREENARMY.COM

• Images in slide 39 & 40 courtesy of Michael Blum for “Drowning of the Mississippi Delta due to insufficient sediment supply and global sea-level rise,” http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v2/n7/abs/ngeo553.html

• Image in slide 2 courtesy of Devon Boutte for Wikimedia Commons, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_River_Delta

• Images in slides 1, 24 & 25 courtesy of Google

• Slides 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 21, 26, 27, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, and 41 courtesy of Restore Louisiana Now, http://restorelouisiananow.org

• All other photographs courtesy of Dubinsky Photography for Louisiana Environmental Action Network and Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper, http://leanweb.org

Acknowledgements