Envisioning the Future of the Gulf Coast

ENVISIONING THE FUTURE OF THE GULF COAST: USING ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE TO PROTECT COMMUNITIES, THE ECONOMY AND THE ECOSYSTEM

A Symposium for Action Sponsored by BP
In Cooperation with America’s WETLAND
In Partnership with the States of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas

Mention the Gulf Coast today, and the name calls up images of devastation and loss, of communities ravaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. But there is another way to view this region: as a place whose dynamic infrastructure, ecosystems, and culture are essential to the well being of citizens throughout the United States.

The vast oil and gas operations that supply a third of the nation’s oil and gas, the thousands of miles of navigation routes and ports associated with the Mississippi River, the fisheries of coastal communities that supply a major portion of the nation’s seafood -- these resources affect the daily lives of millions of Americans. And every one of these uses are made possible by the coastal ecosystems of the Gulf Coast. The storms of 2005 gave the U.S. a foretaste of what to expect when the Gulf Coast’s economic engine is damaged: spikes in gasoline prices, delays in shipments of agricultural goods, instability in financial markets. The threats to our nation from future hurricanes will be increasingly catastrophic unless we secure the Gulf Coast’s future.

Economic impacts aside, these ecosystems contain some of the planet’s most beautiful and vital natural treasures. Estuaries, swamps, marshes, and forests that can be found nowhere else thrive here, as do unique human communities that have brought inestimable cultural gifts to the world.

Despite their integral role in securing our nation’s economy and quality of life, the Gulf Coast’s wetlands are disappearing. In Louisiana alone, 1,200,000 million wetland acres have vanished since the 1930s, an area larger than the state of Rhode Island. The Texas coast has lost an average of 5,700 wetland acres per year since the mid-1950s, and Florida has lost at least 84,000 acres of wetlands over last 15 years. Alabama has lost about ½ of the wetlands it once had, and Mississippi has lost about 60%. More land sinks underwater every day, bringing the ecosystem ever closer to the point of no return.

What can we do to head off this tragedy? In broad strokes, the answer is simple. Redistribute enough river water and sediment to ensure that the ecosystem begins accruing a net gain of wetlands in the next 10 years. Replumbing the region in this way will cost billions of dollars, but scientists tell us it can be done if we begin immediately. Fifty years from now, or even 20 years will be too late. Local governments and the private sector can also find new ways for people to live in this fragile landscape, taking natural systems more into account.

In order to reach this goal, we must rewrite the book on building major civil works projects in this country. We cannot get where we need to go by using available funding tools or business as usual legislative cycles. In its need for national commitment and innovative thinking, saving the Gulf Coast is equivalent to President Kennedy’s call to put a man on the moon. But unless we are prepared to sacrifice our country’s primary energy and navigation arteries as well as priceless ecosystems and communities, we simply have no other choice.

Many people agree on the need for action, but the devil, as always, is in the details. Yes, we need a dedicated source of funding for this initiative, whether it be Outer Continental Shelf dollars or some other mechanism. But we also need a governance structure to lead this mission, one that unites affected businesses, communities, and government entities and keeps them focused as they work together to restore a complex ecosystem. We, as a nation, have accomplished work on this scale before. We can and must do so again. But these things won’t just happen on their own. Our ideas, support, and commitment are vital to the success of this essential work.

All of us rely on the natural systems and the economy of the Gulf Coast. It is in our best interests to devise a plan now to protect not only this vital ecosystem, but to also protect the vitality of this nation. This should have been a very high ecological and economic priority for the nation pre-Katrina. Post-Katrina, it should be a national imperative.

This call to action is offered as a springboard for further dialogue, not as a final position on the details of what should be done. We need a commitment campaign that mobilizes the messengers more than any one specific plan. That’s where we all come in. We all need to give voice to a call to action that will be heard around the country. We ask you to join us in the process by reflecting on the questions raised, asking critical questions of your own and taking those actions that you can toward a common vision. (See www.americaswetland.com for additional information.)

ENVISIONING THE FUTURE OF THE GULF COAST:
USING ENGINEERING & SCIENCE TO PROTECT COMMUNITIES,
THE ECONOMY & THE ECOSYSTEM

The economic infrastructure, ecosystem values, and cultural heritage that exist in coastal communities and across the fragile environment of the Gulf Coast of the United States are of enormous importance to the nation as a whole. Given the increasing threats to these resources, it is time for a national commitment to achieving a new vision of the future for the Gulf Coast. We can make this commitment and carry it out, just as we have achieved other commitments such as public education for all children grades K-12, the building of the interstate highway system, and putting a man on the moon.

The natural landscapes of the upper Gulf of Mexico’s coast have evolved over thousands of years as sediments from rivers and offshore have been shaped into extensive wetlands, bays, and barrier shorelines. There are almost 6,000 square miles of coastal wetlands in Louisiana alone. The vast on-shore and OCS oil and gas operations in the western and central Gulf of Mexico, the navigation system of the Mississippi River, and the fisheries of the Gulf and coastal urban communities all benefit from and depend on the vast deltaic ecosystem of coastal Louisiana, as well as the coastal ecosystems of Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama. From both an economic and environmental point of view, this Louisiana coastal ecosystem formed by the Mississippi River is the premier coastal wetland system in the United States.

However, these wetlands are being lost at an alarming rate – 2,000 square miles over the last 80 years, about 90% of all the wetlands loss in the lower 48 states. These losses are a tragic and horrendous national economic and ecological disaster. They will continue if we do nothing. The first step is to stop the hemorrhaging of wetlands, barrier islands, and other coastal ecosystems – now. The next – actually simultaneous – step is to dramatically increase restoration of the coast by reintroducing large amounts of riverine sediment, which is currently being lost to this system.

These landscapes play a critical role in protecting large urban areas like New Orleans and Houston, the coastal communities that support nationally important fisheries and our country’s oil and gas infrastructure. Wetlands, barrier islands and shallow coastal bays act to reduce storm surge, limit the development of waves and protect our inner defenses from erosion. These values are in addition to their important role in supporting fish and wildlife, improving water quality, and providing world-class recreational opportunities from bird-watching to hunting and fishing.

Pilot restoration projects and planning currently underway have convinced us that we can protect and restore these critical resources – but only with shared goals and a unified approach, a clear plan, new institutional mechanisms and long-term, secure funding. A surge of momentum from the public is needed to make this happen, and we all need to understand the costs to everyone from not taking action. We need to see the connection between the protection of coastal resources and their physical, economic, and cultural vitality.

This call to action is offered as a springboard for further dialogue, not as a final position on the details of what should be done. We need a commitment campaign that mobilizes the messengers more than any one specific plan. Readers are invited to engage in the process by reflecting on the questions raised, asking critical questions of their own, and participating in follow up activities. (See www.americaswetlands.com for additional information.)

The critical relationship between coastal environments and the economy was underscored again in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Wetlands provide critical habitat for thousands of species; Louisiana alone produces half of the nation’s shrimp. In addition to their critical importance for biodiversity, wetlands and barrier islands along the entire Gulf Coast are also nature’s first line of defense against hurricane storm surges and destructive wave action from hurricanes and tropical storms. The protection and rehabilitation of this vital coastal landscape is one of the Gulf Coast’s and the nation’s most urgent needs; in fact it is the highest priority engineering and natural systems project in the United States.

The loss of critical Gulf Coast wetlands strikes a deadly blow to the vitality of this nation. Every year, Louisiana’s coast provides billions of dollars in national resources and services – assets that greatly enhance our nation’s security and well-being. Because the health of this region so directly affects the daily life of our nation’s citizens, it is referred to as “America’s Wetland.” More than 80% of the nation’s offshore oil and gas is produced off Louisiana’s coast, and 25% of the nation’s foreign and domestic oil comes ashore on Louisiana roads and waterways. The coastal zone also contains the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port; over 43,000 oil and gas wells; two storage sites for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve; and the Henry Hub, one of the nation’s major natural gas distribution centers. Louisiana has 3,819 vendors and equipment suppliers in 165 different communities to service this array of infrastructure. These suppliers received an estimated $2.4 billion in oil and gas related business in 1992. The damage to Louisiana oil and gas infrastructure, along with the reduction in refinery output from Hurricane Katrina, created a surge in the price of gasoline across the nation. Louisiana’s coast is a national hub for navigation. Nearly 3,000 miles of deep and shallow-draft channels are located in the wetlands. Five of the nation’s 15 largest ports are located in south Louisiana, and these facilities carry 21% of all waterborne commerce by tonnage in the United States each year. Half the nation’s grain exports move through ports in the Gulf of Mexico. Texas is the nation’s largest chemical producing state, and Louisiana is the third.

The Mississippi River Basin terminates in Louisiana’s coastal zone, bringing with it nutrient rich runoff from 31 states and two Canadian provinces. Today, levees channel most of this runoff into the Gulf of Mexico. Before the levees were built, however, Louisiana’s wetlands filtered many of these sediments and nutrients, converting them into biologically useful materials. This purification function has an estimated mean value of $325 per acre per year. Each year, Louisiana’s commercial and recreational fishing industries contribute $3.5 billion and over 40,000 jobs to the state’s economy. Approximately 26% of the fish harvested by weight in the lower 48 states comes from Louisiana’s coastal zone. The annual economic impact of recreational fishing can amount to between $703 million and $1.2 billion. Louisiana’s wetlands provide habitats for thousands of plant and animal species.

Beyond the value of the wetlands as purveyor of goods and commodities to the nation, the lands have intrinsic value as haven for wildlife that is felt by all who visit, and as such, the wetlands represent a precious aspect of our nation’s natural heritage. Over two million people live in Louisiana’s coastal zone, and the wetlands are an integral part of life for many residents. The wetlands provide the setting for the region’s primary economic activities, such as navigation and oil and gas production. In addition, the cultural impact of the ecosystem can be traced to traditions of music, food, and living off the land that continue to this day. Much of what gives Louisiana its unique heritage finds its roots in the coast. Clearly, stakeholders from a wide range of sectors across the United States have a large stake in taking effective action to secure our coastal resources.

The human and environmental devastation that continues even today from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita is almost impossible to exaggerate and almost unbearably painful to contemplate reoccurring. However, category 5 hurricanes are a fact of life in the Gulf. Though it is hard to avoid reacting to the potential for more devastation with a sense of hopelessness, coastal scientists and engineers are devising plans to restore the coastal ecosystem. Rather than being driven by a sense of dread, we must be inspired by a sense of purpose and vision. Although it may not be possible to restore some of the specific wetland areas that used to exist, we can rebuild a healthy ecosystem, consistent with our understanding of the processes that shape them and the services they provide. The scientific and engineering community is preparing map-based plans depicting potential future states of the Louisiana coast that include levees, floodgates, wetlands, barrier islands, and other natural landscape features. These plans will identify how natural processes and state-of-the-art engineering can be used to achieve infrastructure protection and ecosystem goals. This work builds on previous planning efforts and the work of groups that have assessed the situation following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and must be extended to the entire at-risk Gulf coast.

We strongly urge federal, state and local authorities to work together to rebuild and manage this critical landscape in a manner fundamentally different than we have previously managed any landscape. We must build on the successful work of the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA or Breaux Act), Coast 2050, the Louisiana Coastal Area (LCA) Ecosystem Restoration Plan and those endorsed in “A New Framework for Planning the Future of Coastal Louisiana After the Hurricanes of 2005,” which was supported by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the National Research Council. We must capitalize on the attention of scientists and engineers from around the world that is now focused on the Gulf Coast. Furthermore, we urge that the pace of action be substantially accelerated.

Making Results a Reality – Sustained Funding and A New Model for Institutional Action

Implementation of a comprehensive program to reconstruct ecosystems of national importance along the Gulf Coast requires billions of dollars. However, equally importantly, it needs a permanent and secure funding base. Existing funding mechanisms are inadequate to meet the challenge in the time available. The funding base for natural resource restoration should reflect patterns in the nation’s use of natural resources. Options considered should span public and private sectors, and all levels of government. Whatever option is selected, it must avoid complex chains of funding sources that are only as strong as the weakest link.

Funding options under discussion include dedicating a share of current or new central and western Gulf OCS revenue to a Louisiana coastal wetland restoration fund, based on the impact of oil and gas operations on those coastal wetlands. Such dedication of OCS revenues should be independent of, and separate from, any other broader OCS revenue sharing efforts or the funding from the Water Resources Development Act. Other dedicated sources of support for this wetland restoration fund should also be considered. A restoration program that reflects the urgent need to restore coastal wetlands as storm buffers has moved ahead on a much more accelerated basis than the State and the federal government envisioned pre-Katrina. Dedication funding in the range of one billion dollars annually would underscore this commitment and make accelerated implementation feasible.

Implementation also requires a bold governance mechanism that builds on, but goes beyond, existing authorities. This must be a governance structure that mobilizes agencies of the federal government, the Departments of Interior, Agriculture and Commerce, the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Corps of Engineers, the State of Louisiana, other Gulf coast and lower Mississippi Basin states, the scientific community, energy companies that are active in the Gulf, national environmental organizations, and major agricultural and shipping enterprises that benefit from the navigation system of the Mississippi River. This governance structure should also be designed to facilitate engagement of private sector environmental engineering firms that could help design major wetland restoration projects on a far faster time scale than traditional governmental processes by themselves would allow. This governance structure should be designed to achieve the goals of restoring a very large, complex coastal ecosystem of national economic and environmental importance on the time scale described above. We cannot take years and years, let alone, decades to design and implement this program. Katrina and Rita have dispelled any notion that we had that the luxury of time to rebuild this wetland ecosystem system.

It makes sense to assess other large-scale ecosystem restoration or regional development models. One example would be the formation of a regional authority, drawing on multi-state models such as the Tennessee Valley Authority or state-based regional authorities such as the South Florida Water Management District. This approach would integrate ecosystem restoration, land-use planning authority, allocation and movement of water, navigation, and construction capabilities. Another option, consistent with such an authority or one conceived differently, would be to model coordination and consistency of federal activities along the lines of the Coastal Zone Management Act. What is needed is a mechanism for multiple federal, state and local agencies and the private sector to make self-correcting decisions based on a common set of criteria. However, none of these institutional models is ideal, given the urgency of accelerated action that at the same time incorporates the best scientific and engineering.

We can learn to live with nature, and provide a sustainable coastal landscape that protects the communities, the economy and the ecosystem. We all need to communicate this vision of a working landscape that will inspire the commitment of long-term funding needed to make our new maps a reality. This vision must be a catalyst for action by federal, state and local governments and the private sector. We all rely on the economy and the communities of the Gulf Coast, therefore we all must play a role to ensure that the investments are made to protect and rebuild this vital, immensely productive coastal system.