Louisiana

Governor Declares State Of Emergency Over Disappearing Coastline

April 22, 2017 Merrit Kennedy, www.npr.org Educate! Environment, Louisiana

By Merrit Kennedy for NPR - Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has declared a state of emergency over the state's rapidly eroding coastline. It's an effort to bring nationwide attention to the issue and speed up the federal permitting process for coastal restoration projects. "Decades of saltwater intrusion, subsidence and rising sea levels have made the Louisiana coast the nation's most rapidly deteriorating shoreline," WWNO's Travis Lux tells our Newscast unit. "It loses the equivalent of one football field of land every hour." More than half of the state's population lives on the coast, the declaration states. It adds that the pace of erosion is getting faster: "more than 1,800 square miles of land between 1932 and 2010, including 300 square miles of marshland between 2004 and 2008 alone." The governor estimates that if no further action is taken, "2,250 square miles of coastal Louisiana is expected to be lost" in the next 50 years. He emphasized the importance of the land to industries such as energy, maritime transportation and trade. Lux says the governor hopes this will pave the way to move ahead with coastal projects...

Clash Over Bayou Bridge Pipeline Ratchets Up After Louisiana Pipeline Explosion

February 21, 2017 Julie Dermansky, www.desmogblog.com Resist! Louisiana, Pipelines, Protests

By Julie Dermansky for Desmog Blog - Two permits are required for construction of the Bayou Bridge pipeline, which has been proposed by Energy Transfer Partners in conjunction with Phillips 66 and Sunoco Logistics. One is from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the DEQ, which must sign off on water quality impacts. The second is from the DNR for the project’s last 16 miles of pipeline, which require special attention under the state’s Coastal Zone program. If built, the163-mile-long pipeline would stretch across south Louisiana from Lake Charles through the Atchafalaya Basin to St. James, a community on the Mississippi River. It would link Louisiana refineries to a major oil-and-gas hub in Texas and connect to larger pipelines throughout North America. The project would be the tail end of Energy Transfer’s Dakota Access pipeline, carrying oil fracked in North Dakota to Louisiana.

Louisiana Faces Faster Sea-Level Rise Than Any Land On Earth

January 7, 2017 Lorraine Chow, www.ecowatch.com Educate! Louisiana, Sea level rise

By Lorraine Chow for Eco Watch - These dire predictions were pulled from a new rewrite of the state's Coastal Master Plan for 2017 released Tuesday by the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. The plan, first introduced in 2007 post- Hurricane Katrina, acts as a 50-year blueprint for restoring the Pelican State's rapidly disappearing coastal wetlands and protecting the state's natural resources and communities. Louisiana's Legislature unanimously approved the 2007 and 2012 versions. The new plan, which is now out for public review and must be voted up or down by the Legislature, calls for 120 new projects...

Texas Company Eyes Pipeline Through Louisiana’s Atchafalaya Basin

December 20, 2016 Sue Sturgis, www.facingsouth.org Resist! Louisiana, Pipelines

By Sue Sturgis for Facing South - Energy Transfer Partners, the Dallas-based company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline, suffered a setback this week when the Army Corps of Engineers denied permission for the controversial $3.7 billion project to cross under a lake on the Missouri River a half-mile from the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, where a protest camp has drawn thousands of self-described "water protectors" from around the world, including hundreds of U.S. military veterans. Announcing the decision on Sunday, the Army said alternative routes should be explored. That would mean environmental reviews that could delay construction for months or even years.

Louisiana Governor Requests Bailout As Flood Costs Rise To $15bn

September 13, 2016 Matthew Teague, www.theguardian.com/ Educate! Bailout, Floods, Government, Louisiana

By Matthew Teague for The Guardian - The cost of August’s historic flooding in Louisiana is surging into view now, and rising as fast as riverwater. It could hit $15bn, according to a new report, and state officials and residents have begun scrambling to find money as southern Louisiana slowly dries out. Flood insurance will cover only a fraction of the cost, because 80% of the homes affected – more than 110,000, and almost as many vehicles – had no such insurance. The region has never flooded in living memory, and in many areas flood insurance was not even available.

Gulf Oil Leases Spark Outcry But Little Revenue

September 4, 2016 Staff, www.loe.org Resist! Louisiana, Offshore Drilling, Oil

By Staff for Living on Earth. There's no question that the oil industry has some real economic problems facing it. They've got infrastructure out in the gulf that is absolutely falling apart. They are deciding not to repair that infrastructure. They have left, for example, 26,000 wells abandoned in the Gulf of Mexico. So they certainly do have stranded assets, but the only thing that drives this industry is profit. They're not going to do anything because for any other reason there was a rebuttal to our action written by the Louisiana oil and gas industry, and in that rebuttal, they tried to explain how they're helping flood victims and they call us to take for using the flood to attack them, when in fact, when they burn carbon, they melt our planet.

In A Warming World, Deluges Like Louisiana’s Expected To Increase

August 19, 2016 Zahra Hirji, www.insideclimatenews.org Educate! Floods, Louisiana

By Zahra Hirji for Inside Climate News - The devastating rainstorm that unleashed terrifying flooding last weekend in Louisiana, with thousands of people escaping their homes and whole parishes being overtaken by water, comes in recent succession to similarly extreme and deadly storms across the country—in Texas, Maryland, West Virginia and South Carolina. These intense storms have become seemingly commonplace, raising questions about climate change's role.

Baton Rouge: “Put Those Damn Weapons Down!”

July 13, 2016 Bill Quigley, www.popularrestinance.org Educate! Alton Sterling, Louisiana

By Bill Quigley. for Popular Resistance - “Put those damn weapons down. I'm not going to tell you again, goddamn it. Get those goddamn weapons down.” That was the first command of one of Louisiana’s most revered figures, General Russell Honore, when he arrived in New Orleans in 2005 to direct the military recovery after Hurricane Katrina. The General’s directions have not been followed in Baton Rouge. Since the police killing of Alton Sterling, thousands of people in Baton Rouge have been non-violently protesting day and night all over the city.

Store Owner Witness To Sterling Killing Video Equipment Taken, Detained

July 12, 2016 Zack Kopplin, www.thedailybeast.com Resist! Alton Sterling, Lawsuit, Louisiana, police brutality

By Zack Kopplin for The Daily Beast - BATON ROUGE, Louisiana — The owner of the convenience store where Alton Sterling was killed last week by cops alleges in a lawsuit that police stole surveillance video from his shop, confiscated his cellphone, and locked him inside a car for the next four hours. Abdullah Muflahi, proprietor of the Triple S Mart, said he saw police confront and kill Sterling, who was selling CDs with his permission in his front parking lot last Tuesday night. Muflahi recorded part of the incident in footage he gave The Daily Beast last week that shows Sterling did not have a weapon in his hand when Officer Howie Lake shouted “Gun!” and Officer Blane Salamoni fired six shots into his chest.

Graphic Video Shows Baton Rouge Police Shooting Alton Sterling

July 7, 2016 Julia Craven, www.huffingtonpost.com Educate! #BlackLivesMatter, Black Lives Matter (BLM), Louisiana, police brutality

By Julia Craven for The Huffington Post - A graphic video shows a Baton Rouge police officer shooting and killing Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old black man who was selling CDs in front of a convenience store early Tuesday morning. The video appears to have been shot by a witness to the incident. The Baton Rouge Police Department has not provided many details on what happened between the officers and Sterling or what caused the officer to pull his firearm, according to The New Orleans Advocate. Investigators are still working to find out what caused the incident to escalate.

Louisiana Judge Rules: No Lawyers, No Jail

April 14, 2016 Bill Quigley, www.billquigley.wordpress.com Resist! Jail, Law, Louisiana, Public defenders

By Bill Quigley for Social Justice Advocacy - New Orleans Criminal Court Judge Arthur Hunter, a former police officer, ruled that seven people awaiting trial in jail without adequate legal defense must be released. The law is clear. The US Supreme Court, in their 1963 case Gideon v Wainwright, ruled that everyone who is accused of a crime has a Constitutional right a lawyer at the state’s expense if they cannot afford one. However, Louisiana, in the middle of big budget problems, has been disregarding the constitutional right of thousands of people facing trial in its most recent statewide public defender meltdown

Native American Tribe Gets Federal Funds To Flee Rising Seas

March 17, 2016 David Hasemyer, www.insideclimatenews.org Create! Louisiana, Native Americans

By David Hasemyer for Inside Climate News - In a disappearing section of Louisiana coastline, the people who call Isle De Jean Charles home are moving to save their community and culture. The sacred land in coastal Louisiana that a small community of Native Americans has called home for more than a century has been all but swallowed by the rising sea, leaving residents with little dry ground and a fear they will lose their heritage.

Protests, Lease Sales Coming To Louisiana After Flooding

March 16, 2016 Julie Dermansky, www.desmogblog.com Resist! Housing, Louisiana, Protests

By Julie Dermansky for Desmog - Walter Unglaub never thought flooding would threaten the carriage house he rents in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana. It is on a bluff 30 feet above the Bogue Falaya River, in an area that is not considered a flood zone. But that didn’t stop a flash flood from forcing Unglaub to swim for his life to get to higher ground awaiting rescue last Friday. “No one is safe from extreme weather,” Unglaub told DeSmog on Sunday when he returned to sort through his belongings to see what, if anything, was salvageable.

What Is Going On With The Water In St. Joseph, Louisiana?

February 1, 2016 Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org Educate! Louisiana, Water

By Kevin Zeese for Popular Resistance. As we have reported regarding the water crisis in Flint, it is not alone in water that is dangerous. Below is a small portion of an article from ATTN: by Alex Mierjeski. They report: In St. Joseph, Louisiana, residents say the situation is particularly bad. Pictures posted online of chalky, dirt-brown water in bathtubs, washing machines, and sinks present a sickeninGarrett Boyteg image of what they mean. . . . According to local news reports, residents say they have dealt with water safety issues for years. But some said they had seen drastic changes in water color — from yellowish to murky brown — in recent weeks. Others said the problems had persisted for as long as a decade. Since 2012, the town has mostly been under a boil notice — meaning residents are encouraged to boil water before drinking. To highlight the problem with the regulation of water safety, according to ATTN: "the state's Department of Health and Hospitals said water samples from the town met the Environmental Protection Agency's minimal quality standards.

Louisiana Judge: Local Zoning Laws Can’t Stop Fracking

April 22, 2015 Robert Rhoden, www.nola.com Resist! Environment, Fracking, Law, Louisiana

Fracking opponents suffered a major defeat Monday morning (April 20) when a state judge ruled St. Tammany Parish cannot use its zoning regulations to block a proposed oil drilling and fracking project northeast of Mandeville. Judge William Morvant of the 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge said parish regulations cannot trump state law and that the Department of Natural Resources' Office of Conservation is the sole regulator of oil and gas drilling in Louisiana. The much-anticipated ruling, coming after a year of controversy over the project, does not mean Helis Oil & Gas Co. of New Orleans is free to start drilling, however. An appeal is likely to be filed, and Helis still needs a wetlands permit from the Army Corps of Engineers before it could begin work.

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