Making Tabasco sauce and working to save wetlands
The family that makes Tabasco sauce is fighting erosion in the wetlands buffering its factory from the Gulf of Mexico. (June 16)
AP
Advocates hope a novel bill introduced in Congress will support Louisiana solve some of its most pressing environmental problems, including coastal erosion, river flooding, hurricane protection and the Gulf of Mexico dead zone.
The Mississippi River Restoration and Resilience Act would direct the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to coordinate with states, local governments and nonprofits along the river to address those and related issues.
“The Mississippi River has long been neglected, when compared to other vital waters throughout the country,” Matt Rota, senior policy director for Healthy Gulf in New Orleans, said in a news release last week. “The river needs a comprehensive restoration program, and this initiative would be an incredible resource for the communities and wildlife that depend on the river.”
Healthy Gulf is among more than four dozen environmental groups backing the bill, co-sponsored by Democratic Reps. Betty McCollum of Minnesota, Cori Bush of Missouri, John Yarmuth of Kentucky, Steve Cohen of Tennessee and Bennie Thompson of Mississippi.
► Protect drinking water, wildlife and river-dependent industries by reducing runoff pollution.
► Reduce flood and storm risks and increase community resilience.
► Protect and restore wildlife habitat, in part by preventing the spread of aquatic invasive species.
While Louisiana, at the mouth of the Mississippi, benefits from the shipping and other industries that entails, it also bears the brunt of some of the problems created by the river.
Levees that control flooding along the Mississippi have cut off the fresh water and sediment that built its delta and the literal foundation for communities such as Terrebonne and Lafourche. Since the 1930s, more than 2,000 square miles of the state’s coastal wetlands, which buffer inland communities like Houma and Thibodaux from storms, have eroded and sunk into the Gulf.
Scientists have long blamed fertilizer runoff from Midwest farms and cattle pastures as the main culprit for the annual dead zone off Louisiana and Texas. The area of low to no oxygen, which this summer is expected to encompass an area about twice the size of Delaware, kills fish and other marine life unable to escape the depleted waters.
Efforts are already underway to channel more fresh water from the Mississippi down Bayou Lafourche, the drinking water source for Houma-Thibodaux’s roughly 200,000 residents. The effort aims to stave off the salt water that sometimes streams up the bayou from the Gulf, threatening the drinking water supply.
And spring flooding from snowmelt and rain sometimes inundated or threatened communities along the Mississippi and its distributary, the Atchafalaya River, including the Gibson area in northern Terrebonne.
Nearly 40% of land in the continental United States drains into the Mississippi, which faces urban and agricultural runoff, habitat loss and intensifying storms and flooding events, the bill’s sponsors note.
Researchers estimate that Mississippi delta wetlands, forests, coastal areas and agricultural lands provide flood and hurricane protection, fisheries and recreation services worth anywhere from $12 billion to $47 billion annually, the sponsors say.
“For decades, no one cared for the river, and it became a source of pollution that was slowly killing the river ecosystem,” McCollum said in a news release. “Today, because people who cared stepped up to protect a river that is also the source of drinking water for 20 million Americans, the Mississippi is now a place for families to enjoy and an important flyway for migratory birds — all while supporting jobs and economic growth up and down the river corridor.
“But from the northernmost headwater communities to the Mississippi Delta, the health of this great river continues to be at risk. A coordinated federal effort is necessary to restore the health of this vital waterway.”
