The philosophical change concerning Louisiana’s coastal policy will bring greater benefits when a more scientifically-based approach infuses the upcoming 2029 Master Plan for the coast.
The Republican Gov. Jeff Landry Administration since taking office signaled a strategy alteration in how to handle the state’s receding coastline. Rather than spend enormously on a very few big projects designed to reshape water carriage and runoff to entice this to become a conduit of sediment in a fashion that should rebuild land, the new leadership over the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority plans to emphasize many smaller projects that rebuild discrete locations and augment protection from flooding. This approach minimizes disruption of existing economies and ecosystems.
The Master Plan, devised every six years, provides overall guidance, but annually the CPRA after its Board’s approval must present a list of specific projects for funding by the Legislature. Those selected must be congruent with the direction of the Plan. The roster for fiscal year 2027 contains less spending because the previous main strategy of flowing water diversions was so much more expensive, absent now as the Landry Administration halted that work.
Those invested in the prior approach squawked when the paradigm shift occurred and currently claim they will support the list as long as, in their opinion, it comports to the Plan. But the longstanding problem with the plan extant is how it strays from depoliticized science as its foundation.
The past two plans, both ratified under the Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards Administration, used entirely unrealistic modeling, for example, of exaggerated eustatic sea level rise based upon highly unlikely scenarios. Ensuing research has verified that misfire, and with this as a part of growing evidence that hyperventilated claims have no evidentiary or theoretical backing even acolytes of the ideology behind that “science,” catastrophic anthropogenic global warming, are losing faith.
Garbage in, garbage out, so that makes the Plan’s focus suspect. Thus, it’s wise for CPRA leadership to rein in the vastly expensive projects and concentrate on smaller, more protective ones in light of the fact that the larger were formulated with apocalyptic scenarios given credence as a significant possibility, which only wastes money by an overexaggerated approach.
But the real work remains with the next iteration of the Plan returning to a more science-based approach free of ideology. Work on it already has started with a series of public solicitations and more planned.
Coming up with a plan based on realistic assumptions will serve taxpayers better and target better the right interventions to prevent coastal land loss and to protect vulnerable populations from natural disasters. That will be a welcome change, and while the Landry Administration is doing the best it can to compensate for past mistakes, there’s no substitute for having the correct foundation in place by which to make project decisions.
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