Texas' coastline is a source of economic strength and vitality. From oil-and-gas production to shipping to tourism, the region provides billions in economic value to the state. But it is also a source of vulnerability. In 2008, Hurricane Ike flooded 100,000 homes, causing $29 billion in property damage alone, with a total estimated impact of $142 billion (Via R Street)
The state coastal authority approved the final step needed to allow offshore oil and gas revenue to be used to cover construction costs for the continued elevation of La. 1 connecting Golden Meadow to the important oil and gas Port Fourchon. (Via Baton Rouge Advocate)
In the years since Katrina decimated the Gulf Coast and Irene and Sandy inundated just about everything from the Caribbean to Canada, there's been ongoing second-guessing on what should have been done to better protect those coastal areas. (Via Texas Climate News)
Some of the world's largest cities are sinking faster than the oceans are rising. Humans are part of the problem, but we can also be part of the solution through monitoring and modeling. (Via EOS)
National Hurricane Center, National Weather Service provided local emergency managers with worst-case scenarios. Check out the presentation (Via NOLA.com)
A measure headed for a Senate vote later this year aims to send Louisiana and other Gulf states more money from oil and gas drilling in federal waters off their coasts. Louisiana Republicans Bill Cassidy and David Vitter are among U.S. senators who have introduced the American Energy and Conservation Act of 2016. (Via Houma Courier)
A new report by a national environmental group cites major agriculture companies as culprits behind much of the pollution that scientists say causes the Gulf of Mexico's so-called dead zone every summer. The report, released today by the Environment America Research and Policy Center, uses publicly available data to document pollution from Tyson and four other major agriculture conglomerates the group claims is responsible for an estimated 44 percent of the pork, chicken and beef produced in the U.S. (Via Houma Courier)
Isle de Jean Charles, in southern Louisiana, is linked to the mainland by a long, straight road. When I first set out across it, there was a strip of wetlands on either side. But as I continued, the water closed in, lapping at the edges of the asphalt. (Via Smithsonian Magazine)
This is a video from Chris Hayes at MSNBC, called The Vanishing Island. The people of Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana are among the first Americans directly impacted by climate change that the federal government is helping relocate. (Via MSNBC)
The documentary "Can't Stop the Water" takes viewers to southern Louisiana's Isle de Jean Charles, where storm surges exacerbated by climate change, coastal oil and gas development, and wetland degradation are combining to push the island under water. (Via Ensia)
New Orleans filled with water" does not conjure up a promising image, at least not yet. The fight to stay dry has defined the city's history. In the early 20th century, pumps and canals drained swamps and marshes, allowing development in low-lying neighborhoods like Gentilly, on the sunken edge of Lake Pontchartrain. (Via The Atlantic)
Conservation measures by farmers have reduced nitrogen and phosphorus runoff in Iowa and other states in the Upper Mississippi River Basin, according to a federal government study released this week. (Via Des Moines Register)
Researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have published a new study that demonstrates that agricultural conservation practices in the upper Mississippi River watershed can reduce nitrogen inputs to area streams and rivers by as much as 34 percent. (Via KITC)
Louisiana is taking a step it hopes will save both its coast and its oyster industry: It's renewing an oyster leasing program. The Louisiana Legislature recently passed two bills that lift a 14-year-old moratorium on new leases for oyster farmers. Gov. John Bel Edwards is expected to sign the bills soon. (Via Baton Rouge Advocate)
Up to $13 million to $14 million may be available each year for infrastructure directly affected by coastal land loss, and a state board on Wednesday proposed the criteria it would use to decide how the money gets spent. (Via Baton Rouge Advocate)
In Louisiana, it is easier to be against Mom andcrawfish pie than against "coastal restoration"[i]these days. Hundreds of people spent 3 days at a State of the Coast conference in New Orleans learning how that work is going and how much harder sea level rise is making it. The message from Louisiana's Governor, New Orleans' Mayor, and lots of other places was this, "Do smart, effective things faster." Exactly nobody then added, "but first go to court." (Via Tulane Institute on Water Resources Law and Policy)
Small oil spills off Louisiana's coast could help pay for coastal restoration projects as part of a state law signed by Gov. John Bel Edwards. House Bill 640, the first of its kind in the nation, authorizes the state Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority to set up an oil spill mitigation bank. (Via Baton Rouge Advocate)
The 2016 summertime dead zone on the continental shelf along the coasts of Louisiana and east Texas will be 6,824 square miles, a low-oxygen area the size of Connecticut, according to a forecast Thursday (June 9) from scientists with Louisiana State University, the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium and the University of Michigan. (Via NOLA.com)
In a metamorphosis, New Orleans - once overwhelmed by failed levees and Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters - is moving to become a national model of how an urban center can embrace green tactics to tame water. (Via AP)