A report by a panel of scientists says a $2-billion federal-state program should help restore some of the 1.2 million acres of Louisiana coastal wetlands lost since the 1930s. But it recommends that officials reconsider including one of the envisioned first five projects and carry out the work as part of a broader plan.

The report, released Nov. 9, was done by a committee assembled by the National Academies’ National Research Council. It critiques a $2-billion, multiyear Louisiana Coastal Area plan released by the Corps of Engineers in November 2004. The plan includes five "near-term critical" projects (map), which would reduce loss of land by about 20%, to 8.6 sq miles a year, at a cost of about $864 million.

But the National Academies’ review questions one of those five items: bolstering the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet’s banks with 38 miles of stone revetment at a cost of $105 million. The report says the project would reduce land loss only by 0.2 sq miles annually. Because of limited benefits and a pending Corps study of decommissioning the canal for deep-draft ships, keeping the MRGO project in the priority group "should be reconsidered," the panel says. Click here to view map

Others have criticized the canal, dubbed "Mr. Go." Scott Faber, Environmental Defense water resources specialist, told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Nov. 9 that MRGO should be shut immediately. He says its ship traffic is down more than 50% since 1986.

The NRC panel says planners also must look at the big picture, recommending that proposed work be carried out "only in conjunction with the development of a comprehensive plan." (ENR 9/12 p. 23)

The Corps has $8.5 million for initial work on the plan, but can’t move on the full program until Congress authorizes it. In July, the House passed a new Water Resources Development Act with the coastal program (ENR 7/25 p. 12). In the Senate, a WRDA that includes the Louisiana projects cleared committee in April, but has stalled since then.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have altered Louisiana’s coast, but the impact on the restoration plan isn’t clear. Corps spokesman Dave Hewitt says agencies have been surveying the region’s wetlands. But the work is far from complete. The U.S. Geological Survey reports preliminary estimates show the storms turned about 100 sq miles of southeast Louisiana marshes into open water.