Breaux Act Newsflash - Press Releases
***********************************************************************Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act Newsflash
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CPRA
For Immediate Release: Jan. 23, 2007
Contact: Chris Macaluso
(225) 342-3968
chris.macaluso@la.gov
Governor Bobby Jindal Signs Executive Order to Maximize Efficiency of
State Coastal Restoration and Hurricane Protection Efforts
BATON ROUGE - Today, Governor Bobby Jindal signed an executive order to
maximize the efficiency of Louisiana's coastal restoration and hurricane
protection efforts by requiring all state agencies to comply with the
Comprehensive Master Plan for a Sustainable Coast which lays out coastal
and hurricane protection priorities as recognized by the Coastal
Protection and Restoration Authority, including the Department of
Transportation and Development, the Department of Natural Resources, and
the Governor's Office of Coastal Affairs. The executive order the Governor
signed today requires agencies to adhere to the projects and priorities
enumerated in the Master Plan which was previously authorized by the
Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority.
Governor Bobby Jindal said, "We will work together with our federal
partners over the coming years to commit billions of dollars toward
hurricane protection and coastal restoration efforts in Louisiana. This
executive order sets a clear path toward this future to ensure consistency
in our work and the sustainability of our coastal zone by requiring all
state agencies and their subdivisions to comply with Louisiana's
Comprehensive Master Plan for a Sustainable Coast."
ACTIVITY AND PERMIT CONSISTENCY WITH LOUISIANA'S COMPREHENSIVE MASTER PLAN
FOR A SUSTAINABLE COAST - Executive Order "Highlights"
WHEREAS, Louisiana's coastal master plan, entitled "Integrated Ecosystem
Restoration and Hurricane Protection: Louisiana's Comprehensive Master
Plan for a Sustainable Coast", (hereinafter "Master Plan"), is the state's
conceptual plan for the integration of coastal protection and restoration
based upon the best available science and engineering;
WHEREAS, the Master Plan was approved by the Coastal Protection and
Restoration Authority at its April 12, 2007 meeting and thereafter
unanimously approved by the Louisiana Legislature by passing Senate
Concurrent Resolution No. 11 during the 2007 Regular Session;
WHEREAS, the Master Plan states a goal of integration of flood control
projects and coastal restoration initiatives to help both human and
natural communities survive and thrive over the long-term;
WHEREAS, the Master Plan recommends, among other things, improvements to
land use planning, zoning and permitting to more effectively achieve its
stated goals;
WHEREAS, beginning this year, billions of dollars in efforts to repair and
improve Louisiana's hurricane and coastal protection systems will be
carried out;
WHEREAS, state agencies must function in a manner that recognizes the
vital importance of expediting hurricane and coastal protection and
ensuring sustainable practices in our coastal zone;
WHEREAS, it is critical for all state agencies to work in a cooperative
manner with acute awareness of the recommendations of the Master Plan in
order to ensure the aggressive and orderly implementation of its stated
goals.
WHEREAS, Louisiana Revised Statute 49:213 directs the Governor, through
his executive assistant for coastal activities, to "coordinate and focus
the functions of all state agencies as they relate to coastal protection,
including hurricane protection and wetlands conservation and restoration";
and
WHEREAS, Louisiana Revised Statute 49:213 authorizes the Governor, through
his executive assistant for coastal activities, to "review and modify
proposed coastal use permits prior to issuance to the extent that such
permits would authorize activities which significantly affect hurricane
protection or wetlands conservation and restoration projects or which
significantly diminish the benefits of projects intended to protect,
conserve or enhance coastal areas and to require the issuance of permits
for public or private wetlands enhancement projects or plans.";
NOW THEREFORE, I, Bobby Jindal, Governor of the state of Louisiana, by
virtue of the authority vested by the Constitution and the laws of the
state of Louisiana, do hereby order and direct as follows:
SECTION 1: All state agencies shall administer their regulatory practices,
programs, contracts, grants, and all other functions vested in them in a
manner consistent with the Master Plan and public interest to the maximum
extent possible.
SECTION 2: This Order is effective upon signature and shall remain in
effect until amended, modified, terminated, or rescinded by the governor,
or terminated by operation of law.
Executive Order BJ 2008-7
For a copy of the original document, please click here.
For more information about the CPRA or the State's Comprehensive Coastal
Master Plan, please contact Chris Macaluso in the Governor's Office of
Coastal Activities at (225) 342-3968 or by email at chris.macaluso@la.gov.
Please note: This release was reprinted from the following website
http://www.gov.state.la.us/
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LSU
The Daily Reveille
Online Edition
NOAA administrator wants coastal issues in public eye Leader says levees
not only problem
J.J. Alcantara
Issue date: 1/23/08 Section: News
Media Credit: Grant Gutierrez
Louisiana coastal issues were brought to light to the University community
Tuesday by the head of the nation's oceanic administration.
Vice Adm. Conrad Lautenbacher Jr., retired U.S. Navy, the leader of the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, spoke to University
students, faculty and staff about programs that NOAA is working on to
further restore the nation's coast.
Lautenbacher, who is also the NOAA undersecretary of commerce for oceans
and atmosphere, said one of NOAA's missions is to manage coastal resources
to meet the nation's economic, social and environmental needs.
Coastal population in the United States has increased since 2003.
In 2003, 153 million people lived on or near the coast, while NOAA
projects that in 2008, the population will increase to 160 million.
Lautenbacher said finding ways to rebuild and restore coastlines around
America will decrease the risk to life, property and coastal habitats.
One program Lautenbacher spoke about was the Gulf of Mexico Alliance. The
alliance includes all five Gulf coast states - Texas, Louisiana,
Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.
These five states have agreed to create a joint ocean policy and mission
for recovery and conservation.
Lautenbacher said NOAA also works to improve the Hurricane Forecasting
Improvement Project.
The project's goal is to reduce prediction errors to help residents of
hurricane-prone areas evacuate.
"It's not understood well enough in the nation," Lautenbacher said. "If
you don't understand the topography where you are, you will have a very
difficult time creating models and forecasting the future for almost
anything."
NOAA is also working on restoring Louisiana's habitats.
"After Katrina, people focused immediately on problems of rebuilding the
levees," Lautenbacher said. "We need to deal with the whole system. We
need to deal with the barrier islands, the wetlands."
Lautenbacher said fisheries are important to the Gulf, which has been
negatively affected by hurricanes.
Hypoxia is another issue Lautenbacher spoke about. Hypoxic zones are areas
in the Gulf where oxygen has been completely depleted, causing the death
of several aquatic organisms.
Hypoxia occurs because excess nutrients are dumped into the Mississippi
River and then flow into the Gulf.
"Now we have a law that tells us we have to have more ethanol,"
Lautenbacher said. "So what are we doing? We are dumping more stock into
the Mississippi."
Lautenbacher said he hopes to get these issues widely known and visible to
the public.
"I think there is an opportunity with the change in [presidential]
administration to get these issues out in the open," Lautenbacher said.
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National Science Foundation
Press Release 08-010
Agriculture Changing Chemistry of Mississippi River
River outflow altering Gulf of Mexico waters
Farming practices have changed the chemistry of the Mississippi River and
the Gulf of Mexico.
January 23, 2008
Midwestern farming, and increased water flowing into the Mississippi River
as a result, have injected the equivalent of five Connecticut Rivers'
worth of carbon dioxide into the Mississippi each year over the last 50
years, according to a study published this week in the journal Nature.
The research is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
"It's like the discovery of a new large river being piped out of the corn
belt," said Peter Raymond, lead author of the study and an ecologist at
Yale University. "Agricultural practices have significantly changed the
hydrology and chemistry of the Mississippi."
The research team analyzed Mississippi River data as much as 100 years
old. The data had been warehoused at two New Orleans water treatment
plants.
"This impressive effort has led to important conclusions about the
influence of land-use practices on carbon dioxide in the environment,"
said Martyn Caldwell, program director in NSF's division of environmental
biology. "The implications for other materials being transported into
river systems are significant."
The researchers tracked changes in the levels of water and bicarbonate,
which forms when carbon dioxide in water in soil dissolves minerals.
Bicarbonate plays an important, long-term role in absorbing atmospheric
carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. Oceans then absorb carbon dioxide but
become more acidic in the process.
"Ocean acidification makes it difficult, for example, for certain
organisms to form hard shells," said Eugene Turner, a co-author of the
paper and a marine ecologist at Louisiana State University.
The researchers concluded that liming and farming practices, such as
changes in drainage and crop type and rotation, are likely responsible for
the majority of the increase in water and carbon in the Mississippi.
The researchers believe that increased nutrients in the Mississippi also
are altering the chemistry of the Gulf of Mexico, into which the
Mississippi flows.
In addition to Raymond and Turner, co-authors of the paper,
"Anthropogenically Enhanced Fluxes of Water and Carbon from the
Mississippi River," are Neung-Hwan Oh of Yale and Whitney Broussard of
Louisiana State University.
Media Contacts
Cheryl Dybas, NSF (703) 292-7734 cdybas@nsf.gov
Related Websites
NSF Directorate for Geosciences: http://www.nsf.gov/dir/index.jsp?org=GEO
NSF Directorate for Biological Sciences:
http://www.nsf.gov/dir/index.jsp?org=BIO
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