Save Our Louisiana Wetlands - South Louisiana's Environmental Watch Network

Apr. 05, 2008 - Editorial: Jackson Made a Mess Here - The Times-Picayune fails to make the connection between Jackson's corruption and the terrible loss of affordable housing in our city...
Apr. 02, 2008 - Corruption Fight Needs Consistency - Despite his resignation Monday, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson still hasn't alienated the affections of Sen. David Vitter and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin...
Feb. 23, 2008 - Another Morganza Hurdle Stirs Frustration - Local officials are reacting with frustration to news that the Morganza-to-the-Gulf hurricane-protection system must secure congressional authorization for a third time, and some question what the countless bureaucratic hurdles will mean for other large-scale coastal projects yet to come...
Jan. 20, 2008 - Did Oil Canals Worsen Katrina's Effects? - There are 10,000 miles of these oil canals. They fed America's thirst for energy, but helped bring its biggest delta to the brink of collapse...
Jan. 24, 2008 - Drought Could Force Nuke-Plant Shutdowns - Nuclear reactors across the Southeast could be forced to throttle back or temporarily shut down later this year because drought is drying up the rivers and lakes that supply power plants with the awesome amounts of cooling water they need to operate...
Jan. 17, 2008 - Letter to The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council - Notice of Intent to Sue under the Clean Water Act, NEPA, Endangered Species Act, Administrative Procedures Act, Equal Access to Justices Act, Due Process and Equal Protection clause guaranteed under U.S. Constitution, and laws and statutes under the La. Civil Code...
Jan. 4, 2008 - Navy Must Cut Sonar Use off California - A federal judge in Los Angeles on Thursday ordered the toughest set of restrictions ever imposed on the U.S. Navy's use of mid-frequency sonar off the Southern California coast as part of a protracted court battle to protect whales and other marine mammals from underwater sonic blasts...
Dec. 3, 2007 - New Orleans Public Housing News, Post Katrina - Despite Katrina causing the worst affordable housing crisis since the Civil War, HUD is spending $762 million in taxpayer funds to tear down over 4,600 public housing subsidized apartments and replace them with 744 similarly subsidized units...
Nov. 15, 2007 - As the World Burns: How Dry We Are; A question no one wants to raise about drought. - Over the last decade, 15-20% decreases in precipitation have been recorded. These water losses have been accompanied by record temperatures and increasing wildfires in areas where populations have been growing rapidly.
French Quarter Radiation Free - Radio Frequency (RF) Radiation Health Problem Alert! - The members of Save Our Vieux Carre have recently discovered that New Orleans City agencies have approved 14 cellular radio towers to be installed on the streets of our once unique and distinct Vieux Carré. These cellular radio towers are a terrible visual blight upon the historic Vieux Carré, and emit Radio Frequency (RF) radiation harmful to human health.
Protect the Gulf of Mexico from Dirty & Dangerous Industrial Fish Farms - The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council released a draft of an amendment that would streamline the permitting and regulation of offshore aquaculture in the Gulf of Mexico. This draft fails to adequately address significant threats that offshore aquaculture can pose to consumer health, the marine environment, and coastal communities...
Oct. 18, 2007 - Video: Restoring Our Coast, Who Pays? - Oil Companies Hide Behind America's Wetlands Campaign - Scientists estimate that up to 65 percent of the destruction is due to oil and gas activities. Yet the oil industry is not being asked to pay a penny to fix what they broke...
Oct. 10, 2007 - America's Wetlands Pushing Morganza's Leaky Levee Wall Around Louisiana - If we are to change our plight in Southeastern Louisiana's coastal region by reforming the Corps, at some point we are going to have to stop giving dollars and cents priority over human life and safety...
Sept. 28, 2007 - Jane Goodall Says Biofuel Crops Hurt Rain Forests - Primate scientist Jane Goodall said on Wednesday the race to grow crops for vehicle fuels is damaging rain forests in Asia, Africa and South America and adding to the emissions blamed for global warming...
Aug. 10, 2007 - The Next Energy Crisis - In southern Louisiana oil pipelines, pipelines that connect to half of the refining capacity in this country transport 30% of oil and natural gas to other parts of the country, were originally buried underground not designed to withstand water or waves are now becoming exposed to storm surge and shipping because of erosion and the sinking of the land, thus increasing the chances of pipeline ruptures...
Sept. 26, 2007 - Saving Louisiana's Coastal Wetlands: The Need for a Long-term Plan of Action - Wetland loss could be reduced by combinations of marsh restoration and management; Mississippi river diversion of freshwater, nutrients, and sediment; barrier island and beach stabilization; and modification of human activities...
Sept. 23, 2007 - The Lower Ninth Battles Back - If you measured the Lower Ninth Ward by will, solidarity and dedication, from both residents and far-flung volunteers and nonprofits, it would be among the best neighborhoods in the United States...
Sept. 23, 2007 - Editorial: After the Flood - When the Gulf Coast desperately needed a massive public works program, what it got instead was a stronger dose of the very same neoliberal disaster capitalist policies that laid the groundwork for the Katrina disaster...
Sept. 22, 2007 - Rising Seas Likely to Flood U.S. History - Ultimately, rising seas will likely swamp the first American settlement in Jamestown, Va., as well as the Florida launch pad that sent the first American into orbit, many climate scientists are predicting...
Sept. 17, 2007 - CLIMATE: Katrina Victims Appeal Case Against Energy Companies - Gulf Coast victims of Hurricane Katrina asked a federal appeals court today to reinstate their class-action lawsuit that seeks damages from major U.S. energy companies for the role their heat-trapping emissions played in fueling the 2005 storm...
Sept. 13, 2007 - Houma Navigational Channel(HNC) Lock proposal adds to the Morganza Pork - This is SOWL's analysis on how and why the HNC Lock proposal adds to the Morganza Pork, and will destroy Houma to fill the pockets of the oil companies and the "Good Old Boys...
Aug. 4, 2007 - Water Bill Criticized for its Pork Projects - Those who support a massive hurricane-protection project in Terrebonne are determined that everything possible must be done to push through a federal measure authorizing its construction...
Aug. 4, 2007 - For Morganza, It's Not Just the Veto - While everyone reels over President Bush's threat to veto a bill that includes Terrebonne's proposed hurricane-protection system, Time magazine poses a more-ominous question: Is Morganza-to-the-Gulf the next big mistake?...
Sept. 12, 2007 - Open Letter to the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority of Louisiana(CPRA) - The Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority of Louisiana(CPRA) is a sham - fraud, and is a sad tragedy for those of us who love and are dedicated to the restoration of our beloved coast in the Pelican State of Louisiana...
Sept. 8, 2007 - The Shock Doctrine - Hurricane Katrina was used by the disaster capitalists long standing policy to utilize their shock doctine to destroy public housing and public education in New Orleans...
Sept. 7, 2007 - Why Shell Oil Company rules over New Orleans Louisiana & U.S.A. - This is an analysis of how & why Shell Oil Company rules over New Orleans Louisiana and U.S.A. and/or the privitization of our government by a multi-national corporation...
Aug. 28, 2007 - New Orleans City Councilwoman Shelley Midura sends open letter to President George Bush - Much has changed in New Orleans for the better since the storm, and more progress is coming. Civic activism is at an all time high. For the first time in my lifetime, there is an actual reform movement in New Orleans driven by the people...
Aug. 7, 2007 - Time Magazine article casts cynical eye on Morganza - In the Morganza debate, some scientists and engineers, such as LSU Hurricane Center Deputy Director Ivor van Heerden, criticize the levee approach, saying the $900 million, 72-mile project will destroy area wetlands and provide residents with a false sense of security...
Aug. 2, 2007 - President Bush threatens to veto Morganza bill - The U.S. House overwhelmingly endorsed an agreement on a water-resources bill late Wednesday evening that positions Morganza-to-the-Gulf for badly needed federal money, but the milestone was overshadowed by President Bush's promise earlier in the day to veto the measure...
Aug. 1, 2007 - Hurricane Katrina - Two Years Later - Katrina Anniversary - The most important thing to remember about the drowning of New Orleans is that it wasn't a natural disaster. It was a man-made disaster, created by lousy engineering, misplaced priorities and pork-barrel politics...
July 18, 2006 - SOWL Membership Form; Re: Opposition to the Morganza-to-the-Gulf project and its component Houma Navigation Canal lock - SOWL's goal is simple: TO ACHIEVE THE MOST EFFECTIVE PROTECTION FOR TERREBONNE/LAFOURCHE, protecting our communities, protecting our prosperity and protecting our unique culture...
July 12, 2006 - Letter From SOWL Member Critical of the Proposed Morganza Leaky Levee and Calling for the Closure of the Houma Navigational Canal - I cannot support the Morganza project because it applies failed technology (levees) with untested variations (hydrology gates) which have never been shown to produce any other result than destruction of the estuarial ecology. In this case, especially, the stakes are too high...
November 2006 - Defeat the November 2006 Tax Referendum That Would Have Funded the Houma Navigational Canal Lock - TEN Reasons to vote AGAINST the 1% sales tax referendum: It is an insidious TRICK on the public to JOIN the drainage/tidal levee improvements with the HNC Lock construction... only your locally oiled-up politicians can get a $200M HNC Lock paid for TWICE (once on your dime, another as a feature of Morganza in the WRDA awaiting authorization)...
July 10, 2006 - Letter Against the Morganza Leaky Levee/Houma Navigational Canal Sent in During CPRA Public Commentary Period - In Terrebonne the wheels of a broad-based economy are not spinning. After one hundred and fifty years, the economy has de-volved, not e-volved, and the sins of the past are visited upon the current generation in folds...
Dec. 17, 2006 - Comments on Preliminary Draft of the Comprehensive Coastal Protection Master Plan for Louisiana - Overall, the Draft Plan is an advance over previous planning efforts towards an integration of coastal protection and restoration. Looking backwards, that is the good news. Looking forward, as we must, the Plan falls short. It’s primary difficulties are in its assumptions, its science, and its failure to provide for the management of the landscape as a whole...
July 6, 2007 - Conclusions: WRDA Component Morganza-To-The-Gulf, and the Houma Navigational Canal (HNC) - A message to the good people of Houma Terrebonne Lafourche Parishes. Here are SOWL's conclusions on the Morganza to Gulf of Mexico "Leaky Levee" proposal supported by Corps, State of Louisiana, politicians, oil companies and Terrebonne Lafourche Levee Districts...
July 5, 2007 - HURRICANE ON BAYOU HOUMA
June 28, 2007 - The Coming Biofuels Disaster - Have you ever tried to solve a problem only to discover that you made things worse in the process? This is happening right now with biofuels. We are on the road to disaster because the problem we are trying to solve has been framed inadequately. Harmful impacts from large-scale biofuel production are largely overlooked. And we aren't even addressing the right problem! The truth can be seen when we frame issues in the context of livability...
June 26, 2007 - Mary Landrieu Big Oil Favorite - Votes Against Clean Energy Initative - A liberal government watchdog group dubbed Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., one of "Big oil's favorite senators" last week. The Center for American Progress singled out senators who voted against a motion to take up a tax-relief package that promoted clean energy...
Tulane Environmental Law Journal: Can We Save New Orleans? - On Sunday, November 20, 2005, the television program “60 Minutes” aired a piece on New Orleans in which a geology professor from St. Louis predicted the unthinkable: that at current rates of subsidence and land loss, the city had about 80 years to live...

June 10, 2005 - Mr. Bill Pulls Out of Wetlands Campaign - "Saturday Night Live" icon Mr. Bill is saying a resounding "Nooooo!" to further appearances in a public awareness campaign aimed at saving Louisiana's coast...
June 29, 2007 - Fontana Leaks on the Levees - "What we're feeling is that the state coastal protection and restoration authority set up by the governor after Katrina is completely weighed in favor of this Morganza 'leaky' levee proposal that the scientists are telling us isn't going to work," said Fontana. "It's going to destroy marshlands that act as a hurricane buffer...
June 28, 2007 - Floodgates Weren't the Answer - Recent computer modeling done by LSU showed that the old barrier plan was not the answer for New Orleans. (That plan would have consisted of floodgates, two in the east side of the Lake Pontchartrain and the third at the Industrial Canal near the Seabrook Bridge)...
June 21, 2007 - Editorial: Insist on striking a better deal with oil industry - If repealing the state's personal and corporate income tax and giving back to Louisiana taxpayers $3.1 billion is a "scheme," then I am for it. If calling for Louisiana to update our 86-year-old approach to taxing oil and gas to gain some revenue from foreign oil imports is a "scheme," I am for it...
June 16, 2007 - SOWL Responds to "Overzealous coastal protection cost us dearly" - On June 16, 2007 Deborah Settoon wrote a letter to New Orleans Times Picayune full of half truths and misinformation, blaming SOWL for flooding New Orleans by enjoining the Corps' Chef Menteur Barriers in 1976. She also made a personal threat against SOWL...
June 9, 2007 - Morganza: Salvation or 'Scam'? - Once again, criticism is mounting against the Morganza-to-the-Gulf hurricane-protection system, adding confusion to an already emotional subject. The latest criticism comes from a Metairie-based environmental group, whose threatened lawsuit, its attorney says, was inspired by a letter 16 scientists sent in March to Gov. Kathleen Blanco. The scientists claim Morganza's so-called 'leaky levees' interspersed with floodgates that will remain open, allowing water to flow naturally, until a hurricane threatens won't provide the protection promised and will destroy thousands of acres of marshlands in the process...
May 15, 2007 - SOWL Responds to Nation Exploited Our Coast; Now It's the Nation's Job to Fix It - The nation as a whole gets nearly all the benefits of engineering the river. Louisiana and some of coastal Mississippi get 100 percent of the costs. Eastern New Orleans (including the lower Ninth Ward) and St. Bernard Parish -- nearly all of which, incidentally, is at or above sea level -- exemplify this allocation of costs and benefits...
March 6, 2007 - LAYING THE GROUNDWORK - The Atchafalaya River flows freely through the middle of Cajun country to the Gulf, depositing life-sustaining sediment into the interior marshlands along its path and the shallow bays at its mouth, creating a rich new delta. Success stories like the Atchafalaya River Basin hold the promise of restoring lost wetlands...
March 5, 2007 - LOSING GROUND - Since 1989, Louisiana has spent $600 million to stabilize 95 square miles of vanishing coastline barely making a dent in the 2,000 sq. miles lost in the past 70 years. Voters approved a constitutional amendment that set aside oil revenue to rebuild wetlands, and the Legislature reconfigured state agencies for the task...
March 4, 2007 - LAST CHANCE: The Fight to Save a Disappearing Coast - The new time frame for when the Gulf could reach New Orleans' suburbs sharply reduces projections that have stood for more than three decades. Unless the state rapidly reverses the land loss, coastal scientists say, by the middle of the next decade the cost of repair likely will be too daunting for Congress to accept - and take far too long to implement under the current approval process...
March 4, 2007 - Interactive Graphic: The Rise and Disappearance of Southeast Louisiana

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