Three Open Letters to the U.S. Senate, RE: Senator Mary Landrieu’s Coastal Aid Bill

RE: Senator Mary Landrieu’s Coastal Aid Bill

Dear Senators:

Please be advised this letter is from SOWL comprised of over 1,200 members, who, since 1974, has been filing lawsuits documenting the destruction of Louisiana’s coastal zone. First and foremost, SOWL repeats her assertions that Mary Landrieu is no friend of Louisiana wetlands or our United States coastal zones. (See April 12, 2000 and June 24, 1999 letters attached.)

Now in May of 2005, Senator Mary Landrieu wants billions of dollars to restore Louisiana’s rapidly disappearing coastal zones. In the meantime, she votes to destroy our Artic National Wildlife Refuge Center and push for destructive oil, gas, and nuclear options. Senator Mary Landrieu is nothing but a cheap mouthpiece for her oil-gas-nuclear corporate backers. Senator Mary Landrieu wants to expand nuclear power plants, but limit the nuclear industry’s liability in case of an accident.

Senators, it is time for a reality check! WAKE UP! Remember Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, the nuclear accident that almost destroyed Detroit and the nuclear accident that completely devastated large sections of Russia during the 1960’s. Ask the Atomic Veterans used as guinea pigs by the Atomic Energy Commission, marched into nuclear atomic bomb explosions in the Neveda desert. Ask now the Gulf War-Iraq-Afghanistan veterans returning home with radioactive-nuclear industry Depleted Uranium inside their bones.

Remember the reality there is no way to safely dispose of nuclear waste! In the meantime, two more nuclear plants are proposed for Louisiana and Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans now is proposing a new airport in the Bonnet Carre Spillway, adjacent to the Waterford Nuclear Power Plant. What Insanity!! The only thing the nuclear power industry has going for it is a corporate controlled media and nuclear puppets/mouthpieces like Senator Mary Landrieu and Senator Pete Domeneici.

Do you really want to give Louisiana vast sums of monies to restore her coastal zone? In the meantime, the Louisiana legislature appropriates $11 million to destroy 246 wetland acres in Westwego, Louisiana to construct a private Tournament Player’s Golf Club. The Louisiana State Legislature then appropriates another $1 million to subsidize this golf course when the rounds of golf players become minimal.

Every permit requested by WalMart, Home Depot, Target and for countless apartments, housing developments etc. ad nauseam are issued by the St. Tammany Parish Council to destroy wetlands. Thousands of acres of wetlands are being permitted for destruction by Louisiana agencies in hurricane flood prone areas like the Eden Isle-Oak Harbor Subdivision on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain. These are the same politicians now demanding billions of dollars in coastal restoration.

In the meantime, Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans other proposed airport site is to destroy Lake Pontchartrain by filling it in for a Hong Kong-Japanese type island airport, adjacent to the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge Center.

Senator Mary Landrieu wants to expand more oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and in our coastal zones. In the meantime, the planet heats up from fossil fuel burning and Shell Oil Company wants to build LNG Closed Loop Plants in the Gulf of Mexico backed by the fast track Bush Boys set to destroy our Gulf of Mexico fishing industry.

In the meantime, Senator Mary Landrieu votes and rubber stamps the Bush/Cheney Halliburton Rumsfeld neo con oil wars.

In the meantime more and more documented evidence is surfacing that the Cheney Rumsfeld neo cons not only had prior knowledge of 9-11 but actually instigated it to invade Afghanistan and Iraq (It’s called False Flag Oil Wars).

In the meantime, Louisiana loses over 30 square miles of her coastal zone a year. SOWL has documented that over 50% of this loss is caused by construction of thousands of oil company canals through Louisiana wetlands. You Senators should be sponsoring a bill to force the oil companies to compensate Louisiana for the billions of dollars of erosion caused by the oil company canals. Oil-gas-nuclear is a dead end. You Senators should be pushing to make Louisiana and the U.S.A. a sunshine-solar-alternate energy state rather than a nuclear-oil-gas toxic radioactive sludge pit so adored and worshipped and pushed by Senator Mary Landrieu.

Senator Mary Landrieu speaks out of both sides of her mouth. On one side she spouts about her big coastal wetland restoration bill to provide millions of dollars to restore the coastal zones of America. On the other side of her mouth, she's pushing for more oil and gas exploration and siding with the powerful oil and gas lobby to drill the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Center.

At no point is she pushing for alternative energy exploration and research beyond the traditional global warming industries pouring mucho dollars up and down her campaign political skirt.

Senator Landrieu’s denial of energy conservation, fuel cell technology, solar and wind energies is forcing this country to the same old economic chaos of mid east OPEC dependency and foreign wars and high gasoline prices.

In the meantime, the State of Louisiana and the United States Army Corps of Engineers is rubber-stamping permit after permit for any and all Louisiana developers to cement over our precious few remaining flood barrier wetlands.

Mary Landrieu has ignored SOWL’s request to her that there be Untied States Senate investigation of the Corps’ history of destroying Louisiana wetlands, and the consequent flood potential now existing to Orleans, St. Tammany and St. Bernard Parish. And finally, there be a consideration of revamping over laws to transfer permitting authority over wetlands from the Corps and the States to EPA and the U. S. Fish and wildlife Service.

Senator Landrieu wants to provide hundreds of millions of dollars to Louisiana politicians to restore the Louisiana Coastal Zone? These are the same Louisiana politicians who have recently appropriated $11 million taxpayer’s dollars to destroy 246 acres of wetlands in Westwego, Louisiana to build a golf course.

These are the same Louisiana politicians passing legislation after legislation to dismantle Louisiana environmental laws to permit Louisiana agencies to rubber stamp permit after permit for any and all developers to build over our few remaining wetlands that have not been eroded from the thousands upon thousands of oil company canals constructed in this state.

The best description of Mary Landrieu? “She’s a Bennett Johnson in a skirt”.

To all the people who love the precious natural resources of our country and want an immediate change to a new millennium economic base of clean alternative energies, Mary Landrieu is not to be trusted or believed. Her coastal restoration bill is tied into oil and gas drilling in our Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Center. Same old F. Edward Hebert-Bennett Johnson-1900 Louisiana Oil and Gas Politics.

Senator Barbara Boxer
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Rep. George Miller
United States Congress
Washington DC 20515

Dear Senator Boxer and Congressman Miller:

SOWL is opposed to the Senator Landrieu-Billy Tauzin bill and support the Permanent Protection for America Resources 2000 Act. The Landrieu bill encourages increased drilling activities by tying the state’s shares to production without enough safeguards to ensure the money is spent wisely. Oil company canals are a major reason for the loss of Louisiana wetlands. No drilling should be encouraged.

Louisiana has lost about 1,500 square miles of coast line since 1950, an area the size of Rhode island. Much of the blame can be placed on the United State Army Corps of engineers. For example, the Corps’ construction of the Mississippi River Gulf outlet has destroyed over 5,000 acres of wetlands that were a natural hurricane barrier. This Corps’ MRGO is pouring massive Gulf of Mexico salt water into our rapidly eroding wetland hurricane tidal barriers. St. Bernard, Plaquemines and Orleans Parishes are now sitting ducks for major flooding thanks to the Corps.

The Corps’ permitting procedure to protect Louisiana wetlands have been a dismal failure--if not an utter joke!! The Corps with Louisiana state officials has joined hands in rubber stamping an “OK” for every wetland development permit placed before their bureaucratic fingers. For example. The Corps and State Officials have rubber stamped thousands upon thousands of oil company canals to be dredged through Louisiana wetlands, causing salt water intrusion and another major cause for disappearances of Louisiana wetlands.

SOWL has well documented the evils, if not malfeasance, and possibly criminal acts by Corps and state officials in permitting the destruction of 5,200 acres of vast coastal estuary of the North shores of Lake Pontchartrain, Slidell, Louisiana. Please see the attached letter from Arthur Lemann, IV, Esq., to Lt. Gov. Joe Ballard dated March 26, 1998. An now thanks to the Corps and Louisiana state agencies recklessly rubber stamping wetland destruction permits to land developers in St. Tammany Parish, Urban sprawl spreads over once vast north shore coastal estuaries inviting major flooding – disasters to human lives, property values and to our federal flood insurance programs.

SOWL requests the introduction of a resolution in the United States Senate to investigate the Corps and the State of Louisiana rubber stamping wetland destruction permits. Hopefully, the United States Senate will pass new wetland protection legislation removing the corps and the State of Louisiana from their permitting power authority in wetland coastal matters. This authority should be governed by the EPA, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Do you really think it wise to grant $347 million envisioned in Landrieu’s Reinvestment Act of Louisiana State Officials? Gov. Foster’s legislature just authorized $11 million to build a golf course over 250 acres of wetlands in Westwego, Louisiana. What madness is this? How destructive to wetlands can you get? See the Clydia Davenport letter attached.

Finally, any wetland proposal attached to Billy Tauzin’s name should be subject to suspicion. Billy Tauzin is an enemy of wetland protection and preservation. Billy Tauzin's push to gut the Clean Water Act in the United States Congress speaks loud and clear. See SOWL’s letter of April 10, 1996 to president Clinton attached.

The Landrieu-Tauzin Bill should be rejected in favor of Senator Boxer’s and Rep. Miller’s Bill.