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Issue Position: Coastal Erosion

Issue Position

Date: Jan. 1, 2016
Issues: Business and Consumers Environment

Louisiana's coast is eroding… but not because of oil companies. Throughout history, the Louisiana marshland was replenished by river sediments -- land-building deposits derived from the Mississippi River overflowing its banks. But in the early 1900s, a decision was made to levee the river as we know it today. So for the last 80 or 90 years, south Louisiana has been lacking that natural re-building process. Couple that with the land building sediments that are trapped behind locks and dams in other states, and you have the results we see today. Since 1850 the amount of sediment in the lower Mississippi River has decreased by more than 70 percent. This is a huge problem. And we need to find a proactive solution to fix it. Seems to me like we could create a sophisticated pipe system that carried river silt and sludge from the northern parts of the river to the Louisiana coast, mimicking the natural replenishing process. In Congress, I will advocate for such a solution.


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