Published: May 17, 2023
By: Claire Sullivan, LSU Manship School News Service
Louisiana’s most recent plan to restore and protect its coast at a cost of $50 billion advanced Wednesday through the House Committee on Natural Resources and Environment.
The coastal master plan is updated by the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority every six years, as required by state law. It lays out the 50-year future for Louisiana’s coast in terms of coastal land loss and flood risk–with and without its implementation.
The plan represents a vital need in a state that has lost more than 2,000 square miles of land, an area the size of Delaware, since the 1930s, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Louisiana’s problems are exacerbated by devastating hurricanes and rising seas from climate change.
Though the coastal plan rests on the latest science and engineering, it also emerges from a highly public process. The coastal authority received more than 200 public comments and held close to 100 public meetings in South Louisiana about the plan, the coastal protection board’s chairman, Kyle R. “Chip” Kline Jr., said.
Read more at Louisiana Illuminator
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