SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA) – Louisianans may see some changes to the state’s coastline in the coming years, as a nearly $3 billion change was passed by voters Tuesday (Nov. 5).
KSLA spoke with the senior policy director at Healthy Gulf to find out how this addition affects North Louisiana.
“Coastal restoration is important. Again, 75% of voters said “yes” to this amendment, which is really, really big. It’s a landslide, no pun intended, victory right there, said Matt Rota, senior policy director for Health Gulf.
Only one constitutional amendment appeared on the Nov. 5 ballot in Louisiana, which stated that some federal funds would be allocated to coastal conservation.
State lawmakers also have more time to approve the budget.
“Louisiana’s master plan was originally $50 million, but it’s probably starting to approach $1 billion right now, and just as we’ve paid too much of that cost, the restoration has done a lot and tried to restore our coast and protect our communities, but it is primarily from BP fines and revenue from the lawsuits against BP,” Rota explained.
Right now, coastal restoration is mostly funded by fines due to lawsuits from thousands of gallons of oil spilled in the Gulf of Mexico by British Petroleum (BP) back in 2010. But according to Rota, those funds are expected to run out within the next decade.
“Louisiana is losing, depending on what estimates say, a football field of wetlands every hour or so, and it’s a coastal crisis. These wetlands are not only our habitat for fish, for shrimp, for these things that we fish for, for what we love to eat. It’s also our first line of defense against hurricanes. We’ve seen another hurricane come into the Gulf right now,” Rota said.
The $3 billion plan has many projects already underway. – There are many projects underway right now. One thing that’s going on is probably the biggest piece of restoration going on right now is the planning and construction of the mid-sediment diversion, Rota said.
(Read more about the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion project here)
So how is northern Louisiana affected by the coastal crisis?
“And coastal restoration is important for protection and for environmental protection, but also for our culture or the way we do things. If you’d like to go to a crawfish boil, a shrimp boil and crab boil, we have to protect them unless we’re going to get that shellfish from other places,” Rota said.
The Southeastern Wind Coalition also reacted to the passage of the amendment, saying:
“Louisiana voters showed they overwhelmingly support restoring our coastline and using revenues from alternative offshore energy projects to do so. Louisiana is now poised to take advantage of new energy resources like offshore wind while protecting the long-term health of our coast,” said Louisiana Senior Program Manager Jenny Netherton. “The Southeastern Wind Coalition is eager to continue working with elected officials to advance innovative solutions that support both offshore wind development and community and environmental resilience.”
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