Daily Archives: August 29, 2010

Sunday marks the five year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the levee breach that left the great American city of New Orleans clinging to life preservers.

As a result of Hurricane Katrina, and the government’s failed response in 2005, an estimated 2,000 people died, and hundreds of thousands were displaced. A hundred thirty thousand acres of wetlands were washed into open water within a twenty four hour period. A natural disaster was turned into an unnatural catastrophe as a result of poor decision making, from inadequate levees and flood control to slow and insufficient emergency response to long term polices that have eroded the wetlands that are the first natural line of defense from hurricanes.

Unfortunately many of these poor decisions continue to be made. Uncapped carbon pollution is leading to global warming fueled mega-storms. Louisiana still loses an area of coastal wetlands the size of 32 football fields every day. Gulf residents continue to have high unemployment and, for many, employment options are limited to the natural resource extraction that is causing many of the ecological problems.

Five years later we have collectively failed in our national obligation to restore and rebuild the Gulf Coast as well as ensure that Katrina survivors have the right to return.

Now, the BP oil spill on April 20th of this year killed eleven workers, and has crippled local economies in the Gulf Coast. It has further destroyed critical wetlands, severely hurt sea turtle and pelican populations, and put the public at risk for health problems of which we do not yet know the implications.

It’s time to make better decisions. We need restoration on both sides of the levee to fully recover. Restoring the coastal wetlands that protect our communities from storm surge is key to a resilient, sustainable New Orleans. Creating green jobs restoring our resources, not degrading them, will be critical to the long term economic prosperity of the Gulf Coast. We need the Senate’s support — and with oil in our marshes, now more than ever — to restore our coast and protect New Orleans — an American treasure.

The U.S. Senate should pass comprehensive energy and oil spill legislation that will reduce carbon pollution that leads to more powerful storms and provide a dedicated fund for the restoration of America’s imperiled wetlands.