Future of massive coastal project for Louisiana in question | Environment

It has been described for years as the linchpin of Louisiana’s ambitious plans to address its worsening land loss crisis, but its future is now in question.

The Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion, an unprecedented $3 billion project to funnel Mississippi River water and sediment into the Barataria Basin to rebuild wetlands, has long been controversial. But a series of decisions since Gov. Jeff Landry took office may leave the state with limited options –- and the potential that it will have to pay back more than $500 million in funds it has already spent.

For commercial fishers and their allies in the area where the diversion would be built, its cancelation or downsizing would be a victory both for them and the state. But for a wide range of scientists and coastal advocates, it would amount to a travesty and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity squandered.

Federal officials involved in approving the project, which is being paid for with funds linked to the 2010 BP oil spill, have begun to express their impatience. They warned the Landry administration in a letter this month that it must return the funds to build it if it does not follow through with the work as initially planned.

The Landry administration has been publicly silent, citing an ongoing lawsuit against the state by Plaquemines Parish opposing the diversion and related negotiations. But the state’s change in approach to the project, which broke ground in August 2023 after years of scientific analysis, public hearings and debate, has set off intense speculation over where it will lead.

Hanging over the discussions is the likelihood that any change will trigger delays and cost increases, and there are no guarantees that an alternative plan would be approved by trustees overseeing the BP funds. Previous studies have dismissed diversions below a certain size at that location as unworkable, and contractors selected to carry out the massive Mid-Barataria project could sue if it is abandoned.

The delays benefit diversion opponents since costs continue to rise, raising questions over whether its budget will eventually reach a breaking point. For those who have long fought for the project, it’s time to act.

“After guiding for 47 years on the west side of the Mississippi River and watching what happens without a diversion, it’s all I need to know. Everything is gone,” Ryan Lambert, whose Cajun Fishing Adventures charter service is based in Buras, said of land loss and the reasons he believes the diversion is needed.

“The oak trees are dying on the ridges, and the next thing that goes is the cypress trees, because everything’s underwater, and salt water is intruding and killing everything. And that’s our line of defense for storm surge.”

George Ricks, a fishing guide and former head of the Save Louisiana Coalition opposing the project, said “we warned them all along.”

The project’s environmental analysis “said exactly what we had said all along about the permanent damage to the oyster industry, the permanent damage to the brown shrimp industry,” Ricks said. “They didn’t listen.”

Years of study

How the state arrived here is a tale as complicated as the science undergirding the project. Sediment diversions have been discussed for decades as a tool to help address the land loss devastating the coast, based on the idea that they work with nature to mimic the processes that formed south Louisiana in the first place.

Fines and settlements related to the 2010 BP oil spill enabled the possibility of a large-scale diversion at no cost to Louisiana. Formal study and planning for Mid-Barataria in its current form lasted around six years, culminating with the approval of the Army Corps of Engineers and trustees.

The federal trustees, in their Oct. 18 letter to the state, said “no other single restoration project has been planned and studied as extensively over the past decades as the Louisiana-proposed MBSD project.”

The project would funnel up to 75,000 cubic feet per second of water and sediment from the river into the basin, with the flow adjusted seasonally depending on river levels. The channel would be built around the town of Ironton on the west bank of Plaquemines Parish.

It is projected to build 21 square miles of land over 50 years. Those involved in planning the project say it is likely to continue to be effective beyond that timeframe.

It has never been done on such a scale to rebuild land. While many scientists support it, some argue the risks are too great and the costs too high.

The plan sets aside $378 million to assist those impacted, including commercial fishers and homeowners outside the levee system that will see higher water levels. But despite that assistance, shrimp and oyster fishers in the basin, along with the politicians representing them, have remained vehemently opposed. Fresh water funneled into the basin will badly harm oysters and brown shrimp in the area.

It is not a small concern. Shrimp catch in the project area has accounted for about a third of the state’s total, though that includes white shrimp, which are not expected to see major impacts, according to the Corps. Oysters from the area have added up to around 42% of Louisiana’s total oyster value, Corps data shows. 

A separate concern has involved bottlenose dolphins in the project area, which are expected to be killed by the freshwater.

Project proponents are quick to point out the historical context, however. The brown shrimp, oysters and dolphins are abundant in the area due to land loss and accompanying saltwater intrusion that have allowed them to move farther inland – problems the project is seeking to address.

Plaquemines has been seeking a smaller diversion, though that, too, poses complications.

Previous studies have found that a diversion at or below 45,000 cfs at that location would not be worth the money, the Corps notes. The Corps also concludes in its environmental analysis of the project that a diversion of 50,000 cfs would cause similar harm to fisheries while producing less land.

The state, under former Gov. John Bel Edwards, had concluded it did not need a construction permit from Plaquemines for such a project. That was based in part on the state owning the land and its role in carrying out vital coastal restoration work on behalf of all of Louisiana.

The Landry administration has appeared to back away from that stance and has instead been negotiating with Plaquemines, with the project now in limbo for months. Limited work has occurred, such as site clearing.

A Landry spokesperson declined to comment. But the Landry appointee chairing the state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, Gordon Dove, has been seeking to reassure legislators and others.

He has defended the delay, saying Plaquemines’ concerns cannot simply be dismissed and commercial fishers could sue over the damage. He also spoke of other projects being pursued, including those involving land rebuilding through dredging. Those projects tend to have around a 20-year lifespan since they erode like the rest of the coast.

At a state Senate committee hearing this month, Dove expressed confidence that the state would not have to repay the $519 million already spent –- drawing skeptical responses from legislators. He was also asked if politics was playing a role in the delay, which Dove said was not the case.

Sen. Patrick McMath, R-Covington, said he had a “sneaking suspicion” over what would happen if the delay continued.

“One, we’re going to continue to lose land, and the people of southeast Louisiana are going to be more and more and more vulnerable to hurricanes and flooding,” he said at the hearing. “And two, we’re going to owe the federal government a boatload of money and have nothing to show for it, which would be an absolute disaster for the people of south Louisiana.”

Dove faulted the previous administration’s approach and said, regardless of Mid-Barataria’s future, the state would move ahead with land building.

“We won’t be sitting here with building nothing,” he said. “We are going to do these other projects.”