Latest news with #Mid-BaratariaSedimentDiversion
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Louisiana's oyster industry is at risk. A new harvesting technique is pitched as a solution.
Kirk Curole, owner of Bayside Oysters in Grand Isle, shakes the algae off his floating oyster cages. (Elise Plunk/Louisiana Illuminator) GRAND ISLE – Not all jewels have the deep green features of emeralds or sparkle of diamonds. Some tumble from algae-coated cages in a rush of rock and shell, briny water splashing alongside them onto the deck of a boat. These fine commodities are oysters, grown and harvested just off Louisiana's coastline in a different way than the traditional seafloor beds that have been farmed for generations. Cultivated in a string of floating cages instead of on the water's bottom, Grand Isle Jewels, the umbrella brand for all off-bottom oysters in the barrier island community, are marketed as precious gems of the Gulf Coast. 'You create this craze for a certain item, and everybody's jumping on it,' said Kirk Curole, owner of Bayside Oysters in Grand Isle. After retiring from a career in oil and gas, Curole began harvesting off-bottom oysters as a hobby that turned into a small business. He now spends his days on the water, clad in rubber waders and toughened gloves as he pulls his crop from the floating cages. 'It's the 'bougie' oyster. It's the boutique oyster,' he said. 'Everybody wants to try it.' Louisiana is exploring Grand Isle Jewels as more than just a marketing strategy. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lists the state's strong interest in off-bottom oyster cultivation as a way to help build resiliency into an industry under threat from sediment diversions in its final environmental impact statement for the controversial Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion project. Whether this technique can beat back worsening hurricanes, climate change and the impact of sediment diversions is still undetermined. Curole, owner of Bayside Oysters in Grand Isle, describes his day running a small off-bottom oyster business in Grand Isle, Louisiana. (Elise Plunk/Louisiana Illuminator) Curole waits for his oysters to pass through his homemade, solar-powered washing machine. (Elise Plunk/Louisiana Illuminator) The mobility of off-bottom, floating cages can, in theory, be helpful during storm prep and in response to low salinity events. (Elise Plunk/Louisiana Illuminator) Curole bags oysters to sell in Grand Isle. (Elise Plunk/Louisiana Illuminator) Crabs, snails and other sea creatures can hide in off-bottom oyster cages. (Elise Plunk/Louisiana Illuminator) Curole swings over the side of his boat in waders to get to his floating oyster cages. (Elise Plunk/Louisiana Illuminator) Curole has a transportable cooler for keeping oysters chilled. (Elise Plunk/Louisiana Illuminator) On-bottom culture, where oysters attach to reefs or substrate on the water's bottom, is and has been the most popular method of oyster harvesting in Louisiana's waters, fed for centuries by the wealth of nutrients carried down the Mississippi River and into the delta region. 'Oysters here are probably in the best location in this regard because they show very high growth,' said Romain Lavaud, an oyster scientist and researcher at LSU. 'They can be harvested within a year, whereas in other parts of their distribution range it can take two to three years.' But Louisiana's environment can also be an oyster harvester's worst enemy. Hurricanes inflict huge damage to oyster reefs, and heavy rains can dilute the salt content of the water, killing oyster crops. 'You're kind of, like in any agriculture production, at the mercy of environmental conditions,' Lauvaud said. Farming oysters has always been a gamble, said Peter Vujnovich, a third-generation on-bottom harvester based in Port Sulphur. Oyster farmers can lose big after a storm, he said. 'Mostly you try to protect your house, your boats and the equipment and stuff like that, and the rest is really up to God,' Vujnovich said. 'Make the sign of the cross, just hope you don't get a direct hit.' Port Sulphur saw large losses to its oyster reefs in 2005 from Hurricane Katrina, which eliminated seeding ground for traditional farmers. Then, there are sediment diversions, a coastal restoration approach that mimics the natural process of building a delta with silty water from the Mississippi River. There are multiple planned diversions in Louisiana's Coastal Master Plan to rebuild wetlands that have been diminished through hurricanes, natural subsidence and countless man-made canals. The Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion project is one of the more controversial ones because of its likelihood of 'major, permanent, adverse impacts' to oyster populations, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers environmental impact statement. It would alter or eliminate vast swaths of habitat in the Barataria basin, with the goal of returning the area to what it looked like before the effects of sea level rise, erosion and subsidence changed it. But on-bottom harvesters need reefs, and diversions would likely permanently eliminate vast swaths of oyster habitat. The Corps of Engineers' study for the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion suggests the most productive oyster grounds in its basin, Hackberry Bay, 'would experience the highest losses,' potentially experiencing 'total loss' of habitat. Gov. Jeff Landry has called for a pause on the nearly $3 billion project, citing in part its impact on the oyster industry. The Corps of Engineers has identified off-bottom oyster cultivation as a potential way for the industry to adapt to the threat of sediment diversions. The federal agency has oversight of all coastal restoration projects and acts as a gatekeeper for what's proposed in Louisiana's Coastal Master Plan. Off-bottom farming could 'help diversify the oyster industry and add a level of sustainability as the industry adjusts to a changing coast,' specifically in response to the diversion's impact on salinity, the corps study said. Off-bottom culture can help with protection against predators and offer a way to harvest in areas without abundant reefs, left stripped after storms. But the key advantage the Army Corps and the state's Coastal Restoration and Protection Authority cites centers around mobility. Floating cages could, in theory, be moved in response to a low salinity event such as the opening of a diversion. But harvesters need permission from regulators to store their gear and oysters in different bodies of water from where they're harvested, and that can take up to 18 months to obtain. Also, the Louisiana Department of Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not allow oysters to be out of the water for more than 24 hours. Mobility could also help mitigate hurricane damage even if the oysters have to be jettisoned so the cages could be moved on shore temporarily during a storm. Curole said even if he loses his crop, it's worth it to save his expensive equipment and harvest off-bottom again after the storm. 'If a storm is coming, I'm just going to go pick up my equipment, even if I have to dump my oysters out,' he said. 'I can oyster next year, or I can oyster in two or three months.' This works for Curole, whose trailer can haul up to 350 oyster cages, but his business is relatively small. At the scale industry would need, there might not be enough time to relocate all the cages they would use, and the loss could spell doom for a business' bottom line. 'It has not been demonstrated that gear can be sunk and retrieved cost-effectively or relocated in time to avoid damage and loss of both gear and crop,' Daniel Petrolia, a University of Mississippi agro-ecomomics professor, wrote in a 2023 report on the economic challenges to off-bottom harvesting in Louisiana. Time is in short supply as hurricanes approach, especially with storms developing and intensifying more rapidly in recent years. Off-bottom oyster operations are already expensive, according to the Petrolia report. He concludes the loss of harvesting gear to a storm could sink an off-bottom oyster harvester's livelihood indefinitely. Petrolia's report also found that the success of off-bottom oysters in Louisiana relies entirely on state subsidies. Louisiana began to offer grants for off-bottom harvesters in 2022, starting with $3 million to address the high startup costs 'Although the … grant program can indeed provide a hand up to existing growers, it does distort market signals and may give the impression that economic conditions are better than they actually are,' the report reads. 'The eventual disappearance of the [subsidy] program will likely have consequences.' The report also doesn't expect 'the average small-scale operation' to be profitable, even with funding support from the state. Curole did not receive a grant from the state and said his business is currently profitable, but he represents a smaller set of growers that operate more for supplemental income. True profitability becomes more possible, according to the report, with larger businesses. Off-bottom cultivation was never pitched as a silver bullet solution for the oyster industry's future. Louisiana SeaGrant, a federal government-LSU partnership, is responsible for the majority of the off-bottom funding and hatchery support. It paid for Petrolia's report and stands by the idea that off-bottom culture is meant to supplement rather than replace traditional techniques. Different off-bottom initiatives continue to support the oyster industry, such as the expansion of hatchery operations that farmers rely on for seed. Further research, such as how to sink and secure cages during hurricanes, and grant money to support it are also needed. To harvesters like Vujnovich, the survival of the industry doesn't hinge on a choice between off-bottom or on-bottom cultivation. It's whether or not these tools will help his industry stand on its own again. 'They'll always have a few hardcore like me,' he said. 'The question is not if it'll survive; it's if it'll flourish again.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Proponents of Mid-Barataria diversion warn against abandoning wetlands
Advocates and supporters of the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion project rallied on the Capitol steps in support of the stalled coastal restoration plan. (Elise Plunk/Louisiana Illuminator) Supporters of the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion project took to the State Capitol steps Monday afternoon, urging state leaders to advance the stalled coastal restoration project. The Mid-Barataria project, part of the Louisiana Coastal Master Plan to rebuild wetlands with diverted sediment and water from the Mississippi River, is often hailed as the cornerstone project in Louisiana's fight to rebuild its rapidly sinking coastline. Gov. Jeff Landry has railed against the plan's high cost and impact to fisheries, blaming a key Army Corps construction permitting loss on former Gov. John Be Edwards. The pause has prompted increasing uncertainty as to whether the massive coastal restoration plan will continue as originally designed. Advocates of the project worry any alternate plans will mean further delays or – worse yet – inactivity that could spell doom for Louisiana's coast. 'Now is the time for courage and action,' Simone Maloz, campaign director of Restore the Mississippi River Delta, said during a news conference in concert with the Capitol demonstration. Supporters held aloft signs with phrases promoting sediment diversions printed boldly across pictures of Louisiana's coast as speakers took turns at the lectern to speak about the uncertain project. 'Honor the legacy of our coastal program and recommit to the bold vision our coast demands, including resuming construction on the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion,' Maloz added. 'The river built the land, now we must let it help us heal it,' the Rev. Ernest Dison Sr., pastor at a church in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, said during the rally. His neighborhood went underwater in 2005 when storm surge from Hurricane Katrina exposed design flaws in floodwalls along the Industrial Canal and Mississippi River Gulf Outlet. Decades of wetlands diminishment allowed the storm surge to reach the city largely unabated. Dison said his faith and environmental stewardship are closely entwined, and the risk storms pose to his community convinced him to speak out in support of the coastal master plan. 'We need to protect our communities,' he said. 'This Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion project gives us hope. We can't afford to waste that opportunity to be good stewards of what we've been given.' Money problems The Coastal Restoration and Protection Authority and Louisiana Senate has approved more than $500 million for Mid-Barataria construction to begin despite its status being in limbo. Opponents of the large-scale diversion, including those with fisheries interests, have floated the idea of using the money to build smaller sediment diversions. But whether funding can be redistributed that seamlessly is a question with no outright answer. Louisiana's money for coastal restoration comes largely from a trust created with BP oil spill settlement dollars. A cohort of federal agencies, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, Environmental Protection Agency and Department of the Interior, oversee the funds Maloz said in an interview she is concerned an alternate plan might not get the same financial approval Mid-Barataria did from the trust overseers. '[The Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion is] very tied to the damage that happened … that money is intended to mitigate and fix that problem,' she said. 'That's a huge question that is looming on the alternatives … is that the right project to mitigate for those injuries, for that natural resource damage that occurred from the oil spill? Smaller scale diversions Diversion advocates and scientists maintain smaller diversions aren't as effective at rebuilding wetlands, still sending fresh water into Barataria Bay but with less benefit. Opponents fear the deluge of fresh water from the Mississippi River would alter the salt content of the brackish water, killing shrimp and oyster populations near shore and pushing other marine life away from the coast. Ehab Meselhe, a Tulane University professor and scientist who worked on hydrologic modeling for the Mid-Barataria plan, published a number of peer-reviewed studies modeling smaller Mississippi River diversions. They involved moving a fraction of the water Mid-Barataria currently proposes. His findings: Less water meant less wetland growth. 'It's not going to move as much sediment, build as much land,' Meselhe said, all while concerns over impacts to oysters and shrimp stick around. 'There is no doubt… you will have the impacts, and definitely a lot less benefit.' Even still, he emphasised the need to find a solution that involves and supports the people who live in the area. 'There is no silver bullet solution. Every time you touch the system, you will have benefits and you will have impacts,' Meselhe said. 'Some strategies are better than others … I think we need to sit at the table and see what are the palatable options that are out there, and these are the ones we need to pursue.' Anne Milling, founder of post-Katrina advocacy group Women of the Storm, said in an interview that mitigation dollars tied to Mid-Barataria gave the plan actionable ways to support fisheries. 'Yes, it's our culture of Louisiana, which I love and adore and respect,' Milling said. 'You've got to remember that $375 million was set aside in the Mid-Barataria Diversion project to compensate and help the communities relocate from any disturbance from this diversion.' 'We cannot afford to take solutions off the table,' Maloz said, voicing her organization's support for small-scale diversions in other areas while still standing in support of Mid-Barataria. 'There was a really extensive process that said, 'This is the solution that matches the loss in that basin. This is what it needs for that overall long term health,'' she added. Permit drama increases uncertainty Controversy over a pulled construction permit and a social media fight between Landry and his predecessor, Edwards, have heightened tensions and uncertainty over the Mid-Barataria Sediment Division even further. Landry delivered a harsh critique of Mid-Barataria last November, saying the threat it posed to the shrimp and oyster industry would 'break' Louisiana culture. His administration then issued a 90-day pause on all work related to the project on April 4, saying the high cost called for a smaller-scale diversion. The Army Corps recently revoked a permit for the nearly $3 billion project, citing unreported documents, project uncertainty and lack of support from the current governor's administration as reasons to reconsider. Landry accused Edwards of purposely hiding a 500-page study from Army Corps officials. Edwards countered Landry's claims, saying accusations of a cover-up are unfounded, and stressed that the report in question didn't change the science behind the Mid-Barataria plan, The Times-Picayune reported. Maloz said she believed the project had everything it needed for approval, wanting more answers from the Army Corps decision. 'We feel like we went through this really extensive process that had science, that had people, that had communities all in mind to get us to a decision on both the permit and the funding,' she said. 'And now it feels like we have been entirely cut out of that process.'
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Advocates for Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion to speak during Coastal Day at the Capitol
BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — Supporters of the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion (MBSD) are gathering at the Louisiana State Capitol on Monday, May 12. During Coastal Day at the Capitol, advocates will come together for a news conference at 3 p.m. to ask state leaders to proceed with the restoration project. Among the speakers who are scheduled to attend are Anne Milling, founder of Women of the Storm, Troy Dubois, Louisiana Ducks Unlimited State Chairman, Reverend Ernest Dison, Sr., senior pastor of New Orleans's St. Paul Church of God in Christ and Simone Maloz, campaign director of Restore the Mississippi River Delta. 'Speakers will underscore the urgent need to proceed and the irreversible harm that could result from stopping this multibillion-dollar investment in the state's future,' according to advocates with Restore the Mississippi River Delta. Louisiana First News will livestream the news conference in the video player above. A massive coastal restoration project is in peril amid claims Louisiana concealed a critical report 1 dead, another injured in Baton Rouge crash, police say Morris, the alligator in 'Happy Gilmore,' dies at over 80 years old A popular Chicago eatery is offering a Pope Leo-inspired sandwich. What's on it? Advocates for Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion to speak during Coastal Day at the Capitol LSU football announces home-and-home series with SMU Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Yahoo
Shooting suspect pleads not guilty in killing of Baton Rouge man
BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) – An 18-year-old accused of shooting and killing a man in Baton Rouge has pleaded not guilty. Jeremiah Howze, 18, pleaded not guilty to three charges, including second-degree murder, obstruction of justice, and handling a firearm/machine gun. Howze will remain in custody until Thursday, May 15, when the court will decide whether his bond should be revoked. Howze was indicted by a jury earlier this month. The victim, Kyle Earthly Jr., was shot and killed on Old Hammond Highway in December 2024 while giving Howze a ride. Family of murder victim Kyle Earthly Jr. speaks out ahead of suspect's hearing Advocates for Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion to speak during Coastal Day at the Capitol LSU football announces home-and-home series with SMU USDA halts live animal imports through US-Mexico border Did Siri snoop on you? How much of the $95M settlement you could receive Audit: $98.5M in Louisiana opioid settlement funds distributed to parishes, sheriffs Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
American Press
05-05-2025
- Politics
- American Press
A massive coastal restoration project is in peril amid claims Louisiana concealed a critical report
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards and First Lady Donna Edwards, left, welcomed Republican Gov.-elect Jeff Landry and his wife, Sharon, to the governor's mansion as part of the transition of power.(Photo from An ambitious project to restore a rapidly vanishing stretch of Louisiana coast that was devastated by the 2010 Gulf oil spill has been thrown deeper into disarray amid claims by Gov. Jeff Landry that his predecessor concealed an unfavorable study that it was feared could imperil the $3 billion effort. It's a controversy that was even predicted by the previous administration as it grappled with how to handle conflicting environmental analyses for the project, according to a confidential memo obtained by The Associated Press. The nine-page document, prepared by five attorneys working for then-Gov. John Bel Edwards' administration, sheds new light on a study Landry says was improperly withheld from the public and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as it was approving a permit for the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion. The stakes were so high the attorneys even weighed whether state officials could face federal charges for withholding from the Corps a report that the diversion would generate significantly less land than another modeling projection used in a federal review. Prosecution seemed 'extremely unlikely,' the lawyers wrote to the heads of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, which oversees the diversion project, but they added that 'the severe consequences and criminalization of the action warranted mention.' The attorneys also warned that the Corps might suspend or revoke the permit if it discovered the study after the fact, the 2022 memo shows, foreshadowing actions taken last month when the Corps cited 'deliberately withheld' information among its reasons for suspending its permit for the project. The move halts construction despite more than half a billion dollars already spent. 'They hid the bad stuff and only showed the (Corps) the version they liked,' Landry wrote in a post on X. 'Science is easy when you just delete the inconvenient parts!' Edwards denied his administration withheld information from the Corps and said 'Gov. Landry's accusations are demonstrably false.' 'When all the facts are presented, the public will see that his administration has played political games and botched this important project,' Edwards said in a statement to AP. Landry countered in his own statement that 'the facts speak for themselves.' Amid the finger-pointing, conservation proponents have called the report in question a red herring that Landry is using to tank the project. The diversion, funded mostly from a settlement arising from BP's 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, is the largest of its kind in Louisiana's history. Confidential memo warns of legal consequences The Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion would puncture levees in southeast Louisiana, diverting some of the river's sediment-rich flow to restore wetlands. The long-delayed project was intended to mitigate a disappearing coastline caused by a range of factors such as climate change-induced sea-level rise and the river's vast levee system. Ground was broken in 2023, but state and federal litigation has stalled it. Opponents have blasted its ballooning cost and crippling effects on the local fishing and oyster industries. Landry has said the project would 'break' Louisiana's culture of shrimp and oyster harvesting, likening it to government efforts a century ago to punish schoolchildren for speaking Cajun French. Earlier this year, Landry's administration approached the Corps with a list of concerns about the project, including a 2022 study it said 'does not appear to have been disclosed to the public nor considered by all necessary persons within the Corps.' Officials working for the state at the time defended their handling of the report in question, saying it had been focused on analyzing maintenance and operational costs related to the diversion and was not intended to be part of the federal environmental impact statement process. The report, prepared by AECOM Technical Services and a subcontractor, produced 'inconsistent' results such as a significantly lower projected land creation — as few as 7 square miles (18 square kilometers) compared to the 21 square miles (54 square kilometers) estimated under the primary model, according to the confidential memo. Officials familiar with the study said its lower projection resulted from not properly accounting for sea level rise and underestimating the river's flow. The memo also pointed to the need for 'significant dredging' to maintain the diversion channel, which Landry's administration now says will cost tens of millions of dollars. In the memo, the attorneys outlined a series of 'reputational concerns' about withholding the study and warned it would be more difficult to keep 'controlling the narrative' if the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority 'is on the defensive.' An informal discussion The memo noted the Corps and other federal agencies could delay the project for years if they attempted to integrate the modeling results into their environmental impact analysis. Failing to formally disclose the modeling results to federal agencies like the Corps, the attorneys warned, also would leave the project vulnerable to litigation. They suggested the Edwards administration 'informally discuss' the issue with federal agencies and then strategize the best way to 'formally' enter it into the public record for the agencies to review. The report's findings eventually were verbally communicated to at least one Corps official, who indicated it was insignificant, according to multiple former Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority officials familiar with the exchange. But the complete analysis itself was not submitted into the public record, nor was the official's response at the time, they said. The former state officials weren't authorized to discuss internal deliberations and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity. Col. Cullen Jones, head of the Corps' New Orleans District, told Landry's administration last month that the Corps recently conducted a 'technical review' of the modeling analysis in question and concluded it 'would not affect' the permit. But Jones said the Corps suspended the project's permit in part because 'the State deliberately withheld information … that the State knew it should provide.' What does this mean for the future of the project? The Corps also pointed to actions taken by Landry's administration, including a 90-day work stoppage announced last month amid plans to study an alternative 'smaller diversion' and claims the state can't afford the project. It's unclear how Landry intends to respond to the permit's suspension. The state has until Monday to take action to dispute the permit suspension. At that point, the Corps could revoke or modify the permit as it sees fit. Louisiana's coastal agency earmarked about $573 million in its 2025 budget for the project, an amount now being reviewed by the legislature. Last fall, federal agencies tasked with managing Deepwater Horizon settlement money warned that if Louisiana backs out of or alters the Mid-Barataria diversion, money allocated for it would need to be returned. Lauren Bourg, director of the National Audubon Society's Mississippi River Delta program, told lawmakers that ending or altering the project 'sends the message that any infrastructure project in this state may be undone by a few stakeholders who engage in politics with the right people, distorting the scientific and engineering principles upon which all of these projects are grounded.' But many in southeast Louisiana's fishing industry applauded the move to halt the project. 'If all this water comes down, it's going to kill everything,' said Mitch Jurisich, chairman of the Louisiana Oyster Task Force.
