Posted on November 11, 2024
SHREVEPORT, La. – Louisianans could be seeing some changes to the state’s coastline in the coming years as a nearly $3 billion amendment was passed by voters Tuesday (Nov. 5).
KSLA spoke with the senior policy director at Healthy Gulf to find out how this amendment affects north Louisiana.
“Coastal restoration is important. Again, 75% of the voters thought ‘yes’ on this amendment, which is very, really large. That’s a landslide, no pun intended, victory there,” said Matt Rota, senior policy director for Health Gulf.
Only one constitutional amendment appeared on the Nov. 5 ballot in Louisiana, stating certain federal funds would be allocated to coastal preservation.
State legislators also have more time to approve the budget.
“The Louisiana master plan was originally $50 million, but it’s probably getting closer to $1 billion right now, and right when we’ve been paying for a lot of that cost, the restoration has been doing quite a bit and trying to restore our coast and protect our communities, but that is mainly 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 into 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 wetland every hour or so, and that is a coastal crisis. Those wetlands are not only our habitat for fish, for shrimp, for these things that we fish, for that we love to eat. It’s also our first line of defense against hurricanes and storms. We’ve seen another hurricane coming into the Gulf right now. I think it’s Rafael,” Rota said.
The $3 billion dollar plan has plenty of projects already in the works. “There are a lot of projects going on right now. One thing that’s in the works is probably the biggest piece of restoration going on right now is the planning and building of the mid sediment diversion,” Rota said.
So how is north 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 that we do things. If you would like to go to a crawfish boil, a shrimp boil, and crab boil, we need to protect those ones unless we‘re gonna’ get that seafood from other places,” Rota said.
The Southeastern Wind Coalition also reacted to the passage of the amendment, saying:
“Louisiana voters showed that they overwhelmingly support restoring our coastline and using revenue 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 to work with elected officials to advance innovative solutions that support both offshore wind development and community and environmental resilience.”
