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Hurricane protection for all of south Louisiana has been my top priority since I came to Congress. As the devastation caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita made clear, the survival of our communities and way of life depends on better protection from storms and flooding.
In Washington, I continue working for more federal funding for south Louisiana to protect our coastal communities from storms and rebuild our disappearing wetlands. Strengthening our levee defenses while also restoring the natural barriers that absorb the tidal surges from hurricanes is a two-fold approach that will lead to better protection for our citizens and industries along the Gulf Coast.
Restoring Louisiana's Coastal Wetlands
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When I travel across south Louisiana, I see with my own eyes how our rich marshes and wetlands are disappearing. Louisiana loses a football field-sized piece of land to the sea every 35 minutes. During Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, we lost over 200 square miles of coastline. Our state is literally washing away into the Gulf of Mexico.
South Louisiana's future depends on taking dramatic action today. In Congress, I have introduced and supported various bills that authorize comprehensive coastal restoration projects for our state. By preserving and restoring the marshes and wetlands that buffer our coast from storms, these projects will provide greater hurricane protection for communities in south Louisiana. They will also protect Louisiana's critical oil and gas infrastructure and the habitat and ports that supply 30% of the seafood consumed in the United States. Louisiana is America's Wetlands and its Energy Coast, and we can't afford not to protect it.
Restoring our coast will require a multi-billion dollar investment from both our state and federal governments. Fortunately, in 2006 we had a major victory in this battle when Congress finally gave Louisiana a dedicated federal revenue stream that, over the years, will provide billions of dollars for coastal restoration projects.
This legislation, which I sponsored in the House of Representatives, gives Louisiana and other coastal energy-producing states a much larger share of federal offshore oil and gas royalty money. Louisianians had already passed a constitutional amendment dedicating all federal royalty money to coastal restoration.
Prior to this bill, Louisiana only received a small percentage of the billions in royalties the federal treasury accrues every year from drilling offshore on the outer-continental shelf. This was despite the fact that Louisiana has for decades shouldered the environmental and infrastructure burden for supporting this energy production.
Now, Louisiana has a significant share of offshore royalties and a permanent source of federal funding for coastal restoration projects. Our fight to save our coast is far from over, however. I will continue working in Congress to secure more federal funding to restore and protect our coastal wetlands to ensure the safety of our people, our infrastructure, and our way of life in Louisiana.
Levees and Hurricane Protection Systems
In addition to rebuilding the natural barriers that protect south Louisiana from hurricanes, we must also strengthen our human-made storm protection systems.
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In Congress, I have fought for more federal funding for comprehensive hurricane protection projects, including Morganza-to-the-Gulf and the levee systems in lower Plaquemines Parish and south Lafourche Parish. Thousands of people in these fishing and energy-producing communities still have little or no hurricane protection and are like sitting ducks in the path of the next Katrina or Rita. I will not rest until they have the hurricane protection they need and deserve.
Building levees and restoring our coastal wetlands are not projects that we can afford to put on the back burner any longer. We must take significant action today to protect America's Energy Coast and the thousand of Americans that live and work in coastal Louisiana.
Additional
Click here to read Congressman Melancon's letter to the New Orleans Times Picayune in support of closing the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet ("MR-GO").
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