<sub>The following program is part of a<br />national PBS series called Sinking</sub>
<sub>Cities produced in conjunction with<br />Peril and Promise - a WNET New York</sub>
<sub>initiative telling stories of climate<br />change around the world. Support for this</sub>
<sub>program is provided by the Foundation<br />for Excellence in Louisiana Public</sub>
<sub>Broadcasting and from viewers like you.</sub>
<sub>Hello and welcome to Louisiana Public<br />Square. I'm Beth Courtney, president of</sub>
<sub>LPB, and joining me to examine how<br />coastal Louisiana is preparing for</sub>
<sub>climate change is one of LPB's news<br />anchors, André Moreau. Well Andre, nice to</sub>
<sub>have you with us. It's good to be here, as always. If you've been thinking that climate</sub>
<sub>change is a problem that you won't have<br />to face in your lifetime,</sub>
<sub>consider this: a report recently from the<br />Society of Actuaries says climate change</sub>
<sub>is now the biggest concern for North<br />American insurers. Issues like rising sea</sub>
<sub>levels have already caused coastal<br />residents in Texas a 76 million dollar</sub>
<sub>loss in property values. Well 80 percent<br />of the nation's coastal land loss is</sub>
<sub>occurring along Louisiana's Shores.<br />Through natural and man-made influences,</sub>
<sub>the state is projected to lose another<br />1,200 square miles of coastline by 2067.</sub>
<sub>Tonight, Louisiana Public Square, in partnership with public radio</sub>
<sub>station WWNO, brings together coastal<br />scientists, stakeholders, and advocates to</sub>
<sub>explore strategies the state is taking<br />to protect lives, communities, and a</sub>
<sub>sinking Louisiana. Louisiana's coastline<br />is sinking. To determine how much,</sub>
<sub>scientists calculate the rate of<br />relative sea-level rise --</sub>
<sub>that's a measure of how far the land is<br />subsiding or sinking plus the rate the</sub>
<sub>sea level is rising. "And it turns out<br />that in coastal Louisiana that average</sub>
<sub>rate is about half an inch per year<br />right now and that means - that rate - that's</sub>
<sub>about four times higher than the global<br />average. Torbjörn Törnqvist is a professor</sub>
<sub>with Tulane's Department of Earth and<br />Environmental Sciences. He says a 2016</sub>
<sub>Tulane study found the highest rate of<br />subsidence in the Cheniere Plain of</sub>
<sub>Cameron Parish. The parish will<br />ultimately be home to seven liquefied</sub>
<sub>natural gas facilities, while subsidence<br />occurs naturally, Törnqvist says</sub>
<sub>humans are a factor particularly in<br />urban areas. "New Orleans expanded</sub>
<sub>tremendously over the past century or so<br />because we started to drain swamps and</sub>
<sub>when you start doing that the land is<br />going to start</sub>
<sub>thinking very very rapidly and that is<br />exactly what has happened here." In</sub>
<sub>addition the extraction of groundwater<br />and oil and gas creates localized</sub>
<sub>subsidence. "Anytime you extract fluids<br />from the subsurface it's going to lead</sub>
<sub>to sinking at the surface and that's<br />very well documented in many many places</sub>
<sub>and that is certainly a contributing<br />factor here in Louisiana." Törnqvist says</sub>
<sub>river diversion projects are critical to<br />replenishing wetlands wherever possible.</sub>
<sub>"We're not going to rebuild you know<br />large parts of the coast that's just not</sub>
<sub>going to happen but the most important<br />thing is is that we have to address</sub>
<sub>climate change because if we don't do<br />that then even the best River diversions</sub>
<sub>on the planets are not gonna are not<br />going to bail us out." "I would say the</sub>
<sub>whole plan is an adaptation plan and<br />that adaptation is in large part in</sub>
<sub>response to climate change."<br />Bren Haase is executive director of the</sub>
<sub>Coastal Protection and Restoration<br />Authority. His department develops and</sub>
<sub>oversees the state's coastal master plan,<br />in addition to structural protection</sub>
<sub>projects: the plan includes risk<br />reduction measures for coastal</sub>
<sub>communities facing sea level rise. The<br />state recently received 1.2 million</sub>
<sub>dollars to identify homes in southwest<br />coastal Louisiana that will qualify for</sub>
<sub>voluntary relocation or elevation. "We<br />have recently just signed an agreement</sub>
<sub>with the Corps of Engineers and the<br />southwestern part of the state which is</sub>
<sub>really the first our first sort of<br />dipping our toe in the water of getting</sub>
<sub>into this non structural game so they're<br />doing some reconnaissance work there</sub>
<sub>essentially to identify which structures<br />are at risk and what the solutions may</sub>
<sub>be there and so we're excited about that."<br />This month - Louisiana's Office of</sub>
<sub>Community Development released a<br />first-of-its-kind blueprint for managing</sub>
<sub>the population shift anticipated as<br />coastal risks increase and in January</sub>
<sub>the state purchased land for the<br />resettlement of the inhabitants of Ile</sub>
<sub>de Jean Charles in Terrebonne Parish - the<br />nation's first climate refugees.</sub>
<sub>"I think there's just a growing<br />realization that we can't put a levy</sub>
<sub>around every home can't put a flood wall<br />around every home and that we need to</sub>
<sub>look at other alternatives and find a<br />better way to live with water rather</sub>
<sub>than trying to continuously fight that<br />water." Climate change can also create</sub>
<sub>extreme weather events the rain that<br />caused Louisiana's 2016 floods exceeded</sub>
<sub>amounts expected to occur once every<br />1,000 years. "It was enough to really</sub>
<sub>shake us to say wait a minute<br />something's not right and we need to</sub>
<sub>come together and we need to we need to<br />work better and more effectively</sub>
<sub>together than than what's happening now."<br />Monique Boulet is CEO of the Acadiana</sub>
<sub>planning commission the flooding in her<br />region boules says served as a wake-up</sub>
<sub>call for parishes to think<br />collaboratively rather than</sub>
<sub>competitively about the Federal Hazard<br />Mitigation dollars they received. "And so</sub>
<sub>what our parish leaders did was ask the<br />governor when you disperse that money</sub>
<sub>look at our whole region and give us one<br />pot of money and we'll prioritize</sub>
<sub>drainage we - rather than other types of<br />mitigation and so, he did that." The 25</sub>
<sub>million dollars will be used to cover<br />drainage projects around the three</sub>
<sub>watersheds in the Acadiana region<br />projects agreed upon by eight parishes.</sub>
<sub>"We were dealing with elected officials<br />from those three watersheds and so we</sub>
<sub>were able to have conversations about<br />you know we have this problem here yeah</sub>
<sub>you do you need to fix it but you need<br />to think about you know downstream, we</sub>
<sub>need to look downstream and upstream." The<br />National Climate Assessment highlighted</sub>
<sub>the Acadiana Planning Commission's<br />regional flood control project in its</sub>
<sub>2018 report Louisiana was promised 1.2<br />billion dollars from the feds to fund a</sub>
<sub>statewide watershed initiative but 15<br />months later the state still hasn't</sub>
<sub>received a single dollar. When it comes<br />to addressing floodwaters or rising seas</sub>
<sub>Boulet says collaboration is key. "We<br />often say water knows no political</sub>
<sub>boundaries it flows where it wants to<br />float. Our science and decision-making</sub>
<sub>around that water needs to cross those<br />political boundaries just as</sub>
<sub>it crosses those political boundaries."<br />Helping us now to explore a seeking</sub>
<sub>Louisiana is our studio audience it<br />includes representative from Cameron</sub>
<sub>Parish. Several coastal NGOs, the state's<br />folk life program and Louisiana's Office</sub>
<sub>of Community Development we welcome<br />everyone we've also got high school</sub>
<sub>students from the Louisiana Legislative<br />Youth Advisory Council. Now last year a</sub>
<sub>statewide poll on the role of climate<br />change and Louisiana is disappearing</sub>
<sub>coast it was conducted for the<br />Times-Picayune and among its findings</sub>
<sub>asked if climate change is responsible<br />for Louisiana's coastal erosion. Forty-</sub>
<sub>-eight percent say it is responsible.<br />Thirty-nine percent say it is not.</sub>
<sub>Thirteen percent do not believe in<br />climate change. While only slightly more</sub>
<sub>than half of the respondents were aware<br />that Louisiana had a coastal master plan</sub>
<sub>of this group eighty four percent were<br />very or somewhat confident that the plan</sub>
<sub>would succeed only 16 percent were not<br />confident at all. To the question who</sub>
<sub>should pay to restore Louisiana's<br />wetlands seventy two percent believe the</sub>
<sub>government and industry should share the<br />cost and eighteen percent believe that</sub>
<sub>only the oil and gas industry should pay,<br />nine percent say just the government</sub>
<sub>should pay. And when asked if they'll<br />experience the effects of coastal land</sub>
<sub>loss in their lifetime fifty-one percent<br />say no, forty nine percent say yes. So</sub>
<sub>let's start with our own survey now and<br />our own studio audience tell me from</sub>
<sub>your perspective and experience what are<br />your concerns about climate change and</sub>
<sub>Louisiana's coast and I'm going to begin<br />with Claire. Claire tell me who you</sub>
<sub>represent and where you're from and<br />answer that question if you would.</sub>
<sub>"I represent the Cameron Parish Port<br />Harbor in Terminal District. I'm also a</sub>
<sub>board member of the coalition to restore<br />coastal Louisiana. I was born and raised</sub>
<sub>in Cameron parish and I lived there now<br />I live in the village of Cameron so for</sub>
<sub>me that that's quite astonishing that<br />there's a 51 percentage point of folks</sub>
<sub>surveyed that say it's not going to<br />impact them it impacts me every day and</sub>
<sub>not just when I'm on the coast. We've got<br />to begin planning for what our</sub>
<sub>inevitable circumstances in our state."<br />Cameron Parish of course is an area</sub>
<sub>that people remember from Hurricane<br />Audrey and other hurricanes a low-lying</sub>
<sub>area very susceptible to any kind of<br />rising water but also it's an area where</sub>
<sub>this is huge boom and LNG's and other<br />production facilities and the Lake</sub>
<sub>Charles Calgary parish so tell us how do<br />you prepare for all of this growth</sub>
<sub>that's going on there. "Well in terms of<br />the the industrial projects that are</sub>
<sub>being built and right now there are 35<br />billion that have already been</sub>
<sub>constructed in Cameron Parish alone an<br />additional forty billion on the horizon</sub>
<sub>in Cameron Parish alone more than a<br />hundred billion in Calcasieu and Cameron</sub>
<sub>Parish together. These projects are<br />working to mitigate wetlands, they're</sub>
<sub>building marshland. So, a collaborative<br />effort is certainly what we're looking</sub>
<sub>forward to con- to seeing more of in<br />Cameron Parish and Southwest Louisiana in</sub>
<sub>general. Everyone working together to<br />save the coast."</sub>
<sub>Okay thanks Claire we appreciate it.<br />Lemme go to Travis now, your thoughts</sub>
<sub>about climate change in Louisiana and<br />rising sea level on the coast. "There's</sub>
<sub>many issues going on the same time. We're<br />sinking naturally. The seas are</sub>
<sub>rising because of climate change.<br />Industry has played a part in in all of</sub>
<sub>this and then of course man-made things<br />like levees has played a part and so</sub>
<sub>it's just a really difficult thing to<br />start parsing out when we're looking for</sub>
<sub>solutions I think and so for me as a<br />reporter talking to people I think it's</sub>
<sub>it can be a tough issue to go about<br />solving. Because there's so many</sub>
<sub>different threads that are wound<br />together so tightly and so knowing where</sub>
<sub>to sort of focus your attention can be<br />really tough and confusing. And let me go to</sub>
<sub>Matt now, who's here on the front row<br />and Matt tell me who you represent who</sub>
<sub>you're with your thoughts on this<br />question. "Sure, I'm the resilience policy</sub>
<sub>and program administrator with the<br />State's office of community development.</sub>
<sub>Over the past several years I've had the<br />privilege to lead two of the projects</sub>
<sub>that you alluded to in your segment: The<br />Resettlement of Village Dean Charles and</sub>
<sub>the LA safe program that released its<br />findings this past week. I think we need</sub>
<sub>to plan for a smaller footprint in<br />Louisiana and I think to evidence that I</sub>
<sub>mean we can only look at satellite<br />imagery from the past</sub>
<sub>and understand that we're currently living<br />in a smaller footprint now than we did</sub>
<sub>then and if we extrapolate that out at<br />other 50 years and beyond we have to</sub>
<sub>come to the reality and the<br />understanding that this is going to</sub>
<sub>continually be a problem. And so, I think<br />we need to recognize it as the the</sub>
<sub>existential threat to the viability of<br />our economy, our way of life, that it</sub>
<sub>really is and act accordingly." Alright<br />thank you very much I'll go to Runra,</sub>
<sub>right here, our youth Advisory Council.<br />Where are you from though and your</sub>
<sub>thoughts on this topic.<br />"I'm from New Orleans, I'm a member of the</sub>
<sub>Louisiana Legislative Youth Advisory<br />Council. As a kid it's very scary to</sub>
<sub>learn that 50% of the people don't care<br />or believe that this is actually</sub>
<sub>happening<br />and I like to use my time to educate and</sub>
<sub>advocate to make sure that my generation<br />and future generations have a future."</sub>
<sub>Alright, really thanks so much for that. I<br />know maybe you've got a lot of thoughts</sub>
<sub>so many who you represent and also<br />respond to that questioning. "I'm the</sub>
<sub>state folklorist. I manage the state folk<br />life program and the division of the</sub>
<sub>arts. My concern is with all this<br />population movement that's going to be</sub>
<sub>happening you know what's going to be<br />happening to the traditional cultures</sub>
<sub>across the state, it's what is so special<br />about Louisiana. It's part of what is so</sub>
<sub>special and so in all of this you know<br />I'm looking at the cultures." And a</sub>
<sub>culture being lost perhaps shifting over<br />time well? "Well, all culture changes yeah it's</sub>
<sub>not static. But with mass in depending on<br />how quickly and how how much movement</sub>
<sub>how soon it'll be a lot of cultural<br />disruption not just economic and</sub>
<sub>you know but there'll be cultural<br />disruption too. So I'm wondering what can</sub>
<sub>be done to help that process." Okay, thank<br />you so much for that let me go to Bob,</sub>
<sub>Bob tell me who you're representing here<br />tonight and your your response to that</sub>
<sub>question. "Well I'm a professional<br />hydrologist and I work with a lot of my</sub>
<sub>colleagues some of whom are gonna be<br />working with the state on some of its</sub>
<sub>new watershed initiative activities with<br />modeling. Going back to your initial</sub>
<sub>segment when you talked about the cost<br />of insurance in the state one of my</sub>
<sub>interest is for our state to really move<br />rapidly to the point where we can give</sub>
<sub>every homeowner and every businessman<br />the insurance information that they need</sub>
<sub>to know about what is the flood risk and<br />the future flood risk in our state. So</sub>
<sub>individually people can start seeing the<br />kind of decisions they personally need</sub>
<sub>to make on: where they live, where they<br />want to buy a house, how much their house</sub>
<sub>is really worth and as a result of that<br />inform their politicians and policy</sub>
<sub>makers the kind of mitigation act<br />actions that they really think will be</sub>
<sub>cost effective. You know, really having<br />that cost information personally will</sub>
<sub>make a big difference in being able to<br />collectively make some good decisions. Do</sub>
<sub>you find that cost information is<br />changing though in different areas,</sub>
<sub>different situations? "We're starting to<br />get warned I have friends who live in</sub>
<sub>various parts of the country who you<br />know or they're starting to see parts of</sub>
<sub>America like in Miami and other is where<br />the concern that property values are</sub>
<sub>really going to be changing a lot of its<br />speculation. But what we have in this</sub>
<sub>state is an initiative on the part of<br />Pat Forbes who we're going to meet in a</sub>
<sub>few minutes and others, to give us tools<br />to get much better estimate so we're not</sub>
<sub>guessing at what the future flood<br />insurance rates are going to be in the</sub>
<sub>state we can really confidently know. And<br />those neighborhoods where it's not going</sub>
<sub>to have as high risk of flooding maybe<br />that's the place where we ought to look</sub>
<sub>be thinking about living." Yeah okay Bob<br />thank you very much. Chris -</sub>
<sub>let me ask you your thoughts and who<br />you're here with</sub>
<sub>"I'm a geologist. I'm with the New<br />Orleans Geological Society and I was</sub>
<sub>trying to look at the optimistic side of<br />things. I think that in Louisiana, because</sub>
<sub>we are dealing with the combined effects<br />of subsidence and sea-level rise we're</sub>
<sub>gonna see these effects before anybody<br />else. And so, we're learning and we're</sub>
<sub>really learning for the rest of the<br />world in</sub>
<sub>and we are at the forefront and I think<br />CPRA is - has got - they're hiring the best</sub>
<sub>scientists they're taking they're taking<br />it head-on</sub>
<sub>they're addressing it with science. My<br />input is that subsidence is</sub>
<sub>fundamentally a geological phenomenon<br />and the more we can understand about</sub>
<sub>geology the more we can understand the<br />processes involved with." Okay Chris, thank</sub>
<sub>you for that.<br />Celia, tell me where you're from and who</sub>
<sub>you're representing. "Oh of course, I'm<br />from the Legislative Youth Advisory</sub>
<sub>Council and I'm a student I think for me<br />one of the the biggest things on this</sub>
<sub>issue is the sociological implications<br />of coastal erosion. I've actually spent</sub>
<sub>the past year working on a research<br />project where I've set out to determine</sub>
<sub>just how cultures and communities are<br />being implicated by coastal erosion and</sub>
<sub>so I think that going forward it's<br />imperative that we acknowledge that our</sub>
<sub>culture's and our communities are<br />dependent and reliant upon the formation</sub>
<sub>and the geography that they're<br />surrounded by. And - if we - if they're not</sub>
<sub>surrounded by that in the same capacity<br />a lot of their traditions are at risk of</sub>
<sub>being lost and that's something that is<br />really tragic for the future of not only</sub>
<sub>the state of Louisiana but our local or<br />global community. I mean for our state</sub>
<sub>especially it's a big part of our<br />tourist -industry- industry, is our unique</sub>
<sub>culture and heritage. And also these<br />communities have taken centuries to form</sub>
<sub>and development so it would be really<br />have a lot of negative consequences for</sub>
<sub>our entire world to see them disappear.<br />Because we can't maintain, you know those</sub>
<sub>those resources and in that kind of<br />environment. So I think that going</sub>
<sub>forward it's just really important that<br />we whether it's through oral history</sub>
<sub>reports or through efforts to keep these<br />communities together that we do</sub>
<sub>something to try to protect and preserve<br />a lot of these cultures and traditions</sub>
<sub>and communities." Okay so yeah thanks for<br />that. Kendall, your thoughts and response</sub>
<sub>and also who you represent. "Yes, my name<br />is Kendall Dix. I'm an organizer with</sub>
<sub>Healthy Gulf. And I would say that<br />probably my main concern with all of</sub>
<sub>this is that like with everything in<br />Louisiana. The effects of climate change</sub>
<sub>are going to be born so much by its poor<br />black and Native residents and I worry</sub>
<sub>that we haven't really learned our<br />lessons for where a lot of these</sub>
<sub>problems are coming from. And -one of - one<br />of the issues going forward is that the</sub>
<sub>state's going to have a lot of trouble<br />for this and one of the reasons is that</sub>
<sub>through the industrial tax exemption<br />program they've given away massive</sub>
<sub>amounts of tax breaks to the companies<br />who have helped make this problem worse.</sub>
<sub>Cameron Parish is a perfect example of a<br />parish that's losing out on billions</sub>
<sub>billions of dollars statewide and as<br />long as we continue to prioritize oil</sub>
<sub>and gas above restoring our coasts I<br />don't see a lot of hope for the problem</sub>
<sub>getting any better." Okay Kendall, thank<br />you for that. That is all the time we</sub>
<sub>have for this portion of our show.<br />When we return though, we're going to be</sub>
<sub>joined by a panel of experts to discuss:<br />Sinking Louisiana.</sub>
<sub>Welcome back everyone, to Louisiana<br />Public Square. Tonight, we are looking at</sub>
<sub>climate change and Louisiana's sinking<br />Coast. Joining us now, our panel of</sub>
<sub>experts: Virginia Burkett is the chief<br />scientist for land resources at the US</sub>
<sub>Geological Survey. She is the acting<br />chair of the U.S. Global Change Research</sub>
<sub>program. Bren Haase is Executive Director<br />of the Coastal Protection Restoration</sub>
<sub>Authority - CPRA. Which develops and<br />oversees the state's coastal master plan.</sub>
<sub>Tegan Wendland is the lead coastal<br />reporter for public radio station WWNO,</sub>
<sub>that's based in New Orleans. Wendland has<br />filed numerous coastal land loss stories</sub>
<sub>for state and national broadcasts. And<br />Pat Forbes is Executive Director of</sub>
<sub>Louisiana's Office of Community<br />Development, in this role he oversees the</sub>
<sub>Block Grant programs in areas including<br />housing economic development</sub>
<sub>infrastructure and resiliency planning.<br />Now before we go to our audience</sub>
<sub>questions I'd like to ask each of you<br />from your perspective to give a letter</sub>
<sub>grade of how well-prepared Louisiana is<br />to address climate change and let me</sub>
<sub>begin on the far end right there with<br />you.</sub>
<sub>"Okay, thank you I don't know about a<br />letter grade, but I know of which - it would be</sub>
<sub>would be very high! And that's based upon<br />early career here with the Louisiana</sub>
<sub>Geological Survey serving on the master<br />plan sent science and engineering board</sub>
<sub>for the first state master plan and then<br />looking at that solid science basis that</sub>
<sub>the state has used for developing its<br />strategies for protecting coastal</sub>
<sub>habitats and coastal people. And most<br />recently the report the Louisiana safe</sub>
<sub>report by the Office of Community<br />Development, now we're looking at the</sub>
<sub>human dimensions and so that science<br />that that analytical approach is</sub>
<sub>evidence there too so I'd say the state<br />was in a very good position to deal with</sub>
<sub>the future."<br />All right, Virginia Burkett thank you</sub>
<sub>very much for that. Bren Haase, your<br />letter grade if you can give one. "Well, I</sub>
<sub>would agree that it would be high and I<br />would say that if you graded on the</sub>
<sub>curve I would I would say it would be an<br />A." Okay. "That's not to say there's not</sub>
<sub>room for improvement, obviously. There's -<br />there's - lots that we can be doing to to</sub>
<sub>improve our readiness and<br />and preparedness for for changes along</sub>
<sub>our coast. But, I don't know of any other<br />state that has put the amount of</sub>
<sub>technical expertise science and<br />engineering effort behind being ready</sub>
<sub>for those kind of changes." Alright,<br />thank you. Teagan Wendland? "Well I'm a</sub>
<sub>reporter, so I'm not really supposed to<br />have opinions, but if you were to grade</sub>
<sub>on a curve, you know, and compare the<br />state to how other coastal states are</sub>
<sub>preparing for the sea-level rise that we<br />know is to come, I guess I would put us</sub>
<sub>around to see a C+ or a B. I'd rank us<br />fairly high because we do have this</sub>
<sub>coastal master plan and LA SAFE's plan, which we'll hear more about soon. But if</sub>
<sub>sea level rises if sea levels can<br />continue to rise at the rate that</sub>
<sub>scientists predict, you know we're not<br />going to be able to stop land loss</sub>
<sub>completely, and the CPRA has acknowledged<br />that. All right thank you very much for</sub>
<sub>that Tegan. And Pat Forbes?<br />I think it's difficult for anybody to</sub>
<sub>know how well prepared they are for<br />something that we don't know exactly</sub>
<sub>what it looks like, but I have to go<br />along with Brennan's saying that, in</sub>
<sub>terms of preparation for what may come,<br />we're better placed than anybody else.</sub>
<sub>We're thinking about things that other<br />people are not thinking about. We're</sub>
<sub>acting on things that people other<br />people are only thinking about with the</sub>
<sub>Coastal Master Plan from the CPRA<br />looking at structural physical</sub>
<sub>challenges, and with the LA SAFE program<br />out now looking sort of at the people</sub>
<sub>side of that, and with our watershed<br />initiative that we're getting kicked off.</sub>
<sub>We really are ahead of it's essentially<br />everyone else in the nation in terms of</sub>
<sub>thinking through this and what is it<br />going to look like, even though I mean</sub>
<sub>you know none of us can know exactly<br />what it looks like, but we we can't</sub>
<sub>afford not to prepare. Okay, thank you<br />very much. All right panelists, get ready</sub>
<sub>for some questions. Tthere'll be a lot of<br />discourse and questions back and forth</sub>
<sub>coming your way. Let's begin with Garvin. Tell me who you represent. You're in our</sub>
<sub>audience and you have a question for the<br />panelists. I</sub>
<sub>represent the Coalition to Restore<br />Coastal Louisiana as a board member and</sub>
<sub>my question to you guys is what can<br />community groups and nonprofits do to</sub>
<sub>make your job easier. Pat, do you want to<br />take that. Yeah I'd love to. I think that</sub>
<sub>whatever we do it it's going to involve<br />people and so community groups and</sub>
<sub>nonprofits are how it's the best way<br />that we reach people. If you look at our</sub>
<sub>LA SAFE process that we used, it was an<br />engagement with citizens and residents</sub>
<sub>through nonprofits and local<br />organizations because that's -- you got to</sub>
<sub>meet people where they are. And until we<br />can have everybody educated about where</sub>
<sub>we are -- the numbers that I saw earlier<br />we're stunning about how many people</sub>
<sub>think sea level changes can affect them<br />in their lifetime -- but until we can reach</sub>
<sub>them, educate, and get everybody<br />understanding where we are and what we</sub>
<sub>can do about it, then it's going to be a harder row</sub>
<sub>to hoe. And I think that one of the<br />primary mechanisms we can use is</sub>
<sub>nonprofits. Let's go to another question -<br />and John in our studio audience, what's</sub>
<sub>your question? Tell me where you're from<br />also. Well I'm a coastal scientist I work</sub>
<sub>for the Lake Pontchartrain Basin<br />Foundation, direct our coastal program. I</sub>
<sub>was thinking about the questions you<br />asked to panel about grading and I agree</sub>
<sub>with kind of the assessment that I think<br />Louisiana's cut ahead of a class, but</sub>
<sub>like students, we haven't graduated yet,<br />so I think it's important to to ask you</sub>
<sub>know how well are we learning. And so one<br />of those things that I think requires a</sub>
<sub>lot more work and science is is the<br />question of subsidence, so the question I</sub>
<sub>had is but what can we do to improve our<br />understanding of subsidence and</sub>
<sub>estimates in the future because it is so<br />important to understanding the relative</sub>
<sub>sea level rise and this this collective<br />risk from the rising seas and our coast</sub>
<sub>sinking. Several people might have<br />answers to this. Virginia Burkett from</sub>
<sub>the USGS, you want to try this first?<br />Well the</sub>
<sub>variability in subsidence from<br />as you know John from one part of the</sub>
<sub>coast to the other or even within<br />subunits of a basin is just very high,</sub>
<sub>and trying to get a handle on the rate<br />of subsidence that you then add the</sub>
<sub>other processes like sea level rise on<br />top of. Unless you have that basic</sub>
<sub>geologic understanding -- and the New<br />Orleans Geological Society and the state</sub>
<sub>LGS are collaborating on some methods to<br />integrate industry data with with data</sub>
<sub>from USGS and others. So anything that<br />can be done I think to enhance our</sub>
<sub>understanding of local processes, and<br />local rates of subsidence, and the</sub>
<sub>drivers of that, because they're episodic.<br />Just like rainfall is and even sea level</sub>
<sub>rise in the big picture, so enhancing our<br />understanding of subsidence mechanisms</sub>
<sub>trends and projections into the future, I<br />think is really important. Bren Haase</sub>
<sub>from CPRA? Sure I'd love to add to that.<br />Absolutely, geology drives everything</sub>
<sub>that's occurring across coastal<br />Louisiana from a landscape perspective.</sub>
<sub>And I would say it's CPRA, we have we<br />have a series of monitoring stations --</sub>
<sub>almost 400 stations across the coast --<br />that are monitoring relative subsidence</sub>
<sub>rates. We also have some targeted<br />research efforts if you will to</sub>
<sub>investigate the way faults are affecting<br />subsided. For example that was mentioned</sub>
<sub>I know earlier, and a subsided<br />superstation for example that's being</sub>
<sub>installed in in Plaquemines Parish, so<br />there is a lot of work. We do recognize</sub>
<sub>that that's an area that we need to<br />improve on, and I mentioned that in my</sub>
<sub>sort of grade assessment as well, that<br />there's there's always room for</sub>
<sub>improvement. And we've invested quite a<br />lot actually over the last several years</sub>
<sub>in trying to get a better understanding<br />of what those rates are, because they are</sub>
<sub>so spatially different. Back to our<br />studio audience and Emily, you're in our</sub>
<sub>audience. You've got a question and tell<br />us who you are where you're from also.</sub>
<sub>Emily Buxton with the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana. I'm their policy</sub>
<sub>director. My question was about<br />the general public. So I think the general</sub>
<sub>public in Louisiana understands more<br />probably than other states in terms of</sub>
<sub>what's happening here environmentally. Is<br />there anything that you think the</sub>
<sub>general public doesn't understand when<br />you do your work that you want to relay</sub>
<sub>to them? Tegan, do you want to take that<br />first since you cover this? I'm</sub>
<sub>sure there might be a several people<br />that can respond to that though.</sub>
<sub>Something that the general public<br />doesn't understand... I mean it's this is</sub>
<sub>all very nuanced science we're talking<br />about, right? And I think Travis got at</sub>
<sub>this a little bit in his introduction,<br />but you know the interplay between</sub>
<sub>subsidence and rising sea levels. I think<br />that sometimes people attribute rising</sub>
<sub>seas to being one of the greatest<br />threats, and that hasn't historically</sub>
<sub>been the number one threat, but it will<br />in the future, And so I think you know</sub>
<sub>explaining some of that nuance is<br />important. Pat Forbes? I think there are</sub>
<sub>lots of things. One thing I would point<br />to immediately is people probably don't</sub>
<sub>understand the the variance in \ impacts<br />on people living in the coast and living</sub>
<sub>in more dangerous areas depending on<br />their financial wherewithal and their</sub>
<sub>ability to get away from risk and not<br />live where in high-risk areas. I think</sub>
<sub>that it is really not well understood by<br />most folks at this point and it's super</sub>
<sub>important point. Okay, we're gonna go back<br />for a moment to our studio audience and</sub>
<sub>Tori. Tell me who you're with and what<br />your question is for our experts. Hi, am Tori Jackson. I am</sub>
<sub>Communications Director for the<br />Louisiana Youth Advisory Council. I think</sub>
<sub>as a citizen of Louisiana, things that<br />come into play are financial, and</sub>
<sub>financial comings and where they come<br />from. So my question is do you think it's</sub>
<sub>more effective to charge the oil and<br />energy industry with their effects to</sub>
<sub>coastal erosion or do you think that<br />that money should be targeted from the</sub>
<sub>citizens who contribute to the sea<br />rising sea levels through climate change?</sub>
<sub>Bren, would you like to take that first? Sure,<br />well I mean I think it's much like our</sub>
<sub>plan. It's multifaceted and there's an<br />all-hands-on-deck approach. I think that</sub>
<sub>I think that how we pay for this this<br />issue is an all-hands-on-deck situation</sub>
<sub>as well. I don't think we can afford<br />to to turn down any source of funding to</sub>
<sub>try to accomplish our goals, so I think<br />it's it's all of the above really.</sub>
<sub>Anyone else want to respond? Virginia? I would add it's not just one sector of</sub>
<sub>the economy that is causing the problem. And if you're going to attack global, you</sub>
<sub>know be the whole global community that<br />would be have to pay for the problem in</sub>
<sub>Louisiana. And it's a combination of very<br />unique drivers of change, including the</sub>
<sub>development of cities the the dredging<br />of coastal waterways. It's not just one</sub>
<sub>driver, and it's not just you know you<br />can't just go to the old gas industry</sub>
<sub>and expect for them to pay for something<br />that in my view as a Louisiana citizen</sub>
<sub>that is it's much more complex than that. Okay. But she is getting at an</sub>
<sub>interesting point I think the majority<br />of the funding for the coastal master</sub>
<sub>plan is coming from the oil and gas<br />industry in some form -- whether it's from</sub>
<sub>the BP settlement or from GOMESA -- the<br />sale of offshore leases. And then there</sub>
<sub>are these coastal parish lawsuits<br />against the oil and gas companies that</sub>
<sub>could provide not probably a very<br />substantial amount of money but you know</sub>
<sub>they're symbolic in a sense and you know<br />are there other ways that we could look</sub>
<sub>to the oil and gas industry to, you know,<br />make right for the canals that they've</sub>
<sub>carved in the marshes over time that<br />have contributed by some accounts you</sub>
<sub>know to up to 70% of the land loss. Okay thank you very much for that. Let me</sub>
<sub>go back to our audience now. And Claire<br />from Cameron Parish, a huge stakeholder</sub>
<sub>in this of course. What's your question? So I'm curious to know now that</sub>
<sub>shoreline protection is approved project<br />type and the coastal master plan, and we</sub>
<sub>have we see continued wetlands<br />mitigation in Cameron Parish with</sub>
<sub>industrial project growth, and we do not<br />have the sediment generator that the</sub>
<sub>eastern side of the state has in the<br />Mississippi River, do you guys see a time</sub>
<sub>when there will be wetlands mitigation<br />approved project types like shoreline</sub>
<sub>protection and oyster reef creation<br />that's something apart from the the</sub>
<sub>creation of marshes? Brent? Well, so<br />mitigation is specific to regulation and</sub>
<sub>CPRA doesn't regulate wetland impacts, but I will say that absolutely you're right,</sub>
<sub>in terms of a viable restoration<br />strategy that, yes shoreline protection is</sub>
<sub>something that we've considered. We're<br />participating in as we speak, as you well</sub>
<sub>know in Cameron Parish. Again I'll go<br />back maybe to my earlier comments that</sub>
<sub>there's no one single silver bullet,<br />right? We're definitely in an</sub>
<sub>all-hands-on-deck kind of a situation. We<br />can't afford to leave any of these sort</sub>
<sub>of restoration techniques -- whether it's shoreline protection, living shorelines,</sub>
<sub>marsh creation, and hydrologic<br />restoration -- you name it -- off the table. We've seen them all work in</sub>
<sub>our parish. Yeah. I just hope that people<br />understand that it's absolutely</sub>
<sub>multifaceted. It's not one type of -- for<br />example if we continue to, which I'm so</sub>
<sub>grateful for, build marsh and Cameron<br />Parish, but there's not the protective</sub>
<sub>measures offshore by way of shoreline<br />protection or living reefs, living</sub>
<sub>shorelines, then we're building marshland<br />that's going to continuously be impacted</sub>
<sub>by wave action and storm surge and and<br />then what are we left with? I want to</sub>
<sub>live there. I want my children to live<br />there. Yeah, yeah. John? I think the concept</sub>
<sub>that Bren and they were alluding to is what</sub>
<sub>we call multiple lines of defense. And basically it's using these multiple</sub>
<sub>tools -- you know it's building levees, it's<br />building up our coast, our barrier islands --</sub>
<sub>it's about non structural solutions that<br />OCD works on so, it is as Bren said kind</sub>
<sub>of a multi-faceted thing. I mean there is<br />no silver bullet. We're gonna have to use</sub>
<sub>as Bren said, all the tools we have.<br />One thing also... You got a question?</sub>
<sub>One thing I want to respond to, this is<br />Kendall from Healthy Gulf, again. I wanted</sub>
<sub>to respond to the comment that CPRA<br />doesn't mitigate or I mean doesn't</sub>
<sub>regulate wetlands impacts. But CPRA<br />recently signed a Memorandum of</sub>
<sub>Understanding with the Plaquemines<br />liquids terminal. We already have a study</sub>
<sub>showing that a project like this at the<br />mouth of the Mid Barataria sediment</sub>
<sub>diversions -- the signature 1.4 billion<br />dollar land building project of the</sub>
<sub>state -- the effectiveness would be reduced<br />by 17%.</sub>
<sub>But CPRA signed that memo saying that<br />we would that they at least initially</sub>
<sub>are able to go ahead with that project<br />and I'm just curious why we would put</sub>
<sub>the signature land building project at<br />risk for an oil export terminal? Well,</sub>
<sub>absolutely we would not want to put that<br />signature project at risk. I think it's</sub>
<sub>important to note that the two projects<br />your reference are different projects.</sub>
<sub>Tthey're not the same; their features are<br />different. And the path that we're taking</sub>
<sub>forward now is one to get to a point<br />where we can assess what the impacts of</sub>
<sub>the current proposed project might<br />have on that diversion. And so we need to</sub>
<sub>see what those impacts might be, you know, and if they are unreasonable or to a</sub>
<sub>point where we think they really are<br />detrimental to that project, then we're</sub>
<sub>gonna have to have further discussion<br />about about that project. What do you</sub>
<sub>like an unacceptable level would be of<br />impact? We don't know yet. We don't know,</sub>
<sub>yet, we need to get through the<br />analysis and see what you know see what</sub>
<sub>things look like. I will say that you're<br />right. We did sign a Memorandum of</sub>
<sub>Understanding related to that, but<br />it would require both a permit and a</sub>
<sub>memorandum of agreement for that<br />facility to operate and and move forward</sub>
<sub>into the future. And so that's really the<br />kind of the key instrument that would be</sub>
<sub>the sort of go or no-go point. Here on<br />our panel, Pat Forbes, you've got an</sub>
<sub>LA SAFE report in your hand you've<br />got it as a matter of fact and how does</sub>
<sub>the role of insurance play into this<br />and in your findings? Well, the role of</sub>
<sub>insurance is huge in the life of<br />Louisiana. We, some fifty one percent of</sub>
<sub>our state, is in a special flood hazard<br />area. The geography of our state is in a</sub>
<sub>special flood hazard area, so the cost of<br />insurance is going to determine where</sub>
<sub>people live, it's going to determine what<br />people are in vulnerable positions</sub>
<sub>whenever we do have storms and disasters,<br />and it's critical to how we address the</sub>
<sub>issue. Because if we continue to have<br />people live in places that we know are</sub>
<sub>dangerous and we don't discourage that<br />and we don't make it possible, we don't</sub>
<sub>facilitate people's ability to live in<br />safer places, then we're setting</sub>
<sub>ourselves up for having our most<br />vulnerable populations living in our</sub>
<sub>most dangerous places. Insurance is a way<br />to manage that, if it's done well. It's</sub>
<sub>also a way to exacerbate it if it's not<br />done well. If the term "climate change</sub>
<sub>refugees" is one that has not really been<br />heard of that much before, but it's</sub>
<sub>becoming very familiar to you.<br />It is a term that we don't like.</sub>
<sub>The term was applied to the residents of<br />ville de Jean Charles. It's a island</sub>
<sub>community of Native Americans mostly who lived just off the coast and are not</sub>
<sub>going to be protected by a levee. And we<br />are helping them move to an entirely new</sub>
<sub>community. It's organized. They're brave<br />people. They don't want to leave where</sub>
<sub>they are, but they see that they have to. And they're planning that departure and</sub>
<sub>that new future for themselves<br />For those reasons we don't like</sub>
<sub>to call them refugees, we think of them<br />as pioneers who are some of the first</sub>
<sub>people who are going to completely<br />resettle their entire community from one</sub>
<sub>place to another because of the risks we<br />that they face living in the coast. And</sub>
<sub>so we're going to learn a lot from them<br />and their experiences as we go through</sub>
<sub>this process of getting them moved. So with just with your mission right now, I</sub>
<sub>want to go back to our audience. And<br />to Meta who is dealing with the future</sub>
<sub>of folk life and how things could change. What is your question for our panel? Well</sub>
<sub>I'm concerned about what happens to Louisiana's traditional cultures with</sub>
<sub>all the population movements and shifts<br />that are going to happen. It's going to</sub>
<sub>be a good deal of cultural disruption. And well that's the history of humanity,</sub>
<sub>what can we do about it now? And I'm<br />wondering how cultural issues are being</sub>
<sub>considered in planning. Sure if I might<br />go again, I'm gonna go back to the isle de</sub>
<sub>Jean-Charles example. If you read our<br />application and the objectives of our</sub>
<sub>project, it will be a failure if all<br />we did was get 40 families moved from an</sub>
<sub>unsafe place to a safe place. The whole<br />project is built around not only trying</sub>
<sub>to preserve the culture of that<br />community because it's so rich and so</sub>
<sub>long, but actually trying to enhance it --<br />trying to build the new community in</sub>
<sub>such a way that elders on Charles starts<br />to reconstitute itself and enhance its</sub>
<sub>cultural cohesiveness if you will. Because yeah, we...the coast of</sub>
<sub>Louisiana is the major driver in its<br />culture. And if we're losing the coast,</sub>
<sub>how do we not lose that culture? And we hope that we're going to</sub>
<sub>learn some things about that in the<br />resettlement of Isle de Jean-Charles,</sub>
<sub>but we there will be a lot more for us<br />to learn to try to prevent that loss</sub>
<sub>that dramatic loss of culture from our<br />coastal communities. Let me ask you very</sub>
<sub>quickly... yeah, Bren. go ahead. I'd like<br />to add on to that if if I may and this</sub>
<sub>is an immensely complicated question and<br />problem right and so I don't mean to</sub>
<sub>oversimplify, but I, but I'd like to sort<br />of reiterate one of the things that Pat</sub>
<sub>said which is the culture in Louisiana<br />is so closely tied to its coast that the</sub>
<sub>more the - the more of the coast<br />that we can save the better off we'll be</sub>
<sub>from a preserving of our cultural<br />heritage standpoint. And again I know</sub>
<sub>that's very much an oversimplification<br />but that's a big deal.</sub>
<sub>I think the second thing I would add is<br />that the better we are at predicting</sub>
<sub>what we think the future of our coast is<br />going to look like. The better prepared</sub>
<sub>we are to plan well and I know that<br />doesn't directly answer your question.</sub>
<sub>'What is planned well mean?' Well, you have<br />to have an idea of what the future is</sub>
<sub>going to hold to be able to make good<br />plans. So that we can adjust the way we</sub>
<sub>live work and play along our coast in a<br />deliberate manner instead of those</sub>
<sub>changes inflicting there will<br />essentially on us and our cultures. What I'm concerned about:</sub>
<sub>which traditions are retained in the movement<br />and I think the most important thing is</sub>
<sub>that people do it in an intentional<br />thoughtful way and I'm talking about the</sub>
<sub>communities not the administrators and<br />give them the opportunity to really say</sub>
<sub>this is important to me what can I do to<br />make sure this you know survives. Just</sub>
<sub>add just a piece most almost every time<br />anybody has ever moved a community they</sub>
<sub>have just given those people money and<br />let them go find a safer place which</sub>
<sub>completely scatters that culture and you<br />lose that to the wind essentially which</sub>
<sub>is why we're doing this resettlement of<br />Isle De Jean-Charles in such a</sub>
<sub>different fashion. And again one of our<br />objectives is to seek how well we can do</sub>
<sub>in maintaining that culture when<br />geographically they move to a whole new</sub>
<sub>place.<br />The challenge is gonna be when they're</sub>
<sub>changing ecosystems. Yes. Absolutely.<br />Absolutely. Let me go back</sub>
<sub>to our audiences for just a moment, Chris did you have a question? Yes, well I</sub>
<sub>actually like would like to address the<br />issue about the oil and gas industry</sub>
<sub>because I work in the only gas industry<br />I think it's important to say and I'd</sub>
<sub>like to say that by recognizing CPRA<br />has really been at the forefront of</sub>
<sub>advancing science. I said that into the<br />beginning and that was really evident.</sub>
<sub>Well, I would encourage anybody to<br />watch a CPRA board meeting they're</sub>
<sub>available online. I got to watch the<br />March meeting CPRA has an expert in</sub>
<sub>subsidence on staff Dr. Krista Jankowski<br />she studied under Dr. Tørnquist at</sub>
<sub>Tulane and she gave a presentation to<br />the board on subsidence. And in that she</sub>
<sub>referenced two ongoing research projects.<br />One at Tulane/UNO and one at UL.</sub>
<sub>Both of those projects are using oil and<br />gas industry data to study the</sub>
<sub>relationship between geology and<br />subsidence and she in fact referred to it</sub>
<sub>as a partnership with those universities.<br />So that to me, I think a missing</sub>
<sub>component that we're not thinking about<br />is how can we work collaboratively -</sub>
<sub>Claire alluded to that at the<br />infrastructure level - but at the science</sub>
<sub>level: how can we work collaboratively to<br />address the issue? Is that your question?</sub>
<sub>My question. And who would<br />like to I would like to take it? I mean -</sub>
<sub>well, I think you both can chime in.<br />I think in some ways you answered your</sub>
<sub>question in your opening. I guess to the<br />question you know clearly anywhere we</sub>
<sub>can any source of information that we<br />can get to help us better understand</sub>
<sub>what's going on along our coast we're<br />open to that we want to see that. And</sub>
<sub>you're right there are efforts underway<br />that are utilizing oil and gas industry</sub>
<sub>information and data to help us better<br />understand what's happening below our</sub>
<sub>our soil surface essentially. And I<br />mentioned a few of those earlier, I won't</sub>
<sub>go back through those. But - they're - you<br />know a dozen or so efforts that that</sub>
<sub>just CPRA are undertaking at the moment<br />that are that are doing just that.</sub>
<sub>Dr. Burkett, let me ask you this - with the<br />USGS - which parts of the state are most</sub>
<sub>at risk for sea-level rise is there one<br />area that is more at-risk? Whether it be</sub>
<sub>Cameron Parish worse than Grand Isle or<br />Plaquemines Parish which would be at the</sub>
<sub>worst level at the moment well the ones<br />that are having the greatest rates of</sub>
<sub>subsidence and don't have any protection<br />any of these lines of defense that John</sub>
<sub>was talking about earlier. Those are the<br />ones that are probably the most</sub>
<sub>vulnerable. But, those areas are?<br />Well, there's Cheniere Plain, the Mississippi</sub>
<sub>Delta, Southeast Louisiana<br />primarily. Just because of the geologic</sub>
<sub>only 7500 years old and as that Delta<br />switched back and forth the Mississippi</sub>
<sub>River switched back and forth across the<br />coast abandoning one area that area just</sub>
<sub>naturally subsides D waters compacts.<br />Okay so.. But one thing that we</sub>
<sub>haven't mentioned about the drivers of<br />change and that is the intensity of</sub>
<sub>storms. And sea level rise is not the<br />only driver at play here okay? And the</sub>
<sub>coastal land loss that is being<br />experienced and the loss of our culture</sub>
<sub>overnight well my parents lost their<br />home. They didn't - we weren't planning for</sub>
<sub>that it just happened. They moved further<br />north and dispersal...diaspora they call</sub>
<sub>it.<br />So the storms drive that and so the</sub>
<sub>planning that the state is putting<br />together now to try to preserve</sub>
<sub>cultures and have this more thoughtful<br />approach to migration and movement of</sub>
<sub>people - is - makes a lot of sense.<br />Because these episodes of dramatic land</sub>
<sub>loss 216 miles overnight square miles<br />lost during Hurricane Katrina. And then</sub>
<sub>Rita right after that. You know those<br />storms are growing more intense</sub>
<sub>since 1980: the landfalling hurricanes<br />from the Atlantic Basin have increased</sub>
<sub>in virtually all measures of intensity<br />in size and rainfall surge so that's</sub>
<sub>something that has to be added to or<br />needs to be added to the equation and</sub>
<sub>the increasing intensity of rainfall<br />events is another. As you increase the</sub>
<sub>temperature of the atmosphere it holds<br />more water. And these are all things</sub>
<sub>we're experiencing. We are. Yeah so, those are things that need to be</sub>
<sub>factored into the stormwater management<br />plan that the Office of Community</sub>
<sub>Development has put together it's not<br />just sea level rise it's all of these</sub>
<sub>other drivers of change that are working<br />collectively to change our coasts. Teagan,</sub>
<sub>let me ask you some of the stories<br />that you've been covering as far back as</sub>
<sub>you've been covering them. What are you<br />finding from people as they are forced</sub>
<sub>to make change in their lives and how<br />are they responding? Well up until now</sub>
<sub>we've really seen an unmanaged retreat.<br />So, like Virginia said, after each storm</sub>
<sub>folks move away. And you know sometimes they follow each other and you know</sub>
<sub>many people from St. Bernard Parish<br />moved to the north shore of Lake</sub>
<sub>Pontchartrain after Hurricane Katrina.<br />Sometimes they are able to retain that</sub>
<sub>identity to an extent there's a seafood<br />restaurant there where they all gather</sub>
<sub>now. But it has been unmanaged and so<br />that means that the folks who have been</sub>
<sub>left are in large part folks who haven't<br />been able to afford to move on their own.</sub>
<sub>And so it's exciting to see this plan<br />being put forth by LA Safe. It's sort of</sub>
<sub>unprecedented, but I think in order to<br />affect actual change there really needs</sub>
<sub>to be funding attached to it.<br />All right Teagen, thank you very much. Now,</sub>
<sub>Matt, let me go to you and get your question, if you will.<br />Sure. What advice would you</sub>
<sub>give today to our local elected<br />officials and community leaders as they</sub>
<sub>contemplate the future of the people in<br />places they represent?</sub>
<sub>That oh well -<br />Bren? I'll be... Anyone</sub>
<sub>speak up. You know I would say that it<br />gets back to some of my previous answers</sub>
<sub>I guess. But to have a good understanding<br />of what the expected risks are to their</sub>
<sub>communities into the future.<br />Because that's the basis for how you you</sub>
<sub>plan today for what's going to happen<br />obviously tomorrow. And so without that</sub>
<sub>understanding of what we think the<br />future may hold for community X</sub>
<sub>community Y. It's sort of the<br />unmanaged approach that Teagan</sub>
<sub>referred to earlier. I think people on<br />the coast have a lot of meeting fatigue</sub>
<sub>you know there's rounds of meetings with<br />every coastal master plan which is good</sub>
<sub>for Public Engagement. There were many<br />rounds of meetings with LA Safe, I think</sub>
<sub>that people on the coast are hungry for<br />bullet points, for information, from their</sub>
<sub>policymakers, about what action they can<br />take now. Let me add to the point that I was</sub>
<sub>gonna make is that I think my advice<br />would: be make sure your citizens your</sub>
<sub>residents are as well-informed as you<br />are - about what the risks are and what</sub>
<sub>our paths are potential paths forward are.<br />What is the community rating</sub>
<sub>system assessment and how does that<br />factor in with insurance rates if it does?</sub>
<sub>I'm not an expert in in CRA, but it<br />essentially provides reductions</sub>
<sub>community-wide reductions in flood<br />insurance costs depending on actions and</sub>
<sub>activities and educational activities by<br />that local government. To reduce flood</sub>
<sub>risk. It can be things like educational<br />tools it can be things that reduce</sub>
<sub>physical risk, but anything that reduces<br />risk overall flood risk for the</sub>
<sub>community can result in a commensurate<br />reduction in their overall premiums for</sub>
<sub>flood insurance. Okay thank you very much<br />for that. Let's go back to our audience</sub>
<sub>and Ralina, one of our students, what is<br />your question for the panel? Hi my name</sub>
<sub>Ralina Ramrakhiani, I'm a member of the<br />Louisiana Legislative Youth Advisory</sub>
<sub>Council. My question is - available for<br />everyone to answer - What do you want to</sub>
<sub>see the new generation of lawmakers<br />implement to ameliorate the sinking of</sub>
<sub>Louisiana? Alright, who wants to test on<br />that one first? Best question yet.</sub>
<sub>I think everybody could answer that - so uh Brynn, you wanna give it a shot first? Why not?</sub>
<sub>That's a really good question and one<br />that stuff too tough to answer I think.</sub>
<sub>I think that, we're moving in this direction now but</sub>
<sub>but I think that an understanding of our<br />lawmakers that these are decisions that</sub>
<sub>while they involve people and very<br />intimately involved people. These are</sub>
<sub>really you know human dimension type<br />questions. That to the extent that we can,</sub>
<sub>we've got to remove politics from the<br />kind of decisions. That we need to make</sub>
<sub>into the future and that the science, the<br />engineering and so forth really has to</sub>
<sub>drive the decisions that we make moving<br />forward. Really, I would just second that.</sub>
<sub>As we work through LA Safe,<br />as we move to the the watershed</sub>
<sub>initiative. The key to that whole thing<br />is focusing on science engineering the</sub>
<sub>data that we have available to make<br />smart decisions together. So that</sub>
<sub>everybody can get optimal benefit from<br />from the actions that we're able to take</sub>
<sub>that we can afford to take. And if I<br />may clarify, I said science and</sub>
<sub>engineering I want to be clear that that<br />includes Social Sciences. So again these</sub>
<sub>decisions absolutely out there at their<br />most basic involve people. They are people</sub>
<sub>decisions and so I want to make sure I'm<br />clear in that statement. Bren , thank you.</sub>
<sub>I've got a quick question the status of<br />the watershed initiative and the funding</sub>
<sub>we saw the mission of that in our<br />original story at the beginning of our</sub>
<sub>program what's the status of that? We are<br />still awaiting guidance</sub>
<sub>HUD. It comes in the form of a Federal<br />Register notice and they have not</sub>
<sub>produced that. We are eagerly awaiting it<br />the appropriation was written I</sub>
<sub>believe in February of 2018. And we've<br />never waited for guidance from HUD for</sub>
<sub>this long, but until we get that guidance<br />we can't really - we have to -</sub>
<sub>write an action plan to tell them how<br />we're gonna spend the money. We can't do</sub>
<sub>that till we see the rules. So we're eagerly awaiting those rules. Okay, now</sub>
<sub>Pat thank you very much. It's a<br />pretty much time for us to wrap up a bit.</sub>
<sub>And so I'm going to ask for a closing<br />comment - a brief run from each of you -</sub>
<sub>beginning with Miss Burkett. Okay, I would<br />just remind us all that there are</sub>
<sub>multiple drivers of change that are<br />working to affect Louisiana coast and so</sub>
<sub>'everything being on the table' as Bren <br />said, you know. All the different</sub>
<sub>strategies for restoring the coast and<br />protecting the people and your question</sub>
<sub>I loved you know what what is in my mind<br />the most important thing is for people</sub>
<sub>to understand to educate themselves to<br />read take the time to delve into</sub>
<sub>understanding and reading the literature<br />that will give you a basis for decision</sub>
<sub>making.<br />Virginia Burkett with USGS. Bren Hasse with</sub>
<sub>CPRA. I would I would just say that you<br />know I think as it relates to how we</sub>
<sub>understand those multiple drivers of<br />what's happening along our coast is key.</sub>
<sub>And we need to continue to improve our<br />understanding of those things and I</sub>
<sub>think the system that we have set up in<br />this community, essentially of all of us</sub>
<sub>sitting here today, is poised to do that.<br />You know I do want people to know that</sub>
<sub>we've got a plan<br />I think we can be successful in that</sub>
<sub>plan and it's going to take all of us<br />pulling in the same direction to</sub>
<sub>accomplish our goals but nothing worth<br />doing is is very easy. Okay,</sub>
<sub>and Tegan Wendland from WWNO. I think<br />it's exciting to see that the state is</sub>
<sub>talking about the human dimensions of<br />land loss you know 10 or 20 years ago we</sub>
<sub>weren't necessarily even recognizing you<br />the extent of this issue and it's taken</sub>
<sub>us a while to get to this point a few<br />years ago it was a very uncomfortable</sub>
<sub>topic to raise with anyone who lives on<br />the coast this idea of relocation and</sub>
<sub>now the state is acknowledging the<br />inevitability that some folks will have</sub>
<sub>to move. And you know that we need to<br />find some ways to move away from this</sub>
<sub>sort of piecemeal approach to funding.<br />And Lobby the federal government to</sub>
<sub>create some sort of funding program to<br />alleviate some of these pressures. And</sub>
<sub>Pat Forbes, Office Community Development,<br />briefly. I would say that every challenge</sub>
<sub>we face is best met when we're all<br />pulling in the same direction and this</sub>
<sub>challenge is no different it's bigger.<br />Which means it requires even more so</sub>
<sub>that we all have common set of facts<br />that we understand and an approach to</sub>
<sub>addressing those facts and that we pull<br />together to do the things we've got to</sub>
<sub>do to to not only survive it but thrive<br />coming out of it. Alright, thank you for</sub>
<sub>that and we have now run out of time for<br />our question and answer segment. So we'd</sub>
<sub>like to thank our panelists: Dr. Burkett,<br />Mr. Haas, Miss Wendland and Mr. Forbes for</sub>
<sub>their insight on this month's topic. When<br />we come back we'll have a few closing</sub>
<sub>comments.</sub>
<sub>That is all the time we have for this<br />edition of Louisiana Public Square. We</sub>
<sub>encourage you to visit the series<br />website at the address on your screen,</sub>
<sub>and while you're there you can view<br />additional coastal resources and you can</sub>
<sub>join in the conversation about tonight's<br />show we would love to hear from you. You</sub>
<sub>can also see how other major<br />metropolitan areas are dealing with</sub>
<sub>climate change on the PBS series: "Sinking<br />Cities." LPB will air the series every</sub>
<sub>Sunday in June at 11 a.m. You can join<br />Louisiana public square next month for a</sub>
<sub>recap of the session on the legislative<br />rap of 2019 thanks everyone for watching</sub>
<sub>and good night.</sub>
<sub>Major funding for "Sinking Cities: Peril<br />& Promise" was provided by Dr. P Roy</sub>
<sub>Vagelos and Diana Vagelos with<br />additional funding from Sue and Edgar</sub>
<sub>Rachenheim, the third and the Mark Hasse<br />Foundation. Additional funding for Peril</sub>
<sub>and Promise is provided by Lise<br />Strickler and Mark Gallogly. "Sinking</sub>
<sub>Cities" was also supported by the Arthur<br />Vining Davis Foundations and viewers like you.</sub>