The state Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority should invest more money in "nonstructural" strategies such as raising, relocating or buying private buildings in coastal flood areas as part of its $600 million fiscal year 2011 annual plan for ecosystem restoration and hurricane protection, say five local and national conservation groups.
The annual plan, which spells out how the state will implement its master plan for building levees and coastal restoration projects, comes up for a vote at the authority's meeting Wednesday morning in Baton Rouge. While the annual plan discusses an ongoing study of ways to write land use and zoning ordinances in coastal parishes o include such nonstructural strategies, it does not recommend setting aside money for relocations or buyouts.
"Architectural, land use, and community planning solutions -- such as elevation and evacuation planning -- must work in conjunction with restoring wetlands and strategically placed levees to reduce risk to people and property," said a joint statement by the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, Environmental Defense Fund, Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, National Audubon Society and National Wildlife Federation. "The good news is that such techniques can be implemented in just a few years and they are very cost-effective."
The groups recommend amending the annual plan to include a commitment to a strong nonstructural program.
They also recommend that state agencies overseeing the federally financed Hazard Mitigation Grant Program and Community Development Block Grant program coordinate the grants they issue with coastal restoration and hurricane protection projects to maximize their use for nonstructural programs.
The annual plan includes $47.2 million in Hazard Mitigation Grant Program money and $27.4 million in Community Development Block Grant money.
While both programs provide grants for nonstructural solutions, the conservation groups contend there should be more emphasis placed on those alternatives.
The present annual plan calls for about $123 million to be spent in Terrebonne Parish, noted Brian Jackson, a community resiliency specialist with the Environmental Defense Fund, with $75 million going to build a small portion of the Morganza to Gulf levee project and $10 million to $15 million going to pumps. The rest would go to a variety of programs, including a small amount for mitigation projects, including elevating homes and businesses.
"That's good, but that's just a fraction when the big pie is $123 million," he said. "It does not necessarily line up with the view the master plan gives of treating nonstructural risk reduction methods with the same priority of other methods." Jackson said the conservation groups recognize that they can be criticized by community leaders and residents would oppose for recommending pulling money away from levees. But he said the nonstructural proposals would be more likely to assist more people more quickly.
"Our view is that smart levee protection, strategically placed levees are absolutely necessary," Jackson said. "That said, whether Morganza to the Gulf is one of those, we're not going to say. But even combined with coastal restoration projects, their protective benefits will only be realized in decades to come.
"Even if you had the entire $75 million thrown into the levee, it would not provide immediate risk reduction for all these communities," he said. "The beauty of nonstructural methods is that they reduce risk whether you're in front or behind the biggest baddest levees, because levees aren't foolproof."
