The WaterMarks Interview
Woody CrewsWoody Crews has been actively involved as a citizen participant in the development of the Coast 2050 Plan. Mr. Crews, who lives in the New Orleans area where he was born and raised, is a member of the Jefferson Parish Marine Fisheries Advisory Board.
Q Mr. Crews, how do you see the challenge facing the Coast 2050 planners?
A This is a tremendous, tremendous problem we're facing. The Delta and the Delta plains took 10, 15, 20 thousand years to create, and we screwed them up pretty good in 70 to 80 years. It's going to take a lot of time to rebuild. But before we can rebuild, we have to stop the bleeding. We have to slow down the effect of salt water on our freshwater marshes, reverse the processes, in direct contrast to what we've been doing for the last 70 years. At the same time, I know that in south Louisiana we use our wetlands commercially for the seafood industry, the oil and gas industry, transportation - all kinds of things. These things all have to be taken into account because a lot of people's jobs are affected, a lot of people's lives are affected.
Q What has impressed you about the level of public involvement in the creation of Coast 2050?
A There may have been other plans that had public involvement, but this is the first one I had any hands-on experience with. The thing that impressed me the most was that the managers of this program came in with a blank slate. They said, How are we going to work this process?" As a result, it was a real joint effort of the public and the federal, state and local agencies.
"The Delta and the Delta plains took 10, 15, 20 thousand years to create, and we screwed them up pretty good in 70 to 80 years. It's going to take a lot of time to rebuild."
Q What about the business community in Louisiana? Does it have significant interest in Coast 2050?
A I'm in the insurance business; any effects of the plan on us will be peripheral. But let's talk about the businesses that use the coastal wetlands. Commercial fishermen - without Coast 2050, the marshes will continue to erode to the point here we no longer have a stable estuary to provide a nursery ground for small shrimp, crabs, shellfish, and finfish. Are they going to see an impact? You'd better believe it.
Then let's look at the oil and gas industry. Their infrastructure in shore has not been built with the same strength as infrastructure that's built offshore. But now inshore drilling faces the same threat as offshore because as these marshes and backwaters have degraded, they have now become huge bays hat can receive tremendous wave and tidal action. If we don't rebuild these marshes, the infrastructure will have to be redesigned or rebuilt because the protective fringing marshes will have eroded to nothing.
And of course on the transportation side, there are boats and ships that use channels that have been dredged through, particularly the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet. That particular channel was supposed to be some 200 yards wide-now in places it's over a mile wide. Tremendous amounts of salt water can move uninhibited directly into inshore waters. To reduce or even lose off that flow of water would mean somehow closing off that structure. If that outlet is closed or access becomes limited as a result of Coast 2050, those vessels are going to have to figure out another way to unload their cargo.
Q Is there anything really new in Coast 2050? How does it differ from other coastal preservation plans?
A My answer has to be, there's probably nothing new, and probably everything is new. I thought I had seen some awfully good ideas before, but nothing that linked the plans for eastern Louisiana and western coastal Louisiana. This particular document ties in all the coastal parishes - it has the 100 percent unanimous support of all the local governments.
Then there is also in this plan the realization that we can't fix the problems tomorrow and we can't fix them next year. We need to think geologically - very long-term. Everybody thinks we can rebuild by putting a dredge out there and creating mountains or creating level flatlands. We really can't do it like that. The processes are so dynamic that we have to use natural forces like riverwater diversion, like freshwater diversion, like selected dredging projects in order to rebuild over time. I think all the theories were there before, but I think this is the first time it's been all brought together.
"There is a very real decision that has to be made about whether south Louisiana is going to survive. If it is, the cost is going to be considerable. I know that the first cost estimates were roughly $14 billion projected over the next 20 - 35 years. Can we spend it? In a flash."
Q You've touched on this already, but what do you think are the most controversial aspects of the Coast 2050 Plan?
A There is a very real decision that has to be made about whether south Louisiana is going to survive. If it is, the cost is going to be considerable. I know that the first cost estimates were roughly $14 billion projected over the next 20 - 35 years. Can we spend it? In a flash. The problem is that the return on investment may not come for a very long time, and that of course will generate controversy.
We've been doing projects with a chunk of money from Program A and a chunk from Program B and a chunk from Program C. We need a Coast 2050 program that funds the entirety. Louisiana must provide some of the funding, but we're not a rich state. Much of the damage has come from the oil and gas industry and from the navigational waterways, and a lot of people all around the nation have benefited from these. So I believe it's a national responsibility to help restore the damage.
Q What advice would you give the managers of Coast 2050?
A I'd say let those directly affected by the loss of wetlands carry the message to Congress and to the nation. They are the ones who should tell the story - the people who live in the communities along the wetlands, and the people who are affected by the loss of the storm surge buffer. And I'd advise the managers not to lose touch with the public. This plan can't be sold without public support.