CPRA: Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority
A Master Plan for Louisiana’s Coast
The displacement of hundreds of thousands. A nationwide spike in fuel prices. A loss in the fishing industry of more than $176 million.
The 2005 hurricane season forcefully demonstrated the economic and environmental importance of coastal Louisiana to the entire nation and the necessity of comprehensive coastal protection if Louisiana is to survive. So as the state began to dry out and clean up in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Louisiana’s government looked toward the future and grappled with the questions of how the state could most wisely rebuild, what plan would provide the best protection from future disasters.
Courtesy of USACE “State officials realized hurricane protection and coastal restoration must be integrated,” says Jon Porthouse, project director for the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority’s Integrated Planning Team. “As the coast deteriorates, the gulf moves closer and increases the probability of flooding; a degraded landscape raises the risk of storm damage in our communities. But building flood protection structures can cause further degradation in the environment. We want to make sure we build them in a way that ensures the sustainability of the natural system.”
To achieve this goal, in November 2005 the Louisiana Legislature established a single entity, the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA). Members include representatives from the governor’s office, many state agencies, coastal parishes and levee districts. CPRA works with various governmental and political entities including the Louisiana Recovery Authority, the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Coastal Protection and Restoration and the state Legislature.
Landscape and flora, engineering and architecture defend coastal residents against the
destructive power of hurricanes, with evacuation the measure of last resort. Strengthening
natural defenses enhances protection of all inhabitants of the environment and reduces reliance
on man-made structures. Courtesy of Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation
Attaining Sustainable Protection
The primary objective of CPRA’s plan is to provide sustainable protection of coastal assets, both natural and man-made. Such protection will ensure that the coastal zone will continue to exist for future generations to use in diverse ways. To achieve this goal, the plan will implement measures to
- reduce storm damages from flooding to residential, public, industrial and commercial infrastructure, providing a minimum level of protection from storm surge conditions equivalent to a one percent annual chance of recurrence
- sustain diverse fish and wildlife habitats that support an array of commercial and recreational activities coastwide
- maximize productivity and resilience (the ability of a system to withstand naturally variable conditions and/or recover from such disturbances) of the coastal ecosystem
- sustain, to the extent practicable, the unique heritage of coastal Louisiana by protecting historic sites and supporting traditional cultures and their ties to the natural environment
Proposed measures are structural, such as levees and floodgates; nonstructural, such as elevated buildings and evacuation routes; or are methods of coastal restoration, such as protecting or enhancing barrier islands, marshes and ridges.
These measures are complementary; combining them increases the potential success of each. For example, an expanse of marsh might protect a levee from erosive waves. However, compromises among the degree of hurricane protection, the amount of ecosystem disruption, the sustainability of economic activities and other factors will be unavoidable. Obtaining protection from a Category 5 hurricane might require structures that reduce tidal exchanges and alter vegetative cover. Stakeholders and the public will participate in choosing the tradeoffs.
Act 8
Passed during the First Extraordinary Session of the Louisiana Legislature in late 2005, Act 8 created the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA). The legislation mandates integration of hurricane protection and coastal restoration for the first time in Louisiana’s history, and gives CPRA the power, duty and specific responsibility to provide the state with comprehensive coastal protection.
With expanded powers and duties, CPRA replaces Louisiana’s Wetlands Conservation and Restoration Authority. CPRA will manage funding of coastal protection through the Coastal Protection and Restoration Trust Fund. The bill defines the following terms:
Coastal protection: plans, projects, policies and programs intended to provide hurricane protection or coastal conservation or restoration
Hurricane protection: a system of barriers and associated elements to provide protection against tidal surges
Conservation and restoration: the conservation, protection, enhancement and restoration of coastal wetlands resources including but not limited to coastal wetlands and barrier shorelines or reefs
Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco and cabinet members (left to right) Department of Natural Resources Secretary Scott Angelle, Department of Transportation and Development Secretary Johnny Bradberry and Executive Director for Coastal Activities Sidney Coffee worked with key legislators to draft and pass legislation creating the CPRA in 2005.
Integrating Plans for Comprehensive Protection
To develop the master plan, CPRA formed the Integrated Planning Team (IPT) to coordinate efforts with state and federal agencies and other political subdivisions, including levee districts. Basing its work on past experience and the vision of south Louisiana’s future as determined by stakeholders participating in numerous workshops, IPT formulated two alternative plans. Each a combination of structural, non-structural and coastal restoration options, the plans weighed factors such as
- the importance of buildings and infrastructure necessary to human habitation in the coastal zone
- assets of national and state importance as well as of local value
- risks to the natural environment and natural resources, including probable future changes such as sea level rise
- risks of flooding and land loss under various storm conditions
In the year following Katrina's landfall, efforts to restore Louisiana's hurricane protection system included building improved floodwalls and
installing temporary floodgates and additional drainage pumps. State and federal agencies are working to strengthen southern Louisiana's
capability to endure severe storm conditions by combining flood protection with coastal restoration.Courtesy of USACE
The final master plan, due in spring of 2007, will combine aspects of the alternative plans deemed best able to achieve the authority’s objectives. Louisiana’s Department of Natural Resources will bear primary responsibility for carrying out plan elements relating to coastal wetlands conservation and restoration, and the Department of Transportation and Development will bear responsibility for the plan’s hurricane protection measures.