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June 2011
The Conveyance Online
Restore or Retreat's E-newsletter
In This Issue
New Landloss Numbers
NRDA Explained
Volunteers Needed

Donor Spotlight: 

LOOP 

LOOP 

Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, or LOOP, is an LLC who primary business is offloading foreign crude oil from tankers, storing crude oil, and transporting crude oil via connecting pipelines to refineries through the Gulf Coast and Midwest. LOOP is also the storage and terminating facility for the MARS pipeline system and its supply of offshore Gulf of Mexico crude oil. Marathon Pipe Line, Murphy Oil and Shell Oil Company are LOOP's owners.

 

LOOP has been a generous donor to Restore or Retreat since its inception. We are truly grateful for all of their support.

Restore or Retreat Executive Committee

 

Mike Plaisance, President

Plaisance Dragline and Dredging

 

Ted Falgout, Vice President

Ted M. Falgout and Associates

 

Robert Naquin, Treasurer

Capital One

 

Henri Boulet, Secretary

LA 1 Coalition

 

Tim Allen

Apache Louisiana Minerals

 

Charlotte Bollinger

Bollinger Shipyards

 

Berwick Duval

Duval, Funderburk, Sundbery, Lovell and Watkins

 

Dr. John J. Jones, Jr.

Jones Mora Dermatology

Calendar

June 20

Early NRDA Public Meeting

Room 110 Weinmann Hall

Tulane University School of Law

 

June 27-28

America's Wetland Blue Ribbon Resilency Forum

Houston, TX

 

Monday, June 27

Gulf Ecosystem Restoration Task Force Meeting

Galveston, TX

 

Wednesday, July 13

9am- Governor's Advisory Commission, Baton Rouge

 

 Wednesday, July 20

9:30am- CPRA, Baton Rouge

Quick Links

Is it time to ask again: Restore or Retreat??

How has Louisiana Wetlands changed since 1932?  USGS helps us to find the answers

 Landchanges

The USGS National Wetlands Research Center has developed a new map that illustrates wetland losses and gains on the Louisiana coastline from 1932-2010.  The product provides opportunities to better understand the timing and causes of wetland loss, which are critical for forecasting landscape changes in the future.  The color-coded map can be found online

 

Coastal Louisiana has lost a wetland area the size of Delaware, equaling 1883 square miles, over the past 78 years, according to the study.  Twenty-fiver percent of the wetland area present in 1932 was lost by 2010.  The impacts to human populations, the oil and gas infrastructure, fisheries and wildlife will be considerable if coastal wetlands continue to disappear.
  
The report does indicate, however, that the rate of coastal land loss over the 2008-2010 period has significantly decreased and the state may have actually gained land during this two-year period.
  
Since 2008, Governor Bobby Jindal and the Louisiana Legislature have made exponential increases in hurricane protection, coastal restoration, flood control and community resiliency.  During the period, the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority has approved an estimated $1.5 billion in coastal investments in Louisiana.  
  

What is NRDA?

From the Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration

 

Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) is a legal process whereby trustees represent the public interest to ensure that natural resources injured in an oil spill are restored. The trustees assess the injuries to our natural resources from a spill, develop restoration plan(s) and implement those plans in order to compensate the public for the injuries incurred.

 

Making the environment and public whole includes both restoring injured resources to the condition they would have been in had the spill not occurred as well as compensating for the temporal loss of natural resources, and the ecosystem services they provide, from the time of injury until the time they are fully restored.

 

Typically, in the NRDA process, the trustees will develop a restoration plan or series of plans to compensate for those injuries after the injuries are assessed and the scope and scale of those injuries is determined. However, plans for early restoration projects may be developed prior to the completion of the injury assessment, when opportunities arise, to achieve restoration faster.

 

On April 21, 2011, the Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) trustees reached an agreement whereby BP committed $1 billion to fund early restoration projects. These funds will be divided among the trustees pursuant to the early restoration allocation agreement. $500 million will be split equally among the Gulf State Trustees (Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Texas); $200 million will be split equally among the Federal Trustees (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Department of Interior); and $300 million will be used to fund state sponsored restoration projects based upon impacts. Louisiana first made the request for BP to fund early restoration in July 2010 and laid the groundwork for this negotiation.

 

The State of Louisiana is currently engaged in the process of selecting potential early restoration projects, as are other impacted state and federal trustees. For the past year, Louisiana has worked with coastal stakeholders through a variety of public outreach and coordination efforts to build a master list of potential projects for both early and long-term restoration of the State's natural resources that were injured by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

 

Through the combination of a concerted stakeholder and public outreach effort and the State's Regional Restoration Planning Program, Louisiana has compiled a list of over 300 restoration project candidates. These projects reflect the ideas and input of a variety of coastal stakeholders. Click here to view the current master list.

Louisiana continues to accept restoration project submittals. Project proposals may be submitted online at http://losco-dwh.com/ .

 

Projects received through June 25, 2011, will be analyzed by the State's natural resource trustees for potential inclusion in an early restoration plan. Projects submitted after this date and those not selected for the initial phase of early restoration planning will be considered for future stages of both early and long-term restoration.

 

The State of Louisiana remains committed to outreach and engagement efforts and will continue in those efforts throughout the NRDA process.  In addition to our regularly scheduled monthly coastal stakeholders meetings, we will also hold a public meeting to solicit early restoration projects on June 20, 2011 from 5:30 to 8:30 pm in Room 110 in Weinmann Hall at Tulane University School of Law.

Hit the Beach and Help Out

You are invited to participate in a marsh restoration project on the shoreline of Grand Isle State Park, an area several impacted by recent hurricanes and the 2010 oil spill 

 

Want to spend a Saturday at the beach?  Come down to Grand Isle on June 25 and help a worthy cause!

  

Volunteers are needed to help with a marsh restoration project on Saturday, June 25 from 10am-3pm.  The restoration area provides essential protection of our inland communities and wetlands.  The event, supported by the National Wildlife Federation, Nicholls State University, and Grand Isle State Park, will include planting over 1000 mangrove tress to assist in stabilizing and capturing sand in the hopes of building dunes.  In addition the project will also create wildlife habitat, increase species diversity and provide a seed source for natural regeneration.   

 

All planting equipment (gloves, shovels, etc.), sunscreen and bug spray will all be provided to all volunteers.  Drinks and lunch will be provided as well.  Minors under the age of 16 must be accompanied by an adult. Old tennis shoes, knee boots, and comfortable shoes are recommended.  Please be prepared to get wet and muddy; a change of clothes and  towel for the end of the day is also recommended.

To participate, please register online at www.crcl.org or call the CRCL at 888-LA-COAST.  For more information, please email [email protected]

 

Thank you for your continuous support for our organization!  We are looking forward to another great year in 2011.
 
Sincerely,

Simone Maloz

Executive Director

Restore or Retreat, Inc.