Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2016 Policies of Loss: Coastal Erosion and the Struggle to Save Louisiana's Wetlands Rebecca B. Costa Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Costa, Rebecca B., "Policies of Loss: Coastal Erosion and the Struggle to Save Louisiana's Wetlands" (2016). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 4299. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/4299 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. POLICIES OF LOSS: COASTAL EROSION AND THE STRUGGLE TO SAVE LOUISIANA’S WETLANDS A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy in The Department of History by Rebecca B. Costa B.A., University of South Alabama, 2003 M.A., University of South Alabama, 2008 December 2016 For Vincent: Thank you for your support (and letting me ignore you when I was writing) ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Writing a dissertation is a solitary activity but not one that you can accomplish on your own. I have enjoyed the support of the faculty in the history department at Louisiana State University since 2008. Under their guidance, I have learned how to think and work like a professional historian, and I am grateful for the many lessons they have taught me. I would especially like to thank Dr. Alecia P. Long, who has served as the major professor on my dissertation committee and oversaw my performance as a teaching assistant at LSU. Her insight, patience, and encouragement have been invaluable, and I am a better scholar and teacher because of her influence. I am also grateful to the other members of my dissertation committee for their feedback in classes or during the process of my general examinations. Dr. Andrew Burstein, Dr. David Culbert, Dr. Charles Shindo, and Dr. Margaret Reams – thank you. I would like to extend my appreciation to the archival staff at Hill Memorial Library at LSU as well. Their knowledge, efficiency, and helpfulness were greatly appreciated during my months of research. Perhaps the greatest debt of gratitude that I owe is to my parents, Steven and Patricia Bond. I would not be where I am today if they had not loved me, supported me, and sacrificed for me these many years. I would also like to thank my sister and brother-in-law, Sarah and Scot Dorger who helped me on more than one occasion while I was on the way to earning my PhD. My compatriots in the history department deserve my appreciation as well, especially Erin Halloran and Lindsay Silver. Not only have these people been my friends for the better part of a decade, they too have taught me about being a better historian and teacher. Finally, thank you to my husband for his encouragement throughout this long endeavor. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………………iii List of Selected Abbreviations………………………..…………………………………………...v Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………..vii Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..1 Chapter 1: Louisiana Politics and Economics in the Twentieth Century………………………..16 Chapter 2: The Policies of Louisiana’s Coast and American Environmentalism……………….53 Chapter 3: Policy Developments in the 1970s…………………………………………………...90 Chapter 4: Policy Developments in the 1980s……………………………………………….....126 Chapter 5: Policy Developments in the 1990s………………………………………………….161 Chapter 6: Policy Developments in the 2000s……………………………………………….…198 Epilogue…………...……………………………………………………………………………234 Bibliography…………………...……………………………………………………………….245 Vita……………...…………………………………………………………………...…………262 iv LIST OF SELECTED ABBREVIATIONS CARA – Conservation and Reinvestment Act CBRA – Coastal Barrier Resources Act CEIP – Coastal Energy Impact Program CEPTF – Coastal Environment Protection Trust Fund CEQ – President’s Council on Environmental Quality CIAP – Coastal Impact Assistance Program CMP – Coastal Management Plan CPC – City Planning Commission of New Orleans CPRA – Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority CRCL – Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana CUP – Coastal Use Permit CWA – Clean Water Act CWEL – Coastal Wetlands Environmental Levy CWPPRA – Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act (Breaux Act) CZMA – Coastal Zone Management Act DNR – Louisiana Department of Natural Resources DOTD – Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development DWF – Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries EIS – Environmental Impact Statement EWRA – Emergency Wetlands Resources Act FSA – Food Security Act of 1985 FWPCA – Federal Water Pollution Control Act v FWS – United States Fish and Wildlife Service GOMESA – Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act LACCMR – Louisiana Advisory Commission on Coastal and Marine Resources LCA – Louisiana Coastal Area program LCC – Louisiana Coastal Commission LCWRP – Louisiana Coastal Wetlands Restoration Plan LOOP – Louisiana Offshore Oil Port LPVHPP – Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity Hurricane Protection Project LWCF – Land and Water Conservation Fund MLODS – Multiple Lines of Defense Strategy MRC – Mississippi River Commission MRGO – Mississippi River Gulf Outlet NEPA – National Environmental Policy Act NRC – National Research Council OCS – Outer Continental Shelf PAR – Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana PPL – Priority Project List SLCRMA – State and Local Coastal Resources Management Act SLO – Louisiana State Land Office USACE – United States Army Corps of Engineers WCRTF – Wetlands Conservation and Restoration Trust Fund WLFC – Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission WRPA – Water Resources Planning Act vi ABSTRACT Since the 1930s, Louisiana has lost approximately 1,800 square miles of land due to the subsidence of the state’s coastal wetlands. By the early 1970s, public officials and private citizens were starting to become aware of the crisis on the coast, and a broad agreement developed among state and federal representatives that action was needed to address the problem. Over the course of nearly forty years, policymakers in Louisiana and Washington, D.C., implemented a series of laws and regulations meant to protect vulnerable ecosystems like the state’s wetlands. In the 1980s, officials also started crafting policies to help restore Louisiana’s shrinking coastline. While considerable progress has been made to slow the subsidence, stopping or reversing coastal erosion has proven to be nearly impossible. Inefficient bureaucratic management, insufficient funding, and the failure to substantially alter land-use and water-use policies in Louisiana have undermined the state’s conservation and restoration efforts since the 1970s. The catastrophic consequences of Hurricane Katrina forced officials in Baton Rouge and the federal government to correct some long-standing problems, but the implementation of a fully comprehensive restoration and management plan remains piecemeal – even a decade after the devastating 2005 hurricane season. This dissertation examines the broad context of the political and economic climate that contributed to the development of coastal erosion in Louisiana and closely examines the state and federal policy responses to the crisis between 1970 and 2009. vii INTRODUCTION Between 1932 and 2010, the state of Louisiana experienced a net loss of land that totaled 1,883 square miles.1 The average rate of loss during the time period 1956-1978 was about thirty square miles per year, while the annual rate of loss was approximately sixteen square miles from 1985-2010.2 The sinking of wetlands is a normal part of the deltaic cycle, but Louisiana gained more land than was lost until the twentieth century. After the 1930s, the state’s coastline started to retreat as wetlands were lost without being replaced. Government representatives and the public became aware that Louisiana was losing land by the early 1970s, and officials began to implement a series of laws and regulations to combat the erosion. Yet the policy responses were often slow, poorly funded, or too fragmented to effectively halt the loss of wetlands. Not until 2007 did the state commit to the sort of large-scale restoration program that had been urged by coastal experts for at least twenty years. Specific projects designed to reduce land loss and flooding events did not appear in a comprehensive master plan until 2012.3 Given the significance of Louisiana’s wetlands to its economy, infrastructure, and coastal population, one might wonder what took so long. A lack of support for coastal restoration does not seem to explain the long gap between recognition and action. When state officials were considering whether to accept the master plan 1 Brady Couvillion et al., Land Area Change in Coastal Louisiana from 1932 to 2010 (Denver, CO: U.S. Geological Survey, 2011) 4, http://pubs.usgs.gov/sim/3164/downloads/SIM3164_Pamphlet.pdf. 2 Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, “Louisiana Coastal Facts,” (Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, 2011), 1, http://www.americaswetland.com/photos/article/ Coastal_facts_sheet_03_27_2012.pdf.