Looking back at the state of state coastal policy

in People Issues by Admin — September 30, 2009 at 12:00 pm | 10 comments

Editor’s note: September 30, 2009 marks an entire year since I “escaped” from eighteen years’ employment with the Governor’s Office of Coastal Activities (GOCA). Here are some of my thoughts on the state of state coastal policy after 365 days without the benefit of my two cents’ worth of official input.

I begin by telling a little story on myself. During the 1990′s several of us Louisiana coastal officials and NGO reps* exchanged visits with some of the principals involved with the South Florida (Everglades) project. Our goal was to see what we could learn that would improve the likelihood of restoring at least part of south Louisiana.

I learned from my counterpart Estus Whitfield, then Governor Chiles’ environmental advisor, that the role of a governor is absolutely essential for a massive environmental restoration program to have a chance of success.

I also learned that successive Florida governors Bob Graham, Bob Martinez and Lawton Chiles (continuing later with Jeb Bush and Charlie Crist) had each developed a pivotal, hands-on and relatively non-partisan role in the ambitious program to save the Everglades. Finally, I gained the strong impression that the Jacksonville District of the Corps of Engineers, South Florida water authorities, real estate interests, chambers of commerce, agriculture, and environmental interests were much more engaged than in Louisiana. At that time even the Clinton administration was involved in south Florida, in the form of VP Al Gore and the sister of Attorney General Janet Reno.

In contrast, I had the strong impression that my boss Governor Mike Foster was highly cynical about the chances for saving much of Louisiana’s coast. With the Florida lesson in mind I resolved to try to bring him to the coastal table. I certainly don’t claim full credit for his change but by the last year of his second term he had clearly become inspired by the potential for the Louisiana coastal program, as demonstrated by his enthusiastic involvement in a coastal summit in 2002.

Buoyed by the governor’s new coastal commitment, I decided to tackle the second priority challenge on my list, the virtual absence of state-of-the-art academic science in coastal planning. With a few notable exceptions, my former colleagues at LSU and other academic institutions were not involved and their studies were being ignored.

I made a pivotal (and fateful) decision to give up my relatively secure official post as executive assistant to the governor. I recommended that Karen Gautreaux (a close friend and trusted aide to Foster) take my place while I created a totally insecure and unofficial position for myself as the governor’s “ombudsman” for applied coastal science.

From that moment on my influence on coastal policy began to erode faster than Louisiana coastal wetlands, steadily shrinking throughout the four years of the Katrina snake-bitten administration of Kathleen Blanco. By last September, after the first nine months of the Jindal administration, my influence had virtually disappeared.

Looking back from the perspective of 12 month’s 20-20 hindsight, I sense that I now have more influence as an engaged outsider than as a member of the governor’s “team.” My use of air quotes here reflects the fact that a few years ago I was soundly chastised for not being a sufficiently loyal member of Gov. Blanco’s team. I couldn’t disagree, in that despite my rich experience and passion I had been relegated to warming a bench and never invited into team huddles.

Applied coastal science

After stepping down as executive assistant my proudest role as a state employee was creating an applied coastal science program to award modest grants to academic scientists on a competitive basis, to answer critical coastal questions that were clearly impeding progress. For two and a half years I was responsible for awarding a total of $500 thousand/year for this effort. During its short lifespan this program provoked great interest among the science community and attracted many more credible research proposals than could be funded.

Despite its demonstrable early success this program was not supported by the GOCA. In 2005, before Katrina, my research funding was “reprogrammed.” I was told that the rationale for this (shortsighted) decision was to plug a potential hole in the state budget, with respect to matching federal funding for pending restoration projects. The outcome was that important studies ended prematurely. As we now know, late in 2005 Katrina struck, restoration projects were put on hold and the funding languished uselessly in the coastal trust fund.

Nevertheless, I’m very proud to say that during its short lifespan my modest applied science program funded some critical research that is now paying dividends. For example, the program jumpstarted two essential preliminary studies of the lower Mississippi River: (1) river sediment availability (by Mead Allison) and (2) an ambitious numerical model of the river (by Ehab Meselhe).

Ironically enough, my Governor’s Applied Science Program (GASP) is now being reconstituted on a much more ambitious scale under the so-called Louisiana Applied Coastal Environmental Science program (LACES). In the meantime five vital years have been squandered and the new program is still under development.

Coastal forests

During the Blanco administration I became hopeful that the state would take action on clear evidence that critical huge areas of coastal forests in south Louisiana that provide highly effective storm surge protection were dying and/or being logged, with no chance to regenerate. A highly qualified science advisory group was commissioned, a report was produced and a series of meetings were held to develop best management practices for coastal forests.**

Unfortunately, this promising effort seems to have fallen through the cracks during the Blanco-Jindal transition. Louisiana’s coastal forests continue to shrink and cypress mulch continues to be produced in coastal Louisiana. On a positive note, some large tracts of dysfunctional but restorable privately-owned coastal forest in the Manchac system have been deeded to the state. Some money under the Coastal Impact Assistance Program (CIAP) has been approved to purchase easements from forest landowners but no contracts have been signed. I also understand that 30-year easements are on the table, rather than permanent prohibitions on logging.

Levees vs. coastal wetlands and barrier shorelines

As pointed out in previous posts, Louisiana’s coastal protection and restoration program has dramatically changed since Katrina. The most obvious metamorphosis is a transition from a $14 billion restoration program to what is now being estimated as a $100+ billion protection and restoration program. My guess is that the $86 billion difference in cost is primarily the extremely high cost of hurricane levees. My sense is that a political shift is occurring, and that levee advocates are rapidly gaining the upper hand. This buck must ultimately stop on the governor’s desk but I’ve heard no official acknowledgment of the issue.

Gulf hypoxia

One of my responsibilities and primary interests in the governor’s office was to officially represent the state on the national task force dealing with gulf hypoxia (the so-called dead zone). I had the technical knowledge and experience to aggressively speak out for the state on hypoxia. Garret Graves, governor Jindal’s coastal advisor, has officially inherited this responsibility but he has no personal or staff expertise on gulf hypoxia. Rick Raynie, with the Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration, attended the most recent meeting of the task force that was held on September 26-28 in deMoines, Iowa. I’m certain that Rick did his very best but his knowledge of the issue and its history is extremely limited. Louisiana has the most to lose on this issue.

Miscellaneous observation

I’m curious that Mike Foster, who clearly loves the coast where he hunts and fishes, has become invisible from a coastal standpoint. This is especially unusual in that he was Bobby Jindal’s principal mentor when the current governor was beginning his political career.

Now, having exceeded my plan for the length of this piece, my look back on state coastal policy will have to be continued later, hopefully before next September 30!

Len Bahr

*Mark Davis, Greg Ducote, Karen Gautreaux, Bill Good, Randy Hanchey, Terry Howie, Paul Kemp, Kathryn Vaughn and yours truly.

**It should be noted that during this time Senator David Vitter sided with landowners against any restriction of logging rights.