Resource Environmental Solutions has launched an “education initiative” regarding the Spanish Lake watershed—the subject of heated debate since a decision by Iberville Parish to open a floodgate that has kept the Spanish Lake sub-basin flooded. Opening the Alligator Bayou floodgate has resulted in the draining of Spanish Lake and the loss of business for the company that conducted tours there.
Kevin Couhig, RES managing director, says emotions surrounding the issue have overshadowed “the scientific evidence and historical facts of the Spanish Lake ecology.” Opening the floodgate has allowed the area to revert to its natural ebb-and-flow cycle, he says, adding that RES has been unfairly vilified as being only motivated by profit. RES is a wetlands mitigation company that bought land near Spanish Lake to set up a for-profit mitigation bank. Mitigation banks are a vehicle for development in wetlands, whereby developers buy credits in restored, enhanced, preserved or created wetlands to compensate for wetlands destroyed during new construction.
Couhig says his company’s profit is minimal and that opening the floodgate was “in the best interest of the ecosystem.” A number of environmental groups, including the Louisiana Environmental Action Network and the Louisiana Audubon Council, have disputed that reasoning, arguing that opening the floodgate has damaged natural resources.—Steve Clark
