Sounding the alarm: Gov. John Bel Edwards has declared a state of emergency for Louisiana’s coast, saying he hopes to draw national attention to coastal land loss. The Associated Press reports the Democratic governor issued the emergency proclamation Wednesday. His office says the proclamation will be sent to President Donald Trump and members of Congress, trying to raise the profile of the state’s erosion troubles as it seeks federal assistance to speed up restoration projects. In a statement, Edwards describes the Louisiana coast as being “in a state of crisis that demands immediate and urgent action to avert further damage to one of our most vital resources.” The emergency proclamation lasts until May 17.
Cash flow: Months after Congress approved $1.6 billion in disaster aid for Louisiana, flood victims can finally tap into that federal aid to help repair their damaged homes. The USA Today Network of Louisiana reports Louisiana can now draw down funds from a line of credit at the federal Treasury to pay contractors repairing the homes of flood victims. Louisiana began accepting applications from homeowners on Monday, April 10. By Tuesday, more than 13,000 had applied. The applications will be handled in phases, starting with the elderly who have low to moderate incomes and households that include a disabled person, state officials say. Read more.
Last stand: When President Donald Trump handed TransCanada Pipeline Co. a permit for its Keystone XL pipeline last month, he said the company could now build the long-delayed and divisive project “with efficiency and with speed.” But Reuters reports the firm will first have to get through a group of more than 90 Nebraska farmers and landowners. The group is making a last stand against the pipeline, which offers a path to get heavy crude from the Canada oil sands to refiners on the U.S. Gulf Coast. The ranchers and farmers are fine-tuning an economic argument that casts the project as a threat to prime farming and grazing lands—vital to Nebraska’s economy—and a foreign company’s attempt to seize American private property. The fate of the Keystone XL which now rests with the Nebraska Public Service Commission. Read the full story.
