Report will ask feds to rebuild wetlands, barrier islands

Recommendations that the federal government find ways to use Mississippi River sediment to rebuild wetlands and barrier islands will be included in a long-awaited report by the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force to be released next week, says task force Executive Director John Hankinson. The report will also recommend the federal government follow the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority’s master plan for saving coastal Louisiana, and create an interagency working group of federal agencies to speed up the permitting process for approving restoration projects. Speaking Wednesday at an America’s WETLAND Blue Ribbon Resilient Communities Forum in Houma, Hankinson also expressed interest in exploring opportunities for more public-private partnerships in coastal restoration projects. The four major goals laid out in the task force report to be made public next week are habitat restoration and conservation, water quality restoration, marine and coastal resources, and increased resiliency of coastal communities. Also Wednesday, Jeff Williams of Entergy presented findings of a $4.2 million Entergy-America’s WETLAND Foundation study showing losses of assets on the Gulf Coast could top $350 billion over the next 20 years due to coastal erosion. The task force was created by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Learn more about it here.