News – The final EIS is available: https://www.nola.com/news/environment/article_65b9af6e-3837-11ed-903e-a786ab658b0e.html
See also: River Diversion Research Articles
The official site: Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion (MBSD) DRAFT Environmental Impact Statement Released for Public Review and Comment
Note – in order to make it more difficult for reporters and others to use the files, they are published with all of the security settings enabled so that they can only be printed. You cannot copy text out of the files for articles or analysis without loading them into a PDF manager such as Qiqqa.
I have collected all of the Draft EIS documents and indexed them with Acrobat. You can download the collection as a zip file here:
https://biotech.law.lsu.edu/climate/docs/eis.zip
The file is about 688 megs. Unzip this into a subdirectory. You will get the EIS files plus the index files. One file is named MBSD Index.pdx If you open this file in Acrobat or Acrobat reader, it allows you to search all of the files and then page through them to see the search terms in context.
Environmental Justice Issues
US Army Corps of Engineers – 2021 – Draft EIS for the Proposed MBSD Project- Chapter 4 – Environmental Consequences
The environmental justice review starts at p. 615
McCall, Grant S., and Russell D. Greaves. “Creating a Diversion: Why the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion (MBSD) Project Is Unpopular Among Coastal Communities in Southeast Louisiana.” Marine Technology Society Journal 56.3 (2022): 67-83.
Reference Documents
These documents provide the missing information about the problems with the diversion project and the scientific issues it raises.
Akintomide, Omolola A., et al. “Investigating the potential impact of Louisiana coastal restoration on the trace metal geochemistry of constructed marshlands.” Soil Systems 4.3 (2020): 55.
Hollis, Lauris O., and R. Eugene Turner. “The tensile root strength of Spartina patens declines with exposure to multiple stressors.” Wetlands Ecology and Management (2021): 1-11.
Turner, R. Eugene, and Yu Mo. “Salt Marsh Elevation Limit Determined after Subsidence from Hydrologic Change and Hydrocarbon Extraction.” Remote Sensing 13.1 (2021): 49.
Turner, R. Eugene, Christopher Swarzenski, and James E. Bodker. “Soil shear strength losses in two fresh marshes with variable increases in N and P loading.” Wetlands 40.5 (2020): 1189-1199.
Garrison, Lance P., Jenny Litz, and Carrie Sinclair. “Predicting the effects of low salinity associated with the MBSD project on resident common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in Barataria Bay, LA.” (2020).
Brown, G.L., McAlpin, J.N., Pevey, K.C., Luong, P.V., Price, C.R. and Kleiss, B.A., Mississippi River Hydrodynamic and Delta Management Study: Delta Management Modeling. AdH/SEDLIB Multi-Dimensional Model Validation and Scenario Analysis Report; USAReport ERDC/CHL TR-19-2. (2019)
Turner, R. Eugene, et al. “Net land gain or loss for two Mississippi River diversions: Caernarvon and Davis Pond.” Restoration Ecology 27.6 (2019): 1231-1240.
Hollis, Lauris O., and R. Eugene Turner. “The Tensile Root Strength of Spartina patens Varies with Soil Texture and Atrazine Concentration.” Estuaries and Coasts 42.6 (2019): 1430-1439.
Turner, R. Eugene. “The mineral sediment loading of the modern Mississippi River Delta: what is the restoration baseline?.” Journal of Coastal Conservation 21.6 (2017): 867-872.
Deegan, L. A., Johnson, D. S., Warren, R. S., Peterson, B. J., Fleeger, J. W., Fagherazzi, S., & Wollheim, W. M. (2012). Coastal eutrophication as a driver of salt marsh loss. Nature, 490(7420), 388-392. – Supplementary information and photos
Teal, J.M., R. Best, J. Caffrey, C.S. Hopkinson, K.L. McKee, J.T. Morris, S. Newman and B. Orem. 2012. Mississippi River Freshwater Diversions in Southern Louisiana: Effects on Wetland Vegetation, Soils, and Elevation. Edited by A.J. Lewitus, M. Croom, T. Davison, D.M. Kidwell, B.A. Kleiss, J.W. Pahl, and C.M. Swarzenski. Final Report to the State of Louisiana and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers through the Louisiana Coastal Area Science & Technology Program; coordinated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 49 pages.
Turner, R. Eugene. “Beneath the salt marsh canopy: loss of soil strength with increasing nutrient loads.” Estuaries and Coasts 34.5 (2011): 1084-1093.
Michael S. Kearney, J. C. Riter & R. Eugene Turner, Freshwater river diversions for marsh restoration in Louisiana: Twenty-six years of changing vegetative cover and marsh area, 38 Geophysical Research Letters (2011)
R. Eugene Turner, Doubt and the Values of an Ignorance-Based World View for Restoration: Coastal Louisiana Wetlands. Estuaries and Coasts (2009) 32:1054–1068.
Letter Jr, J.V., Pinkard Jr, C.F. and Raphelt, N.K., 2008. River diversions and shoaling. ENGINEER RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER VICKSBURG MS COASTAL AND HYDRAULICS LAB.
Christopher M. Swarzenski, Thomas W. Doyle, Brian Fry, and Thomas G. Hargis. Biogeochemical response of organic-rich freshwater marshes in the Louisiana delta plain to chronic river water influx. Biogeochemistry (2008) 90:49–63.
Turner, R. Eugene. “Will lowering estuarine salinity increase Gulf of Mexico oyster landings?.” Estuaries and Coasts 29.3 (2006): 345-352.
RE Turner, On the cusp of restoration: science and society, Restoration ecology (2005)
Roy K. Dokka, The Anatomy of a Silent Disaster: Ongoing Subsidence and Inundation of the Northern Margin of the Gulf of Mexico Basin An Interview with Dr. Roy Dokka. Houston Geological Society Bulletin, Feb. 2005.
Additional blog posts
The effect of Mississippi River diversions on oyster production
The Geology and Hydrology of the Mississippi Delta
Why the Master Plan will not protect Louisiana and what we should do instead
NOAA views on potential environmental risks of Louisiana Coastal Restoration Plan
Documents that are not publically available
Elsey-Quirk, Tracy, et al. “Mississippi river sediment diversions and coastal wetland sustainability: Synthesis of responses to freshwater, sediment, and nutrient inputs.” Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 221 (2019): 170-183.