At Risk Areas, Coastal Restoration Mythology, New Orleans, Sea Level Rise

Topographic Map Showing Louisiana Risks from Sea Level Rise

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Thumbnail of and link to report PDF (51.7 MB)

State of Louisiana—Highlighting Low-Lying Areas Derived from USGS Digital Elevation Data (large file)

In support of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) disaster preparedness efforts, this map depicts a color shaded relief representation highlighting the State of Louisiana and depicts the surrounding areas using muted elevation colors. The first 30 feet of relief above mean sea level are displayed as brightly colored 5-foot elevation bands, which highlight low-elevation areas at a coarse spatial resolution. Areas below sea level typically are surrounded by levees or some other type of flood-control structures. Standard USGS National Elevation Dataset (NED) 1 arc-second (nominally 30-meter) digital elevation model (DEM) data are the basis for the map, which is designed to be used at a broad scale and for informational purposes only.

The NED data are a mixture of data and were derived from the original 1:24,000-scale USGS topographic map bare-earth contours, which were converted into gridded quadrangle-based DEM tiles at a constant post spacing (grid cell size) of either 30 meters (data before the mid-1990s) or 10 meters (mid-1990s and later data). These individual-quadrangle DEMs were then converted to spherical coordinates (latitude/longitude decimal degrees) and edge-matched to ensure seamlessness. Approximately one-half of the area shown on this map has DEM source data at a 30-meter resolution, with the remaining half consisting of mostly 10-meter contour-derived DEM data and some small areas of higher-resolution LIght Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) data along parts of the coastline.

Areas below sea level typically are surrounded by levees or some other type of flood-control structures.

State and parish boundary, hydrography, city, and road layers were modified from USGS National Atlas data downloaded in 2003. The NED data were downloaded in 2007.

GHG Regulation, International Law, Law, Teaching Materials

Climate Change Laws of the World

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http://web.law.columbia.edu/climate-change/resources/climate-change-laws-world

Climate Change Laws of the World

Countries around the world are taking important domestic actions to help tackle the issue of climate change. This page collects the relevant laws and policies of various countries into an easily accessible database.

The database is a work in progress, with countries being added as relevant expertise becomes available. SCCCL invites and welcomes collaboration in helping to develop and keep current this expansive and rapidly changing body of laws. Please email additions and updates to ColumbiaClimate@gmail.com.

Climate Change, Extreme Weather, FEMA, Flood Maps, Flooding, Flooding mitigation, Global Warming, National Flood Insurance Program, Teaching Materials

Executive Order: Taking Action to Protect Communities and Reduce the Cost of Future Flood Disasters

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Original Fact Sheet: Taking Action to Protect Communities and Reduce the Cost of Future Flood Disasters

Executive Order – Establishing A Federal Flood Risk Management Standard And A Process For Further Soliciting And Considering Stakeholder Input

FEMA Flood Risk Management Site

Federal Flood Risk Management Standard – Proposed Jan 2015

EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20503
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: press@ceq.eop.gov
January 30, 2015

FACT SHEET: Taking Action to Protect Communities and Reduce the Cost of Future Flood Disasters

Across the country, extreme weather and other impacts of climate change are threatening the health, safety, and prosperity of our communities. This month, NOAA and NASA announced that 2014 was the hottest global year on record. And as the planet continues to warm, impacts like rising sea levels, intensified storms, and heavy downpours are contributing to an increased risk of flooding. President Obama is committed to ensuring that American communities thrive in the face of a changing climate. That is why, today, the President signed an Executive Order establishing a flood standard that will reduce the risk and cost of future flood disasters by requiring all Federal investments in and affecting floodplains to meet higher flood risk standards. By requiring that Federally funded buildings, roads and other infrastructure are constructed to better withstand the impacts of flooding, the President’s action will support the thousands of communities that have strengthened their local floodplain management codes and standards, and will help ensure Federal projects last as long as intended.

This new Federal Flood Risk Management Standard, called for by the President’s State, Local and Tribal Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience, builds on the unprecedented actions President Obama has taken to support communities as they prepare for the impacts of climate change. Agencies will have flexibility in implementing the new Standard and will incorporate input from the public and stakeholders as they move forward, including through a series of public listening sessions across the country. This week, the Army Corps of Engineers released a comprehensive study that evaluates flood risks to the coastal areas affected by Hurricane Sandy and provides a framework to help communities address increasing flood risks. The study, which was called for by Congress, emphasizes the importance of improved planning, and notes that managing coastal storm risk is a shared responsibility by all levels of government. The Administration has made significant investments in resilient disaster recovery in the wake of devastating storms like Hurricane Sandy to ensure that infrastructure projects factor in climate impacts like rising sea levels, and to invest in making transit systems more resilient to flooding and extreme weather.

Coastal Restoration, Coastal Restoration Mythology, LA Plan

The True Cost of Louisiana Coastal Restoration

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Turning Coastal Restoration and Protection Plans Into Realities: The Cost of Comprehensive Coastal Restoration and Protection, An Issue Paper of the Tulane Institute on Water Resources Law and Policy, August 18, 2014

“When one includes the anticipated costs of the Urban Water Plan, federal flood protection, and other factors excluded from the 2012 Master Plan, the cost of restoring this coast and protecting its people can be expected to exceed $100 billion over 50 years.”

A related report, Ryan, Tim. The Economic Impact of Coastal Restoration and Hurricane Protection (March 2014), points out that even the report admits that it will really take more:

“The Master Plan calls for an investment of a minimum of $50.00 billion on coastal restoration and hurricane protection over the next 50 years. This level of expenditure slows but does not stop or reverse land loss. The Master Plan recommends $100.00 billion as the optimal level, which will yield a net gain of land.”

Thus, under the rational of the first report, the realistic estimate is $200B. This does not include the known problem of agencies significantly underestimating the cost of civil engineering projects, knowing that once the project is started, the public will be unwilling to abandon it and lose the value of the sunk costs.

Craig Bond, et.al, Economic Evaluation of Coastal Land Loss in Louisiana (2015)

This paper attempts to analyze the economic costs of land loss and potential hurricane damage. The problem is that irrespective of the costs, there is no clear way to avoid the loss.

Climate Change, Coastal Restoration, Coastal Restoration Mythology, Hurricane Katrina, Teaching Materials, USGS

Land Area Changes in Coastal Louisiana After the 2005 Hurricanes: A Series of Three Maps

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Moderator – Katrina demonstrated that a hurricane can destroy newly created delta land, undermining the notion that this land can protect against hurricane surge. It also shows that even the best case for land building – Wax Lake and mouth of the Atchafalaya River – build only a fragile ghost of land.

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Land Area Changes in Coastal Louisiana After the 2005 Hurricanes: A Series of Three Maps, By John A. Barras

This report includes three posters with analyses of net land area changes in coastal Louisiana after the 2005 hurricanes (Katrina and Rita). The first poster presents a basic analysis of net changes from 2004 to 2005; the second presents net changes within marsh communities from 2004 to 2005; and the third presents net changes from 2004 to 2005 within the historical perspective of change in coastal Louisiana from 1956 to 2004. The purpose of this analysis was to provide preliminary information on land area changes shortly after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and to serve as a regional baseline for monitoring wetland recovery following the 2005 hurricane season. Estimation of permanent losses cannot be made until several growing seasons have passed and the transitory impacts of the hurricanes are minimized, but this preliminary analysis indicates an approximate 217-mi2(562.03-km2) decrease in land/increase in water across coastal Louisiana.

Suggested citation:

Barras, John A., 2006, Land area change in coastal Louisiana after the 2005 hurricanes—a series of three maps: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 06-1274.

Version 1.0

Posted October 2006


Overview Poster PDF (7 MB)


Marsh Communities Poster PDF (15 MB)


Historical Poster PDF (16 MB)

Climate Change

Freedom of Information Fight over the Polar Vortex

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The Polar Vortex Explained in 2 Minutes

President Obama’s Science and Technology Adviser, Dr. John Holdren, explains the polar vortex in 2 minutes—and why climate change makes extreme weather more likely going forward. Learn more at “http://wh.gov/climate-change“

The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) did not like the claim that climate change might make events like the polar vortex more common. It requested that the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) correct errors it brought to the agency’s attention. It also filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for information about the video. OSTP said the video was just the personal opinion of its director and denied most of the FOIA request as covered by the deliberative process privilege. The CEI then filed a Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief contesting the withholding of the documents. OSTP filed a Motion for Summary Judgment in response, supported by a declaration by its FOIA officer, Rachael Leonard, backed up by a lengthy exhibit.

Coastal Restoration, Crustal subsidence, Faulting, Flooding, Geology, Mississippi River, River Diversions, Sedimentary Consolidation, Subsidence

Video – Faults and the Mississippi Delta — Rethinking Coastal Restoration

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Also see: Faults

Faults and the Mississippi Delta — Rethinking Coastal Restoration

This is a 80 minute video of a presentation on the geology of the Mississippi Delta that was presented in a class at the LSU Law School. The speaker is Chris McLindon, an oil exploration geologist. This is an early view of our research but it gives a good overview of the issues.

Climate Change, Coastal Restoration, Coastal Restoration Mythology, Faulting, Geology, Mississippi River, Sedimentary Consolidation, Subsidence

Faulting and Tectonic Subsidence on the Louisiana Coast – Goose Point

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Also see: Faults

Haggar, K. S., 2014, Coastal land loss and landscape level plant community succession: An expected result of natural tectonic subsidence, fault movement, and sea level rise: Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions, v. 64, p. 139–159.

Coastal Louisiana, and especially the lower Mississippi Delta, is being inundated by the ocean. The State of Louisiana has proposed a massive public works project to restore the coast. There is a massive lawsuit against the oil industry based on the theory that oil production is responsible for destroying a significant portion of the Mississippi Delta coastal wetlands. These restoration plans presume that the loss of the land is due to various human-driven causes which can be remedied, and that the high level of subsidence in the area is just a short-term phenomena that will not cause long term problems.

Goose Point (map) is a marsh area north of New Orleans. It is on an ancient Pleistocene plain, not river sediment. It has no water pumping or levees, no canals, no oil and gas production, or the other human-driven factors that are claimed to cause wetlands loss. Yet Goose Point displays the same patterns of land loss as regions of the delta. Goose Point, along with the rest of the Mississippi Delta, is very well characterized geologically. Goose Point is crossed by faults and is subject to tectonic subsidence, i.e., deep level subsidence that has nothing to do with compaction of river sediments. This deep subsidence and movement of fault blocks, combined with sea level rise, is sufficient to cause the typical land loss seen in Louisiana coastal wetlands.

The entire Delta is riven with faults and subject to tectonic subsidence. The faults have been well characterized because they provide traps for oil and gas. (Many oil and gas fields are located on faults. The faults cause the subsidence, not the extraction of hydrocarbons.) As Goose Point demonstrates, tectonic subsidence and faults, combined with sea level rise, are sufficient to cause characteristic wetlands loss without any of the traditional human-driven factors. This subsidence is long-term, as is sea level rise. This means restoration schemes based on mitigating human-driven factors will have little effect on the long term loss of the wetlands.

Drought, Water security

Drought in the Western United States

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McGuire, V.L., 2014, Water-level changes and change in water in storage in the High Plains aquifer, predevelopment to 2013 and 2011–13: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2014–5218, 14 p., http://dx.doi. org/10.3133/sir20145218.

Abstract
The High Plains aquifer underlies 111.8 million acres (about 175,000 square miles) in parts of eight States—Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming. Water-level declines began in parts of the High Plains aquifer soon after the beginning of substantial irrigation with groundwater in the aquifer area (about 1950). This report presents water-level changes in the High Plains aquifer from predevelopment (generally before 1950) to 2013 and from 2011 to 2013. The report also presents change in water in storage in the High Plains aquifer from predevelopment to 2013 and from 2011 to 2013.

The methods to calculate area-weighted, average waterlevel changes; change in water in storage; and total water in storage for this report used geospatial data layers organized as rasters with a cell size of 500 meters by 500 meters, which is an area of about 62 acres. These methods were used to provide a raster dataset of water-level changes for other uses.

Water-level changes from predevelopment to 2013, by well, ranged from a rise of 85 feet to a decline of 256 feet. Water-level changes from 2011 to 2013, by well, ranged from a rise of 19 feet to a decline of 44 feet. The area-weighted, average water-level changes in the aquifer were an overall decline of 15.4 feet from predevelopment to 2013, and a decline of 2.1 feet from 2011 to 2013. Total water in storage in the aquifer in 2013 was about 2.92 billion acre-feet, which was a decline of about 266.7 million acre-feet since predevelopment and a decline of 36.0 million acre-feet from 2011 to 2013.

Climate Change, Coastal Restoration, Coastal Restoration Mythology, Florida, River Diversions, Sea Level Rise, Teaching Materials

Restoring the Gulf of Mexico for People and Wildlife – More Climate Change Denial

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National Wildlife Federation: Restoring the Gulf of Mexico for People and Wildlife: Recommended Projects and Priorities (2014)

[Some of the inland projects do make sense, such as dealing with the water flow into the Everglades. But the coastal projects all seem to be short-term attempts to hold back the ocean, rather than to anticipate the future. For example, rather than try to build barriers to stop embayment, you could buy land on the inland side of the enlarging bay to be future nature preserves. This approach does environmental harm and diverts funds from projects that could assure longer term environmental protection.]

From the NWF:

“The National Wildlife Federation has a long history of advocacy in the Gulf of Mexico region. In 2000, our four million members and supporters were instrumental in securing Congressional support for the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. For more than a decade we have worked to ensure that Texas bays have the fresh water they need to support healthy fish and wildlife populations. And since well before Hurricane Katrina, we have championed the restoration of Louisiana’s disappearing coastal wetlands.

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill focused the world’s attention on the Gulf of Mexico, and in particular, on its natural resource value. In addition to causing the tragic deaths of 11 men, the 87-day disaster closed vast areas of the Gulf to fishing, killed and injured marine mammals, shorebirds, sea turtles, and other wildlife and damaged the Gulf’s delicate web of life in ways that are still unfolding. The spill also drew attention to the longstanding conservation and restoration needs of a Gulf ecosystem that supports much of the region’s economy but has been overworked and under-protected.

The National Wildlife Federation and our state affiliates, together representing millions of sportsmen and outdoor enthusiasts, actively supported the 2012 RESTORE Act, which sends 80 percent of the civil penalties arising from the 2010 oil spill back to the Gulf for restoration and recovery. With the passage of this groundbreaking legislation, Congress sent a message that the historic neglect of the Gulf Coast’s natural systems must be remedied.

Now, as the Gulf region recovers from the largest oil spill in U.S. history, state and federal leaders have an opportunity to invest in the long-term health and resiliency of its coastal lands and waters. The National Wildlife Federation believes that the highest return on this investment will come from efforts to restore and protect Gulf estuaries. These coastal waters are among the most productive natural habitats in the world. Estuaries serve as spawning, nursery, and feeding grounds for nearly all of the Gulf’s commercial and recreational