Grand Isle Sinking – Steven Estopinal – September 30
On Tuesday, September 30, 2014, the members of the Rotary Club of Thibodaux had the privilege of meeting Stephen V. Estopinal, who spoke to the us on the unfortunate plight of Grand Isle and the entire fading coastal area of Louisiana.
Mr. Estopinal is well-versed in coastal erosion as he is currently the division manager of surveying for the SJB Group, L.L.C. in Baton Rouge. He is also the President of the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority East and has authored two books on the topic of surveying.
Estopinal showed us areas in St. Bernard Parish–where land once held railroad tracks for busy commerce—which are now immersed in three feet of water. He explained that in New Orleans new highways are being built because the old highways are submerged.
Estopinal addressed the fading coast in our beloved Grand Isle. NOAA, the federal agency that monitors sea level, says that Grand Isle has lost 1.32 inches of elevation to the Gulf of Mexico in the past five years, a rate of subsidence about 4 times faster than any other coastline. It is projected that in the year 2060 most of the land will be gone due to subsidence. As Estopinal explained, Grand Isle is sinking at a rate of 9.2 millimeters a year, a rate equivalent to produce a change of 3.03 feet in 100 years.
There are many reasons that the land areas experience subsidence. One reason is the plate theory wherein the plates of the Earth are getting thinner and lower. Also, during the Ice Age, waters from melting ice brought many materials that stacked upon the soil and caused compression. New material over time has also compounded upon the compression of the soil. Further, minerals underneath the land and fault lines that move under the land also cause subsidence. In our coastal areas, clay fault lines are often moving and slipping.
What are the solutions for subsidence? As of right now, there are none. Mr. Estopinal stressed that Thibodaux and the surrounding areas need to consider and address the issues associated with subsidence before it is too late.
John M. Barry |
January 21, 2014
By: Brian Rodrigue
John M. Barry is a prize-winning and New York Times best-selling author whose books have won multiple awards. Barry is best known as the author of the bestselling book, Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How it Changed America.
John Barry is a consultant for storm protection for all major storms anywhere in the world and is also the leader of the lawsuit against oil and gas companies filed in August by the local Flood Protection Authority.
Since leaving the levee board last year, a website was established by John Barry called Restorelouisiananow.org . The levee board saw themselves as a group tasked not to oversee levees, but as a group responsible for protecting people’s lives.
When considering what is happening to the Louisiana coast, this task is becoming more and more difficult. Louisiana has already lost nearly 2,000 square miles of coast. That land lost is not stopping and the lost rate is actually increasing even though it has leveled off recently.
The storm surge is increasing due to multiple causes. The levees are a cause in coastal loses even though without the levees there would be no Baton Rouge, no New Orleans and no industry between those two cities. The levees cannot be taken down; however, diversions could be built. Another reason is due to the oil and gas industry.
Many people agree that the land loss is caused by oil and gas operations. Some areas have zero loss and other areas are as high as 90 percent land loss. The oil and gas companies were allowed to exploit the Louisiana resources and in return they agreed to restore what they destroyed.
Using Delecroix area as an example, one can see the minimal losses over time before the oil and gas industry arrived. Thus, the coast can sustain itself if the oil and gas industry does not dig canals in the coastal areas. The law reads that when an area is damaged, the vegetation must be restored and the land be put back in its original condition.
Coastal restoration is absolutely necessary for maintaining storm surge protection. The govenor’s office was asked to have industry to pay for the restoration and the answer was no. The governor’s office opposes the lawsuit while every parish has supported the lawsuit.
Mr. Barry’s latest book is related to the lawsuit because the first 100 pages are about constitutional law which is summarized in that everyone is equal before the law, even the oil and gas companies.
Scott Courtright -Trinity Tree Consultants
Thibodaux Rotary Club
January 14, 2014
Mr. Courtright has been in the “green industry” his entire professional career. He currently owns and operates Trinity Tree Consultants. He received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Forest Management from Louisiana State University in 1996 and has been a Louisiana Licensed Arborist for 15 years.
As a Forester/Arborist, Scott has provided Expert Witness Testimony, conducted tree evaluations, produced tree management plans, tree inventories, tree restoration plans, tree evaluations, and tree appraisals. He was chief consultant for New Orleans City Park after Hurricane Katrina, in the effort to restore the park’s many old oak trees.
Additionally, Mr. Courtright conducts seminars, talks, and forums addressing urban forestry/arboriculture, traditional forestry, Geographic Information Systems/Global Positioning Systems Technologies, and responses to environmental incidences.
Scott has also been a keynote speaker for several Master Gardener events throughout Louisiana. He currently serves on the Louisiana Urban Forestry Council and is currently serving as the Chairman for the Educational Committee as well as the Educational Chairman for the 2014 Burden Museum and Garden Arbor Day Celebration in Baton Rouge.
One of the great natural symbols of the coastal plain of the Southern United States has to be the live oak tree, of the genus Quercus Virginiana. No one who lives outside of our region can imagine how the graceful, stately tree defines our environment.
When we realize, too, that so many old survivors were here to witness the explorations of the Spanish and French in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, there is nothing less than a sense of mystery, and even awe, about such grand old things.
North Lafourche Levee District
Thibodaux Rotary
December 17, 2013 Meeting
North Lafourche Levee District
Dwayne Bourgeois is the Executive Director of the North Lafourche Levee District. This levee district was formed in 1992 to provide flood protection for Northern Lafourche, eventually including the entire Parish north of the Intracoastal Canal in Larose.
This district protects over two thirds of Lafourche Parish population which is greater than 65,000 people. Our District has greater than 250 miles of levees & drainage canals and 40 pump stations. The main focus is to prevent flooding from heavy rainfalls, river events, tropical storms and hurricanes such as Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike.
Coastal land loss puts North Lafourche at a higher risk for flooding and makes it more difficult to get the water out. The USGS estimates that Louisiana has lost 1,883 square miles. That is 25% of the State’s 1932 coastal footprint. The 2062 Projection has the Potential to lose up to 1,756 square miles of land over the next 50 years. Continue reading
Thibodaux Rotary Club | Hugh Caffery-Bayou Lafourche Fresh Water District
August 7, 2012
By: Amy Connor-Flores
Hugh Caffery, Chairman of the Board of Commissioners for the Bayou Lafourche Fresh Water District, updated us on the state of Bayou Lafourche on Tuesday.
In recent decades the bed of Bayou Lafourche has been steadily building up, significantly reducing flow from the Mississippi River.
In 2011 the BLFWD held its first Bayou Lafourche Summit, bringing together 200 customers, partners, citizens, and elected officials to determine what needs to be done to achieve the District’s goal of getting freshwater to the people of the area and to the keep the Bayou clean and beautiful. They developed a Master Plan to provide guidance to the District as it attempts to manage Bayou Lafourche.
$200,000,000 CIAP Funding – The first dredge project is currently underway and has helped to identify additional areas near the current dredge project and above Thibodaux that will require work. Continue reading
Thibodaux Rotary Club Event | Congressman Bill Cassidy M.D. part 6
Part 6 – Congressman Bill Cassidy M.D. – Questions and Answers on the national health care plan, the Supreme Court, and coastal restoration for Louisiana.
Congressman Bill Cassidy – Part 1
Congressman Bill Cassidy – Part 2
Congressman Bill Cassidy – Part 3
Congressman Bill Cassidy – Part 4
Congressman Bill Cassidy – Part 5
Congressman Bill Cassidy – Part 6
At the Tuesday meeting of the Thibodaux Rotary Club, Mayor Tommy Eschete presented Congressman Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) representative for the 6th District in Louisiana, as the guest speaker. The lower portion of the 6th district now encompasses parts of northern Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes.
Congressman Cassidy covered a wide array of topics, from the energy concerns of the nation, the resurgence of manufacturing in the US, to issues surrounding coastal restoration for Louisiana. He also touched on President Obama’s healthcare plan, gave his take on the Presidential race, and then took questions from the audience.
In the U.S. House, Bill serves on the Energy & Commerce Committee and its subcommittees on Health; Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade; and Environment and the Economy. He serves as an Assistant Whip for the House Republican Conference. His legislative focus is health care and energy.
Thibodaux Rotary Club Event | Congressman Bill Cassidy M.D. part 5
Part 5 – Congressman Bill Cassidy M.D. – Comments about the upcoming 2012 presidential election, energy concerns of the country, farming issues concerning fertilizer runoff in the lower Mississippi river.
Congressman Bill Cassidy – Part 1
Congressman Bill Cassidy – Part 2
Congressman Bill Cassidy – Part 3
Congressman Bill Cassidy – Part 4
Congressman Bill Cassidy – Part 5
Congressman Bill Cassidy – Part 6
At the Tuesday meeting of the Thibodaux Rotary Club, Mayor Tommy Eschete presented Congressman Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) representative for the 6th District in Louisiana, as the guest speaker. The lower portion of the 6th district now encompasses parts of northern Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes.
Congressman Cassidy covered a wide array of topics, from the energy concerns of the nation, the resurgence of manufacturing in the US, to issues surrounding coastal restoration for Louisiana. He also touched on President Obama’s healthcare plan, gave his take on the Presidential race, and then took questions from the audience.
In the U.S. House, Bill serves on the Energy & Commerce Committee and its subcommittees on Health; Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade; and Environment and the Economy. He serves as an Assistant Whip for the House Republican Conference. His legislative focus is health care and energy.
Thibodaux Rotary Club Event | Congressman Bill Cassidy M.D. part 4
Part 4 – Congressman Bill Cassidy M.D. – The national health care plan and its impact on the economy and the quality of health care. Alternatives to the present health care plan. Coastal restoration and its impact on the nation’s energy concern.
Congressman Bill Cassidy – Part 1
Congressman Bill Cassidy – Part 2
Congressman Bill Cassidy – Part 3
Congressman Bill Cassidy – Part 4
Congressman Bill Cassidy – Part 5
Congressman Bill Cassidy – Part 6
At the Tuesday meeting of the Thibodaux Rotary Club, Mayor Tommy Eschete presented Congressman Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) representative for the 6th District in Louisiana, as the guest speaker. The lower portion of the 6th district now encompasses parts of northern Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes.
Congressman Cassidy covered a wide array of topics, from the energy concerns of the nation, the resurgence of manufacturing in the US, to issues surrounding coastal restoration for Louisiana. He also touched on President Obama’s healthcare plan, gave his take on the Presidential race, and then took questions from the audience.
In the U.S. House, Bill serves on the Energy & Commerce Committee and its subcommittees on Health; Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade; and Environment and the Economy. He serves as an Assistant Whip for the House Republican Conference. His legislative focus is health care and energy.
Thibodaux Rotary Club Event | Congressman Bill Cassidy M.D. part 3
Part 3 – Congressman Bill Cassidy M.D. – The core of the national health care plan. The state of Medicare and Medicaid. Alternative plans being considered.
Congressman Bill Cassidy – Part 1
Congressman Bill Cassidy – Part 2
Congressman Bill Cassidy – Part 3
Congressman Bill Cassidy – Part 4
Congressman Bill Cassidy – Part 5
Congressman Bill Cassidy – Part 6
At the Tuesday meeting of the Thibodaux Rotary Club, Mayor Tommy Eschete presented Congressman Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) representative for the 6th District in Louisiana, as the guest speaker. The lower portion of the 6th district now encompasses parts of northern Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes.
Congressman Cassidy covered a wide array of topics, from the energy concerns of the nation, the resurgence of manufacturing in the US, to issues surrounding coastal restoration for Louisiana. He also touched on President Obama’s healthcare plan, gave his take on the Presidential race, and then took questions from the audience.
In the U.S. House, Bill serves on the Energy & Commerce Committee and its subcommittees on Health; Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade; and Environment and the Economy. He serves as an Assistant Whip for the House Republican Conference. His legislative focus is health care and energy.
Thibodaux Rotary Club Event | Congressman Bill Cassidy M.D. part 2
Part 2 – Congressman Bill Cassidy M.D. – Resurgence of manufacturing in the U.S. The relationship of energy policies to economic growth.
Congressman Bill Cassidy – Part 1
Congressman Bill Cassidy – Part 2
Congressman Bill Cassidy – Part 3
Congressman Bill Cassidy – Part 4
Congressman Bill Cassidy – Part 5
Congressman Bill Cassidy – Part 6
At the Tuesday meeting of the Thibodaux Rotary Club, Mayor Tommy Eschete presented Congressman Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) representative for the 6th District in Louisiana, as the guest speaker. The lower portion of the 6th district now encompasses parts of northern Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes.
Congressman Cassidy covered a wide array of topics, from the energy concerns of the nation, the resurgence of manufacturing in the US, to issues surrounding coastal restoration for Louisiana. He also touched on President Obama’s healthcare plan, gave his take on the Presidential race, and then took questions from the audience.
In the U.S. House, Bill serves on the Energy & Commerce Committee and its subcommittees on Health; Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade; and Environment and the Economy. He serves as an Assistant Whip for the House Republican Conference. His legislative focus is health care and energy.
