The Mid-Barataria Diversion Has a New Opponent. You Might Be Surprised Who It Is.
The broken marsh and open water adjacent to the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion location between the Phillips 66 Alliance refinery and the Ironton community. Photo from Google Earth
It wasn’t a surprise that a local group recently came out in opposition to the Mid-Barataria River Sediment Diversion. Nor was its reasoning: It believes the diversion would unnecessarily harm commercial interests, specifically oyster growers and shrimpers.
But the group’s identity was a surprise: The local chapter of the Sierra Club — that greenest of environmental groups.
In a letter to the state, John Dale “Zach” Lea, chairman of the chapter’s board, claimed the financial damage to oystermen and shrimpers caused by the river’s fresh water is unacceptable and unnecessary. Rather than divert river water and its marsh-building sediment load into the basin, the group says the state should build levees around a 14,000-acre area of the basin (the expanse of wetlands the diversion would resurrect) as a freshwater impoundment and leave the rest of Barataria Bay open to nature for oystermen and shrimpers. He claims that option would provide more flood protection without hurting commercial industries.
Lea listed his professions in his signature: agricultural economist and “Exclusive Shellevator Dealer for Louisiana Coastal Development Projects.” The Shellevator is a machine that can help grow oysters, he said.
Hmmm, where to begin?
Let’s start with impounding a huge area of the basin with 20-foot levees, as has Lea suggested: Experience shows that would be unaffordable and counterproductive.
Read the rest of the article at The Times-Picayune.
