2 weeks Ago
Canals carved by oil and gas companies over the past 100 years, like these in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, on June 7, 2024, have eroded into open water, contributing to a coastal land loss crisis.(Aerial support provided by SouthWings. Photo by La’Shance Perry, The Lens) Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Suppose tests reveal you have a tumor on a lung and oncologists at the famed MD Anderson Cancer Center say your only hope for survival — and for staying alive to provide for your children’s futures — is surgery, chemo and kicking your smoking habit.
Then a guy comes in off the street who has no medical background and tells you “It’s all a hoax. Don’t let them take your smoking away. Keep lighting up!” Who are you going to believe? No, this column isn’t about medicine, it’s about Louisiana’s coastal crisis.
And that’s why the story above is an appropriate metaphor for this presidential and congressional election. Bob Marshall For years now the world’s experts have provided irrefutable evidence that much of our state below U.S.
90 could be swallowed by the Gulf of Mexico within the next 30 to 50 years because it’s caught in this vice: Our battered and crumbling coast is sinking at a rapid pace while the Gulf is rising at record rates due to global warming caused by emissions largely from the use of oil and gas. And the state’s leading experts on this problem say the only affordable way to sustain even some of our wetlands is by opening river sediment diversion while emissions are quickly reduced. So, the choice facing us is as clear as the one for that cancer patient: Start cutting back on fossil fuels (quit smoking) and begin treatment with the master plan (chemo) or face a very short future here for yourself, and almost none for your grandchildren.
Last year, Louisiana chose to keep smoking by electing Gov. Jeff Landry, the metaphorical guy off the street who believes climate change is a hoax and is now thinking maybe sediment diversions are a bad idea. But this week’s presidential election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump provides us with a second chance to make the right decision.
And this time it will likely be our last chance Harris has pledged to continue the nation’s first-ever climate action program begun by President Joe Biden. Chief among its provisions is the Inflation Reduction Act, which has begun sending $370 billion in grants to help speed the green energy transition vital to reducing emissions. There are subsidies for electric vehicles, refueling stations, heat pumps, solar panels, efficient battery development, carbon capture, offshore wind and more.
In just two years, the IRA has created 334,544 new jobs , according to the nonprofit Climate Power, with the potential of 9 million jobs over the next eight years. And it’s working. Research recently published in Science Magazine shows the IRA can reduce emissions as much as 40% below 2005 levels by 2030.
That news could be a lifesaver for Louisiana’s coast. It means the biggest threat to our coastal survival is finally being addressed. It doesn’t mean the crisis is over.
Indeed, scientists say the impacts we are currently suffering are baked in for at least another 20 to 30 years from the emissions already in the atmosphere. But it does means we can begin to slow the increase in the second half of the century and maybe salvage a future for the communities and industries south of U.S.
90. Yet not a single GOP member of Congress from Louisiana voted for the bill. In her role as vice president, Harris had to break the tie in the Senate.
The other choice this week is former President Donald Trump, another guy off the street with no science background. Trump, like Landry, has called climate change a hoax, and has pledged to stop any more spending on the IRA. He wants to increase the production and use of fossil fuels, pledges to roll back environmental regulations on the industry and opposes solar and wind energy programs.
He’s telling people to ignore the deadly evidence for Louisiana’s coastal future, for all the communities and industries located there. He’s telling you the doctors are wrong. Keep smoking.
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