By May 9, 2019, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had been in a flood fight in Louisiana for nearly 200 days. Officials gathered every morning in a conference room in New Orleans that was—perhaps thankfully—windowless, keeping their opponent out of view: just below the office snarled the overladen Mississippi River, more than 8 million gallons of water ripping past [...]
Liz Reinhardt Delsa was driving home from the airport on the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway on June 16 when she heard what she thought was heavy rain hitting her windshield. But instead of sliding off as water droplets normally do, the rain seemed to stick. That’s when she realized: “It was bugs,” she said. A swarm of midges, also known as [...]
Ryan Guerra drags an oyster dredge along a lease 40 miles east of the Bonnet Carre Spillway in St. Bernard Parish. He finds the vast majority of his oysters are dead. The few that’s alive right now, they’re dying in the shell," said the 43-year-old Guerra, who has been fishing these waters for a quarter of a century. “Usually, you [...]
NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - In April, Cornerstone Chemical Company on the West Bank reported a spill of 3,600 gallons of sulfuric acid. The spill left one employee injured, and the company worked to neutralize the spill. However, environmentalists fear House Bill 615 would allow companies to handle incidents like these outside the public eye. Attorney Joel Waltzer said this is [...]
A wall of oyster shells has been erected near Montegut to protect historical Native American mounds threatened by erosion and sea level rise. The partially-submerged wall was completed this month by the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana (CRCL), Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe and more than 100 volunteers. They spent weeks hauling and placing about 200 tons of shells gathered from New Orleans-area restaurants. The wall [...]
The Thermaldyne industrial recycling facility near Port Allen has opened for business despite several ongoing legal challenges. The company began advertising job openings in The Advocate over the weekend and told the paper it began operations last week and will start processing sludge in the coming week. Environmentalists and another recycling company have filed for a court stay and temporary [...]
