Okay, Chelsea, as I mentioned on last week's
Fringy Mini, I do have sort of a plan for this
two -parter to somewhat be in the same route.
So, okay. Once again, no option. Once again,
the contrast of rich people's emotions spelt
the way that it would look in the title, as somebody
puts it in this one. Yes. Just to give you an
idea of how to title these episodes. Well, I'm
interested to see what way it goes. Is it going
to be? rich people and their emotions, or is
it going to be the other side of it? Time will
tell. Anyhow, I hope it's brief. This article
comes from the Associated Press. It is written
on July 17th by Jack Brooke. Article title, Louisiana
cancels three billion dollar coastal restoration
project funded by oil spill settlement. Hold
on, I need to really let that sink in. Well,
I think that's the whole point of an article,
is it not? Yeah, yeah, you can breathe. I still
need to process that for a second. But you can
continue. Louisiana on Thursday. Don't stop for
me. I always hate when people do this in the
past. They say a very specific day of the week
and I have to go back and think about what day
of the week that is. No, I'm not doing that.
Louisiana on Thursday cancelled a three billion
dollar repair of disappearing Gulf Coastline,
funded by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill
settlement. scrapping what conservatives called
an urgent response to climate change, but Governor
Jeff Landry viewed as a threat to the state's
way of life. What? Despite years and reviews,
the project at the center of Louisiana's coastal
protection plans grew increasingly imperiled
after Landry, a Republican, took office last
year. Its collapse meant that the state could
lose out on more than $1 .5 billion in unspent
funds and may even have to repay $618 million.
What? It already used to begin building. The
Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group, a mix
of federal agencies overseeing the settlement
funds, said that Unused project funds will be
available for future Deepwater Horizon restoration
activities," but would require review and approval.
The mid -borotarius sediment diversion project
aimed to rebuild upwards of 20 square miles of
land. over a 50 -year period in southeast Louisiana
to combat sea level rise and erosion on the Gulf
Coast. When construction stalled last year because
of lawsuits, trustees warned that the state would
have to return the hundreds of millions of dollars
it had already spent if the project did not move
forward. Former Louisiana representative Garrett
Graves, a Republican who once led the state's
coastal restoration agency, said that killing
the project was quote, a boneheaded decision,
end quote, not rooted in science, quote, is going
to result in one of the largest setbacks for
our coast and the protection of our communities
in decades. I don't know what chiropractor or
palm reader they got advice from on this, but
baffling that someone thought this was a good
idea," Graves said. Project supporters stressed
that it would have provided a data -driven, large
-scale solution to mitigate the worst effects
of an eroding coastline in a state where a football
field of land is lost every 100 minutes and more
than 2 ,000 square miles of land have vanished
over the past century, according to the US Geological
Survey. The project, which broke ground in 2023,
would have diverted sediment -laden water from
the Mississippi River to restore wetlands disappearing
because of a range of factors including climate
change and due sea level rise and a vast river
levee system that choked off natural land for
a generation from sediment deposits. Quote, the
science has not changed nor has the need for
urgent action, end quote said Kim Rayhair, executive
director of the coalition to restore the coast
of Louisiana. Quote, what has changed is the
political landscape, end quote. Louisiana trustee
implementation group last year had noted that,
quote, no other single restoration project has
been planned and studied as extensively over
the past decades, end quote. While the project
had largely received bipartisan support and was
championed by democratic governor John Bell Edwards,
his successor has been a vocal opponent. Landry
recoiled at the rising price tag and amplified
concerns that the massive influx of fresh water
would devastate local fisheries. Landry has said
the project would break Louisiana's culture of
shrimp and oyster harvesting and compared it
to government efforts a century ago to punish
school children for speaking Cajun French. Quote,
we fought this battle a long time ago, but Governor
Landry is the reason we won this battle, end
quote said Mitch Jurisich, who chairs Louisiana
Oyster Task Force and sued the state over the
project's environmental impacts, including likely
killing thousands of bottlenose dolphins due
to the onslaught of fresh water. Landry said
in a statement that the project is quote no longer
financially or practically viable, end quote
noting that the cost had doubled since 2016.
Quote, this level of spending is unsustainable,
threatens Louisiana's seafood industry, our coastal
culture, and the livelihoods of our fishermen,
people who have sustained our state for generations.
End quote. The project's budget had included
more than $400 million for mitigating the costs
to local communities, including the help to the
oyster industry to build new oyster beds. Project
proponents said that the rapid loss of coast
meant communities would be displaced anyways
if the state failed to take actions to protect
them. Quote, you either move oysters or move
people, and there's only one answer to that question.
End quote for ASAP. Louisiana's Coastal Protection
and Restoration Authority, the lead agency overseeing
the project, said in a statement that the project
was, quote, no longer viable at the time, based
on a totality of the circumstances, end quote,
including cost litigation and a federal permit
suspended earlier this year after the state halted
work on the project. We also should note that
that's under the Trump administration. Chairman
Gordon Dove said that, quote, our commitment
to coastal restoration has not wavered, end quote,
and that the state plans to pursue a smaller
scale diversion nearby. Dove told lawmakers earlier
this year that the state could save at least
$1 billion with a different plan to channel river
water into the Gulf Coast at a rate five to 30
times less than the mid -Varataria project's
75 ,000 cubic feet per second. Conservation groups
bristled at the change in plans. The Mid -Barataria
Project's termination marked, quote, a complete
abandonment of science -driven decision -making
and public transparency, end quote. Restore the
Mississippi River Delta, a coalition of environmental
groups said in a statement adding that the state
was, quote, throwing away, end quote, money intended
to protect its coastal residents and economy.
The coalition said alternative measures proposed
by the state such as the smaller scale diversion
or rebuilding land by dredging were insufficient
to meaningfully combat land loss and did not
undergo the same level of scientific vetting
as the Midbarataria project. Quote, a stopgap
project with no data is not a solution, end quote.
The coalition said, quote, we need diversion
designs backed by science, not politics, end
quote and a barter. I have a couple of questions
now. Did I miss where the oil? money came from
it was a settlement with the deep water horizon
issue way back in the day 2010 anything did they
just like i have so many questions about this
well it sounds like there was a fun set aside
to mitigate climate change yeah and restore the
code and it sounds like it may have gone Above
it sounds like it had to be specifically used
for certain projects and it's not going to be
so they're not gonna get the money That is super.
I don't know. I find it super weird. However,
I'm not in that area No, but it also feels like
all that the governor probably has money coming
in more to him But less than the actual project
amount in kickbacks from what would that be BP?
I think it was BP who would have settled that
right just speculation. Oh it totally but I'm
wondering like why are they just not gonna get
this money and why are they abandoning? I mean,
Louisiana is known for wild corruption within
its in its governance and I know you said under
Trump So I know there's a whole bunch of stuff
going on about there with woke And I don't know
if he's lumping climate change in with the world.
I know it's it's been clear He told the EPA that
they're not allowed to they've changed all their
rules that climate change is not a thing and
carbon Dioxide is not a blue right? Yeah That
is fucked. I know Louisiana is probably the one
that is sinking into the ocean the fastest, I
believe, out of all of the states. I know that
the beaches are eroding in multiple places, but
I believe Louisiana has been sinking for a long
time. Oh, like they said, they've lost 2000 miles
of land. Yeah. So this is. I'm just trying to
make heads or tails of why the fuck they wouldn't
be well it sounds like it's a money thing a funding
thing as well as this but Why can't they put
it into wildlife or something like that that
they're also destroying with oil and stuff like
why why does it specifically have to be this
if they can't get the money for it But well,
I find it hilarious. They're not a fun article.
They are trying to do a political like, oh, well,
we can just do this much cheaper version, which
all the scientists were like, no, you need to
do the full version. No, that that does make
sense to do the full version. Yeah. Yeah. Anyhow,
like I said, there's not rich people in the areas
that are impacted. I was literally just going
to say that. I mean, how beachfront property
in Louisiana? I don't believe it would be many
there. They're complaining elsewhere. Well, and
I don't think there's expensive beachfront property
in Louisiana. I don't know that there, I mean,
it's been known for a while, so you wouldn't
think billionaires, they just buy it where it's
about to. Yeah, and I think the fun part about
living in Louisiana is everybody eventually is
going to have beachfront property there. Plus,
there's Friar, no, it's not Friar Bonatti, it's
Baron Samaddy. Baron Samaddy, those are different
people. They sound the same, though. And I really
wish they put Baron Samedi in charge of AI. I
really wish they put Baron Samedi in charge of
this project as well. As many things, I wish
he was. I love that guy. Oh, he just wants to
have a good time. Oh, he he loves rum. So and
with that with that. Yeah. Yeah. You got 48 hours.
I don't. You can take that implication how you
will. It could be a call to action to drink rum
it could be a call to action to deal with climate
change I don't know you take it. We'll see you
on Friday. Bye. Bye