By Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune
In a letter filled with citations of peer-reviewed scientific studies, 32 scientists — including many working on the state’s coastal restoration efforts — told Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal that there’s a direct link between the rising sea levels eroding the state’s coastline and greenhouse gases produced by the state’s industries.
“We believe that the scientific evidence is compelling that sea level is highly likely to rise at faster rates than in the recent past and that this poses severe threats to Louisiana’s people, land and coastal ecosystems,” said the letter signed by 32 scientists, including 27 from Louisiana universities. “We also believe that substantial scientific evidence shows that healthy coastal wetlands are a necessary ingredient for a sustainable system able to respond to sea-level rise, and are thus a critical part of effective flood and storm protection.
Donald Boesch is a former director of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium in Cocodrie.
“The amount of sea-level rise that will be experienced depends on the future trajectory of societal greenhouse gas emissions,” the letter said. “These emissions are increasing atmospheric and oceanic temperatures, which are leading to concerns about stronger hurricanes, a key vulnerability for Louisiana. It is therefore imperative that these factors be included in the development of policies on coastal protection and restoration, and that such integrated policies be strategically planned and urgently implemented.”
The letter points out that Louisiana’s coastline is experiencing one of the highest rates of relative sea level rise – the combination of rising seas caused by warming and melting ice and local land subsidence – in the world. At Grand Isle, water levels are rising an average of just over a third of an inch a year, based on measurements from 1947 to 2006.
“This is equivalent to a rise of three feet in 100 years, even before additional sea-level rise is factored in,” the letter said.
The letter was prompted by concerns about the state’s lack of action on global warming raised by a number of scientists involved in the state’s coastal restoration program, said Donald Boesch, president of the University of Maryland Center For Environmental Science and former director of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium in Cocodrie.
“There was a lot of discussion that somehow the state was still in denial about the real threats they’re dealing with in respect to climate change, and sea-level rise in particular,” Boesch said.
While documents supporting restoration projects prepared by both the state Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration and the Army Corps of Engineers mention-sea level rise, Boesch said, “it was really not taken as seriously as it should be.”
And while the scientists agreed to avoid casting their letter as a response to a flurry of letters from Jindal and other Louisiana officials attacking a recent federal decision to recognize greenhouse gases as a threat to humans, Boesch and others made clear that they personally object to those letters.
