WASHINGTON-- Three national environmental groups praised President Obama for crafting the first presidential budget to provide funding to restore the Gulf Coast along Louisiana and Mississippi.
The Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 presidential budget for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers provides $35.6 million for Gulf Coast restoration, including $19 million for wetlands construction projects and $16.6 million for wetlands pre-construction studies. The FY 2011 presidential budget for the U.S. Department of Interior's (DOI) Fish and Wildlife Service provides $5 million for Gulf Coast restoration.
These proposed investments of more than $40 million are part of a larger effort that focuses the expertise and resources of a broad spectrum of federal agencies -- including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Geological Survey -- on the critical restoration needs on the Gulf Coast.
The presidential budget proposal creates a Gulf Coast ecosystem restoration effort that ranks the area with similar wetland ecosystems in the United States that have received greater attention and funding support, including the Florida Everglades and the Chesapeake Bay area.
Considering the rate at which Louisiana's coastal wetlands are vanishing, the funding called for in the president's budget is a critical first step toward coastal restoration. Louisiana loses a football field of land every 48 minutes, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Since The Great Depression, Louisiana has lost 2,300 square miles of land, an area equivalent to the state of Delaware.
Environmental Defense Fund
www.edf.org
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