The Louisiana coast is losing land
at an alarming rate, the result of years
of well-intentioned but unsustainable
practices. Since the 1930s Louisiana
has lost 1,880 sq mi of land. If nothing is
done to reverse this trend, it could lose an additional
1,750 sq mi of land over the next 50 years, greatly
increasing the risk of flooding and threatening critical
facets of infrastructure. As land and marsh areas
have disappeared, infrastructure once protected by
these features has to an increasing extent sustained
damage from hurricanes and other storms. From a
national perspective, infrastructure in coastal
Louisiana plays a key role in maintaining shipping along
the Mississippi River and facilitating oil and gas production.
Seeking to reverse this loss of land, the state has developed
the Comprehensive Master Plan for a Sustainable Coast, a 50-
year effort intended to provide long-term, sustainable coastal
protection by working with the natural processes of the Mississippi
delta and the coast. Although the project’s estimated