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49 PLENARY SESSION 5: LUNCHEON KEYNOTE SPEECH Investment and Sustainability on the Bayou Kay McKinley, PBS&J (Moderator) Michael Tidwell, Author of Bayou Farewell Conference chair Kay McKinley introduced key-note speaker Michael Tidwell, author of Bayou Farewell. She explained that the organizing committee had asked Mr. Tidwell to discuss the nexus between transportation investment and environmental sustainability. Mr. Tidwell opened his remarks by noting that âforg- ing a sustainable future nowâ was an excellent and timely theme for the conference, particularly given the recent occurrence of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Mr. Tidwell recounted his experiences along the bayous of southern Louisiana that serve as a marine transporta- tion highway for crabbers and shrimpers. Mr. Tidwell related that southern Louisiana is one of the fastest-disappearing land masses in the United States and that 50 acres of land are lost due to erosion every day. The levees block the natural flow of the Missis- sippi, which no longer deposits silt in the bayou. When the silt is not replenished, it compacts and sinks. Today, the bayou is starved for nutrients and sediments and is losing a land mass equivalent to the size of Manhattan every 10 months. The degradation of the bayouâs barrier islands is the main reason why Hurricane Katrina was so destructive. Mr. Tidwell urged the adoption of a system- atic environmental preservation program to rebuild the wetlands and barrier islands of the bayou. Mr. Tidwell stated that the oil and gas industry has dredged 10,000 miles of navigation channels in the interior of the bayou to provide access to these natural resources, with the width of these channels having dou- bled in recent years. Mr. Tidwell indicated that today there are some 4,000 oil platforms serving 35,000 wells in the Gulf of Mexico stretching across a distance equiv- alent to that from Washington, D.C., to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mr. Tidwell cited National Academy of Sciences stud- ies confirming the effects of climate change and provided heartening information about tools to combat climate change in the United States. He noted that transporta- tion and policy professionals can support these efforts by creating livable and walkable communities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He indicated that if the cul- ture, economy, and wetlands of southern Louisiana are to be preserved, we all need to move in a new direction. Mr. Tidwell thanked conference attendees for their con- tributions and invited questions from the audience. Question: With all due respect to everything that has been said, is it not true that New Orleans would not exist today without its levee system? Answer: There have been many unintended conse- quences of the levees. The Army Corps of Engineers has developed a levee system that has tamed the three longest rivers in the United States. The problem is that they are completely plugged and do not drain. The levees have an equal and opposite effect and are responsible for erasing a land mass the size of Delaware. The goals are to have the river and the culture at the same time. We need to create sediment diversions in the levee system allowing the water to flow out in the spring and deposit sediments in the shallow bays and rebuild the land mass. The goal is to mimic the natural function of the river.
