Lousiana: The State of Emergency

Disaster is our number one industry. Our brand is crisis. We should leverage that.

The 2017 version of Louisiana's $50 billion, 50-year master plan for coastal protection and restoration is about to be delivered to the Legislature, but concerns remain that the state still has not identified long-term sources of money to pay for all of the projects. Now state officials and non-governmental partners, both environmental groups and industry representatives, are exploring the idea of having President Donald Trump declare the state's coastal land loss a national emergency.

That might help persuade Congress to speed funding, and federal agencies to speed permit approvals for more projects. State officials have already successfully lobbied the federal government to have one of the biggest restoration projects -- the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion -- added to a list of infrastructure work that will have their environmental permits fast-tracked by federal agencies.