Local business and conservation interests jointly intervene in Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion lawsuit

(July 15, 2024) - Today a coalition including a local business and three conservation groups filed motion to intervene as defendants in Jurisich Oysters, LLC v. USACE to ensure the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion project moves forward to provide critical community protection and vital ecosystem benefits. The Mid-Barataria project will restore critical flood and sea level rise protections for the region while creating more than 3,000 new jobs regionally and over $2.8B in new economic activity. 

 The intervenors - Louisiana Wildlife Federation, Environmental Defense Fund, Orleans Audubon Society, and Cajun Fishing Adventures - have lent their expertise to improving the project since its inception and have consistently engaged local communities, scientists and agency staff to advance a project that will restore 21 square miles of wetlands to buffer communities from future storms and sea level rise. 

 “Louisiana faces an existential coastal crisis. We have already lost over 2,000 square miles of coastal lands since the 1930s and there is no time left to lose,” said Katie Gruzd Daniel, manager for Environmental Defense Fund’s Climate Resilient Coasts & Watersheds program. “Without immediate action, Louisiana faces additional land loss over the next 50 years. This extensive land loss has and will continue to threaten the economy, culture and environment of this unique delta region. The Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion is one of the largest individual ecosystem restoration projects ever undertaken globally. It will provide vital and long-lasting ecosystem and economic benefits to our region as it builds new land.” 

“I got involved because there is no protection without restoration,” said Ryan Lambert, the owner of Cajun Fishing Adventures. “To stay in South Louisiana, we have to have the marsh between us and the levees for the levees to work. It is vital to have this diversion build land and restore that marsh.” 

“It’s critical that this sediment diversion is completed and builds land as we know the river can do,” said Rebecca Triche, executive director for Louisiana Wildlife Federation. “The project provides a sustainable, restorative, natural process to an area that is losing wetlands faster than anywhere in the world. The Barataria Basin receiving area has been starved of freshwater and sediments for decades. It’s a real threat to communities, infrastructure, and wildlife habitat if saltwater intrudes further up the estuary and coastal wetlands continue to wash away with every high tide and storm.” 

“A delta disconnected from the river that built and sustains it is doomed, and ours is washing away. In addition to losing vital protection for our communities, the Barataria Basin’s incomparable bird, wildlife and aquatic species will also disappear, and with them a way of life. The Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion is a crucial first step in reversing the long decline of what is one of North America’s most ecologically productive estuaries. It is not too late, but time is running out,” said David Muth, a board member for Orleans Audubon Society.       

The Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion project reconnects a portion of the Mississippi River to its natural deltaic processes by diverting a portion of the river into the Barataria Basin south of New Orleans as a key component of building resilience in the region. Earlier this year, oyster fishing interests, along with a national partner, filed suit against the US Army Corps, National Marine Fisheries Service and US Fish and Wildlife Service in United States District Court Eastern District Louisiana.