A new mobile playground will be making its way through the parish this summer. The newly purchased BREC on the Geaux vehicle will begin making appearances in June, bringing supervised physical recreation to "play deserts." BREC Superintendent Carolyn McKnight says the initiative will bring exercise and physical play to both children and adults who otherwise might not have access to such facilities. "We have several areas throughout the parish … where there are kids who are in apartment complexes or … some places where you have to cross major thoroughfares to get to a park," McKnight says. "We want to make sure that we are able to impact kids in those zones." McKnight says she hopes to eventually link BREC on the Geaux with a mobile farmers market launched on Wednesday and the library system's Bookmobile. "That would be something that I think would be just awesome,"...
The planned Downtown Greenway could connect with the Wards Creek trail BREC is building now, BREC and DDD officials say. The first phase of the Wards Creek Trail, from the Mall of Louisiana to near Siegen Lane, is under construction now, says Angela Harms, assistant director of planning and engineering with BREC. The agency is working on grants that would allow it to extend the trail through the Pennington Biomedical Research Center property to Pollard Estates and Rouzan. The greenway will connect Memorial Stadium through downtown to City Park, and DDD Executive Director Davis Rhorer says long-term plans are for the two trails to connect. Pollard and the Perkins Road Community Park next to Kenilworth Parkway were mentioned as connection points. BREC also is working with DOTD on possible additional lighting for Expressway Park at Interstate 10 and Interstate 110, which is a key link for the greenway, Harms said today at the DDD's monthly meeting. —David...
While golfers and advocates for change bicker over what to do with City Park Golf Course, BREC Superintendent Carolyn McKnight has her own vision for the future of the park.
Edging closer to 1,000 signatures, an online petition is bringing the debate about City Park's golf course back into the limelight. Should the 9-hole course be maintained and City Park grow around it, or should it be eliminated and the grounds added to the park's existing green space?
BREC Superintendent Carolyn McKnight sees a key difference between residents of Baton Rouge and those in Dallas, where she spent 20 years working in the parks system: Folks in Baton Rouge are passionate about their parks. The parks director says she doesn't even mind the brewing controversy over the future of City Park Golf Course. She's just happy to see people engaged. "We're not taking sides on either side of the issue, but we're excited that we have passionate people in this community who really want to see the park system strong and are willing to take a stand for what they like and what they want to see," she says. A push to convert the city's oldest public golf course into a public park began with an online petition started by Business Report Publisher Rolfe McCollister that,...
A nearly 39 million-acre oil and gas lease sale in the central Gulf of Mexico has drawn $1.2 billion in high bids by offshore energy producers. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management says 52 companies submitted 407 bids today on 320 tracts, each located between three miles and 230 miles off the coasts of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. The tracts, covering more than 1.7 million acres, are in water depths of nine feet to more than 11,115 feet. BOEM estimates the sale could lead to the production of up to 890 million barrels of oil and 3.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association President Chris John issued a statement after the sale, calling it "another great step forward for the oil and gas industry in continuing to develop offshore resources." While the association is pleased with the results, John says, it "can't ignore the inefficiencies of the federal 2012-2017 offshore plan. Today's sale will help develop new resources, but opening...
The drinking water in Baton Rouge has long been a source of civic pride. The quality of the water has been lauded for decades, and its crisp, clean taste regularly wins national awards.
Expressway Park sits in the shadow of the I-10/I-110 split, with the rumble of traffic echoing off the huge concrete pilings that separate the busy interstate above from the inner-city green space below. The South Baton Rouge Jaguars youth football team often practices on a field here, between the overpass bridges. At night, the interstate lighting high above isn't enough to illuminate the practice field, so parents of the young players use the headlights of their vehicles to keep evening practices going.
When it comes to oil and gas royalties, inland states generally claim 50% of the revenue from oil and gas production on federal lands within their borders. And every state is also entitled to take home 100% of the royalties from oil and gas extracted from its waters, which typically extend three miles from high-tide lines. However, as The Houston Chronicle reports, there's a major debate about what happens with revenues from energy produced in federal waters outside states' control. Under federal law, just four coastal states—Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas—lay claim to some of that money. Those states will be able to collect 37.5% of oil and gas royalty revenue on some leases beginning in 2017. Last year, Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski teamed up to advance a plan for expanding that program and allowing Alaska and all other coastal states to also collect the 37.5% royalty. Half of the collected revenue would still go to the...
BREC's Superintendent Carolyn McKnight got to usher in two new additions to the parish parks system in the past two weeks that lay the groundwork for much bigger projects. On Wednesday, she announced the grand opening of the new Convention Street Park downtown, which features a nice lawn, seating areas, a pergola and a temporary mural by TJ Black and Alex Harvie all maximizing less than an acre of land across from the US Post Office building.
Days before a newly formed council focuses on long-term Gulf of Mexico cleanup, a report released to The Associated Press shows that one federal agency has committed more than a half-billion dollars to the region in the past two years, nearly one-fifth of it on projects directly linked to recovery from the 2010 oil spill. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service—one of the so-called trustees involved in divvying up projects and cash from a settlement with BP— detailed its Gulf projects in a report shared with the AP in advance of its public release next week. The NRCS says it has committed nearly $570 million to such projects since 2010. Some projects started shortly before the Deepwater Horizon rig blew up in April 2010, killing 11 people and spilling hundreds of millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf. Others began during efforts to clean up and protect wildlife immediately after the environmental catastrophe. And in at least one...
The $8 million BREC borrowed in August to provide adequate cash flow through the end of the year is not related to the $13 million in bonds that it has been approved to borrow for park improvements and maintenance, says BREC assistant superintendent Ted Jack. "It's the last bit of money we're borrowing on the Imagine Your Parks program," he says. The state Bond Commission gave final approval of the park and recreation department's $13 million bond plan on Thursday. The Imagine Your Parks program, which transforms neighborhood parks into community parks, initially bonded $45 million in 2005, Jack says. Since then, nine parks have been upgraded or have improvements under way: Perkins, Forest, City, Greenwood, Howell, Independence, Highland, as well as a new park in both Central and Zachary. "What we're trying to do is, no matter where you are in the parish, you're pretty close to one of these parks," Jack says. The Capital Area Pathways Project, which when completed will be a 7.4-mile...
The Lafourche Parish Council has agreed to help fund a long-distance sediment pipeline to help rebuild wetlands—but only if the pipeline reaches Lafourche Parish. The pipeline originally was to carry sediment through Plaquemines and Jefferson parishes before ending in the Cloverly area of Lafourche. But the project has been scaled back and current plans would end it at the Barataria Waterway, short of Lafourche. The council on Tuesday voted to appropriate $1 million to the project—if it goes through Lafourche Parish—saying it would give the money to another wetlands restoration project if it doesn't go through Lafourche. "I am not going to give Jefferson Parish, St. Charles and Orleans protection when we are going to get nothing," says Councilman Daniel Lorraine. Other councilmen disagreed, saying the parish should invest in the project in the hope that the pipeline will eventually reach the parish. More votes on the issue are ahead. The (Thibodaux) Daily...
Baton Rouge has been selected as one of five cities to receive technical assistance through the federal government's Greening America's Capitals project, the DDD announced today. Baton Rouge will receive help in planning what's called the "Downtown Greenway," which will connect LSU to downtown through a 2.75-mile pedestrian and bicycling corridor that links neighborhoods to parks, businesses and cultural attractions. The Greening America's Capitals project will "create design options that incorporate green infrastructure elements into the greenway plan to ensure that the city's investment creates green spaces that provide environmental benefits while sparking new investments and redevelopment in the city's core," the DDD says. To view the funding matrix for the $3 million project, click here. Greening America's Capitals is a project of the Partnership for Sustainable Communities between the...
Protecting national, state and local assets in Louisiana's coastal region would cost at least $50 billion, says R. King Milling, chairman of the board of America's Wetland Foundation. Milling's estimate is in the introductory letter to a report released today outlining 30 recommendations for actions to sustain the Gulf Coast. The recommendations came out of 11 forums with more than 1,100 leaders from across the region, the foundation says. Among other moves, the report recommends streamlining approval for coastal restoration and protection projects by, for example, resolving conflicting federal policies and practices; and it suggests local governments create their own funding streams, perhaps derived from a percentage of occupancy and property taxes, that could be dedicated to coastal restoration and protection. Read the complete report here. —David...
Baton Rouge-based Resource Environmental Solutions announced today it has received approval from the New Orleans District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to create a new wetland mitigation bank serving south Louisiana. The Caney Creek Mitigation Bank, located approximately eight miles west of Mamou, will re-establish over 492 acres of bottomland hardwood and bald cypress-tupelo forest, RES says. The resulting credits will be used to compensate for unavoidable wetland impacts from project activity in the Mermentau Headwaters watershed near Eunice. The bank's primary service area, which covers portions of Evangeline, Acadia, Jefferson Davis and Allen parishes, is also a significant migratory bird flyway. Conversion of the bank site to a forested ecosystem will restore species diversity by creating more habitat for resident and migratory wildlife. Meanwhile, RES says, the watershed itself benefits from site restoration by retention of surface water runoff, stream flow maintenance,...
On a recent summer afternoon, a young boy, all of 10 years old, timidly knocked his putter against a small white ball. The ball bumped along the short grass then disappeared into the cup a few feet away. His father, overjoyed, threw his hands in the air, then quickly hugged his beaming son, breaking the silence of the moment and the expansive course around them with a resounding, “Yes!”
As 225 was developing our “Ideas Issue” and looking at ways for BREC's City Park and the surrounding University Lakes to be revamped to reach their full potential, Chad Caletka was putting the finishing touches on his final landscape architecture design project for the LSU Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture.
There are probably more live Louisiana crawfish crawling around the United States and Canada than you'd guess. As The Times-Picayune reports, a study presented Tuesday at the national meeting of the Ecological Society of America in Portland, Ore., found that one out of four U.S. and Canadian teachers who use live crawfish as part of their science classes release them into the wild after students are done using them. "Oregon teachers who have ordered crayfish (the word that some outside Louisiana use for crawfish) that originate in the Pacific Northwest have found that their mortality is extremely high, so many have taken to ordering crayfish from distributors who get their supply from Louisiana," says Sam Chan, an Oregon State University invasive species expert and a principal investigator of the study. "The problem is that we have no idea whether those crayfish may carry diseases or parasites that may be problematic if those animals are released into the wild here." The study...
Water is a way of life for Louisianans, and LSU AgCenter Aquaculture Scientist Greg Lutz says that truth is evidenced by a noticeable increase in the number of recreational ponds built in Baton Rouge and across Louisiana over the past decade. "Most of the newer ponds in the state are the result of new housing construction with homes being built around the pond," Lutz says. "The majority of the ponds are not large, ranging from approximately one-half acre to less than 2 to 3 acres, but some are as large as 40 acres." The estimated number of private, recreational ponds in Louisiana is around 120,000. Lutz notes studies have found that in rural areas, a well-managed pond can increase property values from 5% to 15%. Of course, ponds are a great setting for relaxation and social events at home, whether in the city or the country. The downside is that they require quite a bit of maintenance and prudent planning no matter where you build one. Even so, Lutz says, "A lot of potential problems...
Louisiana Department of Natural Resources Secretary Scott Angelle says his office has received a personal briefing and update from the federal government's top offshore drilling safety regulator on the successful test of a new deepwater wellhead containment system in the Gulf of Mexico. The test proves the technology and expertise are available to respond rapidly and effectively if a deepwater wellhead must be shut down, Angelle says. "This is another step in returning confidence to the industry that it will be allowed to operate and develop the plentiful domestic energy resources available in the Gulf of Mexico. This exercise has shown us all that the U.S. oil and gas industry has responded in an unprecedented way to create the world's most sophisticated containment response program," reads a statement from Angelle. A simulated well-control incident was staged in 7,000 feet of water to test the capping equipment, which was built and operated by the Marine Well Containment Company.
It's a mystery to Randy Rogers how anybody could call the eight acres of land he's trying to market just off Interstate 12 near Walker “wet.” The tract is not marshy. He can't recall ever seeing it flooded, and he says all it needs right now is a good bushwhacking to clear the weeds.
When Paul Salvant opened his pest control company, The Bug Man Inc., in 1978, he never thought the day would come where he would be crawling around a house looking for snakes in an attic.
With oil from the 2010 BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico continuing to show up on beaches and in wetlands along Louisiana's coast, the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority on Wednesday passed a resolution criticizing the Coast Guard for prematurely allowing BP to pull cleanup teams from coastal areas it has declared clean, The Times-Picayune reports. The authority passed a second resolution requesting the governor's office and the state attorney general's office to brief its members on whether any of the state's criminal statutes can be applied to BP. "We've pretty much reached an impasse with the Coast Guard," says Drue Banta, a governor's office attorney handling legal issues involving the spill for the authority. "They continue to tell us 'no' in different ways." Calls to Coast Guard Capt. Samuel Walker, the incident commander for the spill, were not returned. Authority Chairman Garret Graves says state and parish officials have been meeting monthly with Coast Guard...
A small breach on the marsh-covered east bank of the Mississippi River south of New Orleans is giving rise to calls to let the river run wild. The debate centers on a 77-foot-wide channel the river carved through a levee road in the unused Bohemia spillway in Plaquemines Parish, about 45 miles south of New Orleans. The breach is outside levees that protect thinly populated communities on the sliver of delta that extends south to form Louisiana's boot. Scientists with the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, a New Orleans-based environmental group, say the new channel formed in February, during Mardi Gras season, and have thus dubbed it "Mardi Gras Pass." The scientists are urging that the breach be allowed to remain, saying restorative, land-building silt is pouring into marshes. "We believe it is a river itself, a branch of the river," says John Lopez, the foundation's executive director. On June 29 environmental groups, including the Environmental Defense Fund, the National Audubon...
RESTORE Act legislation, which will direct billions of dollars in BP oil spill fines to Louisiana and other Gulf Coast states, was approved today by Congress. Specifically, the act will direct 80% of all Clean Water Act fines paid by BP to Louisiana, Alabama, Texas, Mississippi and Florida for economic and environmental restoration efforts. The federal government is still negotiating with the companies responsible for the spill on the exact amount of the fines, but estimates are running somewhere between $5 billion and $21 billion total. The legislation will now make its way to President Barack Obama's desk, with the president expected to sign it soon. All of Louisiana's congressional delegates voted for the bill. "This is a huge step toward vital, long-overdue coastal restoration work along the Gulf Coast in Louisiana and our neighboring states," Sen. David Vitter, an original co-sponsor of the bill, says in a news release applauding its passage. Gov. Bobby Jindal recently signed...
The Plaquemines Parish Council has voted in favor of a bond issue valued at between $50 million and $65 million to finance an effort to save the coastal parish from disappearing into the Gulf of Mexico. The money would be used to hire contractors to pump Mississippi River sediment into open water surrounding the sparsely populated citrus and ranch country south of New Orleans, an effort parish leaders hope will build new marshland and forested ridges that can serve as buffers, mitigating the effects of hurricanes on the parish. "We can't wait," Parish President Billy Nungesser says of Thursday's 9-0 vote. "We decided to go it alone. It's an emergency." Plaquemines Parish, with a population of about 23,000, is essentially a 70-mile-long strip of land hugging the Mississippi River. The plan is to lease an electric-powered dredge designed specifically for Plaquemines so it can take coarse sediment lying 90 feet deep in the Mississippi's channel and pump it through pipelines into open...
An industry safety clearinghouse formed after the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill is about to kick off a program for certifying outside auditors that the federal government may soon require for the examination of offshore operators' safety plans. Charlie Williams, executive director of the Houston-based Center for Offshore Safety, tells The Houston Chronicle editorial board that regulators now allow internal auditors to meet requirements for independent audits of company programs called Safety and Environmental Management Systems. Proposed federal requirements, however, would require that auditors outside of an offshore company must sign off on its safety systems. Williams says the regulatory change was under way before the April 20, 2010, blowout of BP's Macondo well that killed 11 workers and spilled millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf. The disaster, however, led to new focus on industry dangers and to the creation of the Center for Offshore Safety, which is charged with...
Under an agreement announced this morning, Ecological Restoration Services—a subsidiary of Baton Rouge-based Resource Environmental Solutions—will grow and supply native plants and trees for the Restore the Earth Foundation, an Ithaca, N.Y.-based nonprofit. The foundation is working on coastal restoration and reforestation in Louisiana, and the plants RES grows at its 640-acre nursery in Point-aux-Chenes will be used in those efforts beginning this fall. Since 2010, RES has been supplying the foundation with native plants for another Louisiana initiative called Gulf Saver Bag, which aims to restore damaged and degraded coastal wetlands. Financial terms of the agreement announced today were not disclosed. To date, Restore the Earth Foundation says it has reforested over 30,000 acres with 1.6 million native trees along the Gulf Coast, aided by the USDA Farm Service Agency and Louisiana Natural Resource Conversation Service with matching funds from federal, corporate and...
Charles "Chip" Groat is the founding president and CEO of The Water Institute of the Gulf, a new independent research organization based in Baton Rouge. The entity aims to advance the understanding of coastal systems and the way science and technology can be applied to the coast. Groat grew up in New York and eventually receiving a doctorate in geology from the University of Texas at Austin. From 1978 to 1990, he held positions at LSU and at the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources. He later served as executive director at the LSU Center for Coastal, Energy, and Environmental Resources. In 1998, he was appointed director of the U.S. Geological Survey under President Bill Clinton and retained by President George W. Bush until resigning in 2005. Read the full Q&A with Groat here. Here's a sample:
Chip Groat is the founding president and CEO of The Water Institute of the Gulf, a new independent research organization based in Baton Rouge. The entity aims to advance the understanding of coastal systems and the way science and technology can be applied to the coast. Groat grew up in New York before eventually receiving his Ph.D. in geology from the University of Texas at Austin. From 1978 to 1990, he held positions at LSU and at the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources. He later served as executive director at the LSU Center for Coastal, Energy, and Environmental Resources. In 1998, he was appointed director of the U.S. Geological Survey under President Bill Clinton and retained by President George W. Bush until resigning in 2005.
A commercial waste disposal facility in rural Jefferson Davis Parish is seeking a new injection well permit from the state. The American Press reports Phil Thibodeaux, district manager for MBO Lacassine Oilfield Services, has informed the police jury last week that the company plans to seek the permit from the state Department of Natural Resources. "We are going to put in a permit application to drill a new injection well on the property. By doing so we will help treat materials a lot quicker," Thibodeaux says. "It should also help eliminate the odors if we can get the water on the materials and get it treated." The permit process is expected to take from six months to a year to complete. MBO has a facility located on a 100-plus-acre site just off La. 101 that's been in operation since 2008. The facility accepts drilling fluids, production sludge and other oil exploration and production fluids. The company already operates two injection wells. The new well would be 6,200 feet...
Four national environmental groups have filed suit in federal court in Washington, D.C., challenging the sale last week of offshore drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. As The Times-Picayune reports, the lawsuit contends that the federal agency has not fully addressed the risks to wildlife and the environment from oil spills in the aftermath of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010. The suit says BOEM officials violated the federal National Environmental Policy Act by not determining the effects of the Deepwater Horizon spill on wildlife and then using that information to rewrite an environmental impact statement supporting last week's lease sale, and instead relied on incomplete information gathered for an environmental statement before the spill. The Southern Environmental Law Center filed the suit with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of Oceana, Defenders of Wildlife, Natural Resources Defense...
Now that school's out, many Louisiana families are taking to the woods for camping, hiking, biking, waterskiing, swimming and other outdoor adventures. As the temperature rises, so does the chance of encountering raccoons, roseate spoonbills, possums, turtles, snakes and other Louisiana wildlife. Some families are even fortunate enough to find a white-tailed fawn.
After a tough few years during the recession, consumer interest in luxury goods made from alligator skins is picking up, and the Louisiana market is experiencing an uptick. The Times-Picayune reports sales of alligator skins fell from $55 million in 2007 to $42 million in 2008 in the United States. But the 2010 harvest and the expected harvest from 2011 are showing strong signs the alligator industry is recovering. The outlook at the moment for the industry is very positive, says Noel Kinler, a program manager for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. "A lot will hinge on what happens in Europe," Kinler says. "If current demand remains consistent or increases, you can expect a rise in prices." The state's gator farmers and hunters account for around 80% of the total production of American alligators, most of which are used for their skin, which is sent off to Europe and Asia where it is made into high-end fashion items. Most money made from alligators is from the...
There were 46 rigs drilling in Louisiana's outer continental shelf last week, according to a count released Friday. That's the highest weekly total for that area of the Gulf since May 2009, reports the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources. Patrick Courreges, a policy analyst with DNR, says that while the rig count is now back where it was a year before the 2010 BP oil spill, it's still not at the level one might expect to see had there never been a post-spill moratorium and subsequent slowdown in permitting. Turnaround time on a deepwater drilling permit has gone from 250 days for an application in late 2010 to more like 150 days now, Courreges says; prior to the spill, the average wait time was closer to 60 days. "You're not all the way back," he says. "The companies are still investing out there." —David Jacobs
The Gulf Coast could add thousands of jobs and boost wetlands restoration using money generated by fines related to the 2010 BP oil spill, say The Walton Family Foundation, Mather Economics and Greater New Orleans Inc. in a joint release. "Those fines could create 29.54 new jobs per million dollars—or as many as 57,697 new jobs across the Gulf Coast region," The Walton Foundation claims on its website. The predicted jobs could be expected to be generated at a rate of about 1,549 per year and offer a wide range of annual wages: $13,334 to $54,471. Strongest employment growth would likely occur throughout the transportation and utilities industries. At the epicenter of such invigorated Gulf Coast activity would be Louisiana, providing habitat for thousands of species, storm surge protection for residences and businesses, support for recreational and commercial fishing activities, and support for one of the United States' largest oil and gas operations, as well as attracting...
Since its difficulties with Huey Long, Big Oil has sought to develop warm relations with Louisiana governors—and vice versa, if they knew what was good for them.
BREC to bring the fun to 'play deserts' this summer
A new mobile playground will be making its way through the parish this summer. The newly purchased BREC on the Geaux vehicle will begin making appearances in June, bringing supervised physical recreation to "play deserts." BREC Superintendent Carolyn McKnight says the initiative will bring exercise and physical play to both children and adults who otherwise might not have access to such facilities. "We have several areas throughout the parish … where there are kids who are in apartment complexes or … some places where you have to cross major thoroughfares to get to a park," McKnight says. "We want to make sure that we are able to impact kids in those zones." McKnight says she hopes to eventually link BREC on the Geaux with a mobile farmers market launched on Wednesday and the library system's Bookmobile. "That would be something that I think would be just awesome,"...
Downtown Greenway may connect with Wards Creek trail
The planned Downtown Greenway could connect with the Wards Creek trail BREC is building now, BREC and DDD officials say. The first phase of the Wards Creek Trail, from the Mall of Louisiana to near Siegen Lane, is under construction now, says Angela Harms, assistant director of planning and engineering with BREC. The agency is working on grants that would allow it to extend the trail through the Pennington Biomedical Research Center property to Pollard Estates and Rouzan. The greenway will connect Memorial Stadium through downtown to City Park, and DDD Executive Director Davis Rhorer says long-term plans are for the two trails to connect. Pollard and the Perkins Road Community Park next to Kenilworth Parkway were mentioned as connection points. BREC also is working with DOTD on possible additional lighting for Expressway Park at Interstate 10 and Interstate 110, which is a key link for the greenway, Harms said today at the DDD's monthly meeting. —David...
Imagining again
While golfers and advocates for change bicker over what to do with City Park Golf Course, BREC Superintendent Carolyn McKnight has her own vision for the future of the park.
City Park, sans golf course?
Edging closer to 1,000 signatures, an online petition is bringing the debate about City Park's golf course back into the limelight. Should the 9-hole course be maintained and City Park grow around it, or should it be eliminated and the grounds added to the park's existing green space?
Public to decide the fate of City Park, McKnight says
BREC Superintendent Carolyn McKnight sees a key difference between residents of Baton Rouge and those in Dallas, where she spent 20 years working in the parks system: Folks in Baton Rouge are passionate about their parks. The parks director says she doesn't even mind the brewing controversy over the future of City Park Golf Course. She's just happy to see people engaged. "We're not taking sides on either side of the issue, but we're excited that we have passionate people in this community who really want to see the park system strong and are willing to take a stand for what they like and what they want to see," she says. A push to convert the city's oldest public golf course into a public park began with an online petition started by Business Report Publisher Rolfe McCollister that,...
Gulf lease sale draws $1.2 billion in high bids
A nearly 39 million-acre oil and gas lease sale in the central Gulf of Mexico has drawn $1.2 billion in high bids by offshore energy producers. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management says 52 companies submitted 407 bids today on 320 tracts, each located between three miles and 230 miles off the coasts of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. The tracts, covering more than 1.7 million acres, are in water depths of nine feet to more than 11,115 feet. BOEM estimates the sale could lead to the production of up to 890 million barrels of oil and 3.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association President Chris John issued a statement after the sale, calling it "another great step forward for the oil and gas industry in continuing to develop offshore resources." While the association is pleased with the results, John says, it "can't ignore the inefficiencies of the federal 2012-2017 offshore plan. Today's sale will help develop new resources, but opening...
Deep trouble
The drinking water in Baton Rouge has long been a source of civic pride. The quality of the water has been lauded for decades, and its crisp, clean taste regularly wins national awards.
Can the Greenway improve struggling neighborhoods?
Expressway Park sits in the shadow of the I-10/I-110 split, with the rumble of traffic echoing off the huge concrete pilings that separate the busy interstate above from the inner-city green space below. The South Baton Rouge Jaguars youth football team often practices on a field here, between the overpass bridges. At night, the interstate lighting high above isn't enough to illuminate the practice field, so parents of the young players use the headlights of their vehicles to keep evening practices going.
Bid to boost offshore royalty sharing could gain traction next year
When it comes to oil and gas royalties, inland states generally claim 50% of the revenue from oil and gas production on federal lands within their borders. And every state is also entitled to take home 100% of the royalties from oil and gas extracted from its waters, which typically extend three miles from high-tide lines. However, as The Houston Chronicle reports, there's a major debate about what happens with revenues from energy produced in federal waters outside states' control. Under federal law, just four coastal states—Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas—lay claim to some of that money. Those states will be able to collect 37.5% of oil and gas royalty revenue on some leases beginning in 2017. Last year, Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski teamed up to advance a plan for expanding that program and allowing Alaska and all other coastal states to also collect the 37.5% royalty. Half of the collected revenue would still go to the...
Prioritizing parks and pathways
BREC's Superintendent Carolyn McKnight got to usher in two new additions to the parish parks system in the past two weeks that lay the groundwork for much bigger projects. On Wednesday, she announced the grand opening of the new Convention Street Park downtown, which features a nice lawn, seating areas, a pergola and a temporary mural by TJ Black and Alex Harvie all maximizing less than an acre of land across from the US Post Office building.
Report: Feds have funneled more than $500M to Gulf Coast since 2010
Days before a newly formed council focuses on long-term Gulf of Mexico cleanup, a report released to The Associated Press shows that one federal agency has committed more than a half-billion dollars to the region in the past two years, nearly one-fifth of it on projects directly linked to recovery from the 2010 oil spill. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service—one of the so-called trustees involved in divvying up projects and cash from a settlement with BP— detailed its Gulf projects in a report shared with the AP in advance of its public release next week. The NRCS says it has committed nearly $570 million to such projects since 2010. Some projects started shortly before the Deepwater Horizon rig blew up in April 2010, killing 11 people and spilling hundreds of millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf. Others began during efforts to clean up and protect wildlife immediately after the environmental catastrophe. And in at least one...
BREC in final stages of work on parks, moving to trails next
The $8 million BREC borrowed in August to provide adequate cash flow through the end of the year is not related to the $13 million in bonds that it has been approved to borrow for park improvements and maintenance, says BREC assistant superintendent Ted Jack. "It's the last bit of money we're borrowing on the Imagine Your Parks program," he says. The state Bond Commission gave final approval of the park and recreation department's $13 million bond plan on Thursday. The Imagine Your Parks program, which transforms neighborhood parks into community parks, initially bonded $45 million in 2005, Jack says. Since then, nine parks have been upgraded or have improvements under way: Perkins, Forest, City, Greenwood, Howell, Independence, Highland, as well as a new park in both Central and Zachary. "What we're trying to do is, no matter where you are in the parish, you're pretty close to one of these parks," Jack says. The Capital Area Pathways Project, which when completed will be a 7.4-mile...
Funding for wetlands restoration pipeline OK'd in Lafourche, with conditions
The Lafourche Parish Council has agreed to help fund a long-distance sediment pipeline to help rebuild wetlands—but only if the pipeline reaches Lafourche Parish. The pipeline originally was to carry sediment through Plaquemines and Jefferson parishes before ending in the Cloverly area of Lafourche. But the project has been scaled back and current plans would end it at the Barataria Waterway, short of Lafourche. The council on Tuesday voted to appropriate $1 million to the project—if it goes through Lafourche Parish—saying it would give the money to another wetlands restoration project if it doesn't go through Lafourche. "I am not going to give Jefferson Parish, St. Charles and Orleans protection when we are going to get nothing," says Councilman Daniel Lorraine. Other councilmen disagreed, saying the parish should invest in the project in the hope that the pipeline will eventually reach the parish. More votes on the issue are ahead. The (Thibodaux) Daily...
Feds to assist B.R. in greenway design
Baton Rouge has been selected as one of five cities to receive technical assistance through the federal government's Greening America's Capitals project, the DDD announced today. Baton Rouge will receive help in planning what's called the "Downtown Greenway," which will connect LSU to downtown through a 2.75-mile pedestrian and bicycling corridor that links neighborhoods to parks, businesses and cultural attractions. The Greening America's Capitals project will "create design options that incorporate green infrastructure elements into the greenway plan to ensure that the city's investment creates green spaces that provide environmental benefits while sparking new investments and redevelopment in the city's core," the DDD says. To view the funding matrix for the $3 million project, click here. Greening America's Capitals is a project of the Partnership for Sustainable Communities between the...
Wetland foundation chairman says $50 billion needed to save La. coast
Protecting national, state and local assets in Louisiana's coastal region would cost at least $50 billion, says R. King Milling, chairman of the board of America's Wetland Foundation. Milling's estimate is in the introductory letter to a report released today outlining 30 recommendations for actions to sustain the Gulf Coast. The recommendations came out of 11 forums with more than 1,100 leaders from across the region, the foundation says. Among other moves, the report recommends streamlining approval for coastal restoration and protection projects by, for example, resolving conflicting federal policies and practices; and it suggests local governments create their own funding streams, perhaps derived from a percentage of occupancy and property taxes, that could be dedicated to coastal restoration and protection. Read the complete report here. —David...
B.R. firm gets corps' OK for 492-acre wetland mitigation bank
Baton Rouge-based Resource Environmental Solutions announced today it has received approval from the New Orleans District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to create a new wetland mitigation bank serving south Louisiana. The Caney Creek Mitigation Bank, located approximately eight miles west of Mamou, will re-establish over 492 acres of bottomland hardwood and bald cypress-tupelo forest, RES says. The resulting credits will be used to compensate for unavoidable wetland impacts from project activity in the Mermentau Headwaters watershed near Eunice. The bank's primary service area, which covers portions of Evangeline, Acadia, Jefferson Davis and Allen parishes, is also a significant migratory bird flyway. Conversion of the bank site to a forested ecosystem will restore species diversity by creating more habitat for resident and migratory wildlife. Meanwhile, RES says, the watershed itself benefits from site restoration by retention of surface water runoff, stream flow maintenance,...
Parks and new creations
On a recent summer afternoon, a young boy, all of 10 years old, timidly knocked his putter against a small white ball. The ball bumped along the short grass then disappeared into the cup a few feet away. His father, overjoyed, threw his hands in the air, then quickly hugged his beaming son, breaking the silence of the moment and the expansive course around them with a resounding, “Yes!”
City Park gone wild
As 225 was developing our “Ideas Issue” and looking at ways for BREC's City Park and the surrounding University Lakes to be revamped to reach their full potential, Chad Caletka was putting the finishing touches on his final landscape architecture design project for the LSU Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture.
La. crawfish released into wild from classrooms across North America
There are probably more live Louisiana crawfish crawling around the United States and Canada than you'd guess. As The Times-Picayune reports, a study presented Tuesday at the national meeting of the Ecological Society of America in Portland, Ore., found that one out of four U.S. and Canadian teachers who use live crawfish as part of their science classes release them into the wild after students are done using them. "Oregon teachers who have ordered crayfish (the word that some outside Louisiana use for crawfish) that originate in the Pacific Northwest have found that their mortality is extremely high, so many have taken to ordering crayfish from distributors who get their supply from Louisiana," says Sam Chan, an Oregon State University invasive species expert and a principal investigator of the study. "The problem is that we have no idea whether those crayfish may carry diseases or parasites that may be problematic if those animals are released into the wild here." The study...
More Louisianans building ponds to enhance recreation, increase property values
Water is a way of life for Louisianans, and LSU AgCenter Aquaculture Scientist Greg Lutz says that truth is evidenced by a noticeable increase in the number of recreational ponds built in Baton Rouge and across Louisiana over the past decade. "Most of the newer ponds in the state are the result of new housing construction with homes being built around the pond," Lutz says. "The majority of the ponds are not large, ranging from approximately one-half acre to less than 2 to 3 acres, but some are as large as 40 acres." The estimated number of private, recreational ponds in Louisiana is around 120,000. Lutz notes studies have found that in rural areas, a well-managed pond can increase property values from 5% to 15%. Of course, ponds are a great setting for relaxation and social events at home, whether in the city or the country. The downside is that they require quite a bit of maintenance and prudent planning no matter where you build one. Even so, Lutz says, "A lot of potential problems...
Deepwater wellhead containment test deemed a success
Louisiana Department of Natural Resources Secretary Scott Angelle says his office has received a personal briefing and update from the federal government's top offshore drilling safety regulator on the successful test of a new deepwater wellhead containment system in the Gulf of Mexico. The test proves the technology and expertise are available to respond rapidly and effectively if a deepwater wellhead must be shut down, Angelle says. "This is another step in returning confidence to the industry that it will be allowed to operate and develop the plentiful domestic energy resources available in the Gulf of Mexico. This exercise has shown us all that the U.S. oil and gas industry has responded in an unprecedented way to create the world's most sophisticated containment response program," reads a statement from Angelle. A simulated well-control incident was staged in 7,000 feet of water to test the capping equipment, which was built and operated by the Marine Well Containment Company.
Corps determinations
It's a mystery to Randy Rogers how anybody could call the eight acres of land he's trying to market just off Interstate 12 near Walker “wet.” The tract is not marshy. He can't recall ever seeing it flooded, and he says all it needs right now is a good bushwhacking to clear the weeds.
Critter control
When Paul Salvant opened his pest control company, The Bug Man Inc., in 1978, he never thought the day would come where he would be crawling around a house looking for snakes in an attic.
Gulf of Mexico oil spill cleanup draws fresh criticism
With oil from the 2010 BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico continuing to show up on beaches and in wetlands along Louisiana's coast, the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority on Wednesday passed a resolution criticizing the Coast Guard for prematurely allowing BP to pull cleanup teams from coastal areas it has declared clean, The Times-Picayune reports. The authority passed a second resolution requesting the governor's office and the state attorney general's office to brief its members on whether any of the state's criminal statutes can be applied to BP. "We've pretty much reached an impasse with the Coast Guard," says Drue Banta, a governor's office attorney handling legal issues involving the spill for the authority. "They continue to tell us 'no' in different ways." Calls to Coast Guard Capt. Samuel Walker, the incident commander for the spill, were not returned. Authority Chairman Garret Graves says state and parish officials have been meeting monthly with Coast Guard...
Amid debate, nature takes a crack at rebuilding La. marsh
A small breach on the marsh-covered east bank of the Mississippi River south of New Orleans is giving rise to calls to let the river run wild. The debate centers on a 77-foot-wide channel the river carved through a levee road in the unused Bohemia spillway in Plaquemines Parish, about 45 miles south of New Orleans. The breach is outside levees that protect thinly populated communities on the sliver of delta that extends south to form Louisiana's boot. Scientists with the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, a New Orleans-based environmental group, say the new channel formed in February, during Mardi Gras season, and have thus dubbed it "Mardi Gras Pass." The scientists are urging that the breach be allowed to remain, saying restorative, land-building silt is pouring into marshes. "We believe it is a river itself, a branch of the river," says John Lopez, the foundation's executive director. On June 29 environmental groups, including the Environmental Defense Fund, the National Audubon...
Billions headed to Gulf Coast with passage of RESTORE Act
RESTORE Act legislation, which will direct billions of dollars in BP oil spill fines to Louisiana and other Gulf Coast states, was approved today by Congress. Specifically, the act will direct 80% of all Clean Water Act fines paid by BP to Louisiana, Alabama, Texas, Mississippi and Florida for economic and environmental restoration efforts. The federal government is still negotiating with the companies responsible for the spill on the exact amount of the fines, but estimates are running somewhere between $5 billion and $21 billion total. The legislation will now make its way to President Barack Obama's desk, with the president expected to sign it soon. All of Louisiana's congressional delegates voted for the bill. "This is a huge step toward vital, long-overdue coastal restoration work along the Gulf Coast in Louisiana and our neighboring states," Sen. David Vitter, an original co-sponsor of the bill, says in a news release applauding its passage. Gov. Bobby Jindal recently signed...
Eroding coastal parish aims to save itself by building land
The Plaquemines Parish Council has voted in favor of a bond issue valued at between $50 million and $65 million to finance an effort to save the coastal parish from disappearing into the Gulf of Mexico. The money would be used to hire contractors to pump Mississippi River sediment into open water surrounding the sparsely populated citrus and ranch country south of New Orleans, an effort parish leaders hope will build new marshland and forested ridges that can serve as buffers, mitigating the effects of hurricanes on the parish. "We can't wait," Parish President Billy Nungesser says of Thursday's 9-0 vote. "We decided to go it alone. It's an emergency." Plaquemines Parish, with a population of about 23,000, is essentially a 70-mile-long strip of land hugging the Mississippi River. The plan is to lease an electric-powered dredge designed specifically for Plaquemines so it can take coarse sediment lying 90 feet deep in the Mississippi's channel and pump it through pipelines into open...
Industry group develops new standards for offshore safety auditors
An industry safety clearinghouse formed after the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill is about to kick off a program for certifying outside auditors that the federal government may soon require for the examination of offshore operators' safety plans. Charlie Williams, executive director of the Houston-based Center for Offshore Safety, tells The Houston Chronicle editorial board that regulators now allow internal auditors to meet requirements for independent audits of company programs called Safety and Environmental Management Systems. Proposed federal requirements, however, would require that auditors outside of an offshore company must sign off on its safety systems. Williams says the regulatory change was under way before the April 20, 2010, blowout of BP's Macondo well that killed 11 workers and spilled millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf. The disaster, however, led to new focus on industry dangers and to the creation of the Center for Offshore Safety, which is charged with...
B.R. firm to grow native plants for coastal reforestation efforts
Under an agreement announced this morning, Ecological Restoration Services—a subsidiary of Baton Rouge-based Resource Environmental Solutions—will grow and supply native plants and trees for the Restore the Earth Foundation, an Ithaca, N.Y.-based nonprofit. The foundation is working on coastal restoration and reforestation in Louisiana, and the plants RES grows at its 640-acre nursery in Point-aux-Chenes will be used in those efforts beginning this fall. Since 2010, RES has been supplying the foundation with native plants for another Louisiana initiative called Gulf Saver Bag, which aims to restore damaged and degraded coastal wetlands. Financial terms of the agreement announced today were not disclosed. To date, Restore the Earth Foundation says it has reforested over 30,000 acres with 1.6 million native trees along the Gulf Coast, aided by the USDA Farm Service Agency and Louisiana Natural Resource Conversation Service with matching funds from federal, corporate and...
Executive Spotlight: Charles 'Chip' Groat
Charles "Chip" Groat is the founding president and CEO of The Water Institute of the Gulf, a new independent research organization based in Baton Rouge. The entity aims to advance the understanding of coastal systems and the way science and technology can be applied to the coast. Groat grew up in New York and eventually receiving a doctorate in geology from the University of Texas at Austin. From 1978 to 1990, he held positions at LSU and at the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources. He later served as executive director at the LSU Center for Coastal, Energy, and Environmental Resources. In 1998, he was appointed director of the U.S. Geological Survey under President Bill Clinton and retained by President George W. Bush until resigning in 2005. Read the full Q&A with Groat here. Here's a sample:
Charles "Chip" Groat
Chip Groat is the founding president and CEO of The Water Institute of the Gulf, a new independent research organization based in Baton Rouge. The entity aims to advance the understanding of coastal systems and the way science and technology can be applied to the coast. Groat grew up in New York before eventually receiving his Ph.D. in geology from the University of Texas at Austin. From 1978 to 1990, he held positions at LSU and at the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources. He later served as executive director at the LSU Center for Coastal, Energy, and Environmental Resources. In 1998, he was appointed director of the U.S. Geological Survey under President Bill Clinton and retained by President George W. Bush until resigning in 2005.
Company seeking permit for new injection well in Jefferson Davis
A commercial waste disposal facility in rural Jefferson Davis Parish is seeking a new injection well permit from the state. The American Press reports Phil Thibodeaux, district manager for MBO Lacassine Oilfield Services, has informed the police jury last week that the company plans to seek the permit from the state Department of Natural Resources. "We are going to put in a permit application to drill a new injection well on the property. By doing so we will help treat materials a lot quicker," Thibodeaux says. "It should also help eliminate the odors if we can get the water on the materials and get it treated." The permit process is expected to take from six months to a year to complete. MBO has a facility located on a 100-plus-acre site just off La. 101 that's been in operation since 2008. The facility accepts drilling fluids, production sludge and other oil exploration and production fluids. The company already operates two injection wells. The new well would be 6,200 feet...
Environmental groups challenge offshore oil, gas lease sale
Four national environmental groups have filed suit in federal court in Washington, D.C., challenging the sale last week of offshore drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. As The Times-Picayune reports, the lawsuit contends that the federal agency has not fully addressed the risks to wildlife and the environment from oil spills in the aftermath of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010. The suit says BOEM officials violated the federal National Environmental Policy Act by not determining the effects of the Deepwater Horizon spill on wildlife and then using that information to rewrite an environmental impact statement supporting last week's lease sale, and instead relied on incomplete information gathered for an environmental statement before the spill. The Southern Environmental Law Center filed the suit with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of Oceana, Defenders of Wildlife, Natural Resources Defense...
LDWF cautions Louisianans against fawning over wildlife this summer
Now that school's out, many Louisiana families are taking to the woods for camping, hiking, biking, waterskiing, swimming and other outdoor adventures.
As the temperature rises, so does the chance of encountering raccoons, roseate spoonbills, possums, turtles, snakes and other Louisiana wildlife. Some families are even fortunate enough to find a white-tailed fawn.
Growing demand for skins stokes La. alligator industry
After a tough few years during the recession, consumer interest in luxury goods made from alligator skins is picking up, and the Louisiana market is experiencing an uptick. The Times-Picayune reports sales of alligator skins fell from $55 million in 2007 to $42 million in 2008 in the United States. But the 2010 harvest and the expected harvest from 2011 are showing strong signs the alligator industry is recovering. The outlook at the moment for the industry is very positive, says Noel Kinler, a program manager for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. "A lot will hinge on what happens in Europe," Kinler says. "If current demand remains consistent or increases, you can expect a rise in prices." The state's gator farmers and hunters account for around 80% of the total production of American alligators, most of which are used for their skin, which is sent off to Europe and Asia where it is made into high-end fashion items. Most money made from alligators is from the...
Offshore drilling hits three-year high
There were 46 rigs drilling in Louisiana's outer continental shelf last week, according to a count released Friday. That's the highest weekly total for that area of the Gulf since May 2009, reports the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources. Patrick Courreges, a policy analyst with DNR, says that while the rig count is now back where it was a year before the 2010 BP oil spill, it's still not at the level one might expect to see had there never been a post-spill moratorium and subsequent slowdown in permitting. Turnaround time on a deepwater drilling permit has gone from 250 days for an application in late 2010 to more like 150 days now, Courreges says; prior to the spill, the average wait time was closer to 60 days. "You're not all the way back," he says. "The companies are still investing out there." —David Jacobs
Coastal restoration could mean economic boon
The Gulf Coast could add thousands of jobs and boost wetlands restoration using money generated by fines related to the 2010 BP oil spill, say The Walton Family Foundation, Mather Economics and Greater New Orleans Inc. in a joint release. "Those fines could create 29.54 new jobs per million dollars—or as many as 57,697 new jobs across the Gulf Coast region," The Walton Foundation claims on its website. The predicted jobs could be expected to be generated at a rate of about 1,549 per year and offer a wide range of annual wages: $13,334 to $54,471. Strongest employment growth would likely occur throughout the transportation and utilities industries. At the epicenter of such invigorated Gulf Coast activity would be Louisiana, providing habitat for thousands of species, storm surge protection for residences and businesses, support for recreational and commercial fishing activities, and support for one of the United States' largest oil and gas operations, as well as attracting...
Jindal pretty slick with his oil politics
Since its difficulties with Huey Long, Big Oil has sought to develop warm relations with Louisiana governors—and vice versa, if they knew what was good for them.