2017 Coastal Master Plan predicts grimmer future for Louisiana coast as worst-case scenario becomes best-case – The New Orleans Advocate
Article Synopsis – The 2017 edition of Louisiana’s Coastal Master Plan was just released and it predicts that even if everything works as planned, 2,800 square miles of coast still could be lost in the next four decades, and about 27,000 buildings may need to be floodproofed, elevated or bought out, including about 10,000 in communities around New Orleans. Scientists in charge of the Coastal Master Plan said the more dire outlook can be traced to one striking fact: The worst-case scenario for human-caused sea-level rise in the 2012 plan, 1.48 feet, has become the best-case scenario in the 2017 edition. In fact, the National Climate Assessment now estimates sea levels on U.S. coastlines could rise 4 feet by 2100. State coastal restoration officials have said that if they don’t have the money to enact the plan as written, Louisiana will end up with a smaller coast — and that will cause social and economic losses. To read the actual article click here.