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Funding For Coastal Restoration Threatened By Louisiana State Budget Crisis

A slate of bills before the Louisiana state legislature, if passed, will redirect funding from coastal restoration efforts. WWNO's Tegan Wendland spoke with Bob Marshall, environmental reporter for The Lens, about the proposed legislation.

 

 

WWNO: There are more than a dozen bills currently in front of the legislature that could take funds from coastal restoration and spend those funds elsewhere. What's the big picture here.

 

Marshall: Well, most of these bills are not specifically aimed at the coastal fund. They're aimed at helping the legislators plug this billion dollar hole in the budget. But the unintended consequences of these bills could result in diverting from the conservation fund for other purposes.

 

WWNO: A lot of these bills hinge on something called "statutory dedication" of funds. Can you explain that?

 

Marshall: In most cases those were constitutional amendments passed by the voters to make sure that the fees that were being collected for a specific purpose—fees and taxes—would go to that purpose and that lawmakers couldn't raid the funds for their own projects.

 

WWNO: So these were mechanisms that were put in place to protect the funding that are now making it possible to raid some of that funding for other purposes...

 

Marshall: Well a couple of years ago Governor Jindal had a law passed, when we were first seeing some budget problems, to allow as much as 5% to be taken from protected funds when the general fund budget showed a deficit. For example, last year, the coastal fund lost about $6 million. Several of the bills being considered now would raise that cap to 10%, which of course would see the coastal fund losing as much as $12 million.

 

WWNO: I would bet that none of the lawmakers proposing these bills are against restoration. So where are these proposals coming form?

 

Marshall: I think you're right [laughs]. No one has run on a platform to kill the coast. In general, all these are part of the desperation on the part of lawmakers to find money to keep from closing more hospitals, from raising more tuition at colleges, for shutting down universities. They're looking everywhere. And frankly, so-called good government groups have always been against dedicated funds. Because what happens when you have a downturn is that you begin cutting critical services because extra funding is protected somewhere else. However, protected funds have a long history in Louisiana because voters got tired of politicians basically raiding money that was supposed to be for one purpose and using it for something else.

 

WWNO: We've seen a lot of state services on the chopping block during this budget crisis, from mental health care to LSU football. There's a larger question here: coastal restoration is a priority but, is there an argument that in the face of these other cuts, it can wait?

 

Marshall: Sure, there's an argument for that, there's an argument for everything I suppose. But I think that this is an existential issue, a crisis for all of Southeast Louisiana, especially given the constant upgrading of the rate of sea level rise. This isn't really an option for the state. We're not getting any help from the federal government, the state has chosen not to look at other sources, other industries for more help. So we've got this little bit of a window and a funding stream thanks, ironically, to the Deepwater Horizon accident, which gives us maybe about 10 years to find another funding source. If we don't find it, a lot of communities will be moving northward.

 

WWNO: But if you're the governor, and you can either keep a school open or build a marsh, what do you do?

 

Marshall: I think that's not a fair analogy. If a school happens to be in the coastal zone, you won't be able to keep it open very long if you don't fix the marsh. You know, those are always fair questions to ask but it's not either/or. I think good government groups would also tell you it's probably time for the state to dig a little deeper, everyone has to pay a little more because we're in this hole. You could close a school today and then when times get better, re-open it. If you don't fix the holes in the marsh today, ten years from now they'll be too big to fix.

Tegan has reported on the coast for WWNO since 2015. In this role she has covered a wide range of issues and subjects related to coastal land loss, coastal restoration, and the culture and economy of Louisiana’s coastal zone, with a focus on solutions and the human dimensions of climate change. Her reporting has been aired nationally on Planet Money, Reveal, All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Marketplace, BBC, CBC and other outlets. She’s a recipient of the Pulitzer Connected Coastlines grant, CUNY Resilience Fellowship, Metcalf Fellowship, and countless national and regional awards.

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