Karla Klay alerted me to this article in the New Orleans Times-Picayune. This is one in a series that the paper has been publishing on the loss of coastal wetlands in Louisiana. For a gist of the story, here is the opening paragraph:

Even under best-case scenarios for building massive engineering projects to restore Louisiana’s dying coastline, the Mississippi River can’t possibly feed enough sediment into the marshes to prevent ongoing catastraphic catastrophic land loss, two Louisiana State University geologists conclude in a scientific paper being published today.

The result: The state will lose another 4,054 to 5,212 square miles of coastline by 2100 — an area roughly the size of Connecticut.

Ike offered Galveston a peak into the future, I believe. Our sand-starved island (victimized by a variety of engineering projects both local and inland) is simply not prepared for the additional blow of sea level rise. With the passage last week of legislation in the House to finally move the U.S. off of dead center, perhaps at last we can begin to develop the strategy necessary to moderate the impacts of global warming. I find it hard to imagine anyone opposing such a tiny first step (the battle in the Senate will be tough), but, as usual, Texas finds a way to put its best foot forward. Rep John Culberson of Texas, a Republican, said the bill “is the equivalent to a light switch tax – if this bill becomes law, Americans will pay higher taxes every time we turn on our lights.”