Reports - WSTB

WSTB Reports

First Report from the NRC Committee on the Review of the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration (LACPR) Program (2008)

In response to the destruction caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the U.S. Congress requested that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to produce a comprehensive technical report for future protection and design against Category 5 hurricanes in southern Louisiana. Entitled "Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Technical Report," the Corps' draft technical report offer many alternatives for the restoration of wetlands, future design of levees and floodwalls, and nonstructural measures to provide hurricane protection. This National Research Council (NRC) report reviews the Corps' draft report and provides recommendations on how it can be improved. The Corps is commended for integrating and providing new approaches in this complex ecological and geological environment. However, the draft report does not identify projects of higher priority and greater benefits, and there are significant weaknesses in each of the report's three main sections. Most notably, the National Research Council report finds that the Corps' draft report lacks evidence that the sediment resources necessary to maintain the current coastal configuration, given the current and future rates of subsidence, degradation, and sea level rise, will be available.
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