On Eve of New Orleans Visit, President Gets Letter from Louisiana, National Leaders

NEW ORLEANS, LA, October 14, 2009 --/WORLD-WIRE/-- On the eve of President Obama's visit to New Orleans on Thursday, Louisiana elected officials, local, state and national group leaders today sent the president a letter advising him that "a robust and effective federal effort...is necessary" to ensure "coastal Louisiana's survival."

The letter signers include Governor Bobby Jindal, U.S. Senators Mary Landrieu and David Vitter, U.S. Reps. Steve Scalise, Joseph Cao, Charlie Melancon, and Charles Boustany, Environmental Defense Fund President Fred Krupp, National Audubon Society President John Flicker and National Wildlife Federation President Larry Schweiger, among others.

The letter will appear in full-page ads purchased by Environmental Defense Fund, National Audubon Society and National Wildlife Federation in the Thursday editions of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, New Orleans Tribune and Politico.

The leaders note that during his campaign and his 2009 Katrina anniversary address, President Obama spoke of "the need to strengthen the wetlands and barrier islands that are the Gulf Coast's first line of defense," and that the issue is pressing because Louisiana has lost more than 2,300 square miles of coastal wetlands since the 1930s, an area larger than the state of Delaware.

The leaders commend the president's "recent steps in support of New Orleans and coastal Louisiana," including visiting the Gulf Coast, extending operation of the Gulf Coast Recovery Coordinator's office, and establishing the Gulf Coast Interagency Working Group as "concrete steps forward to community, economic, and environmental recovery and resiliency."

"Restoring the Mississippi River delta wetlands will save the world's seventh largest river delta, be the largest ecosystem restoration program in history, protect world-renowned cultures and communities, and bolster the American economy," the leaders state. "Coastal restoration is an essential component of short and long term risk reduction in this region, and must complement and be complemented by other lines of defense like existing and future federal investments in levees, evacuation planning, and storm-sensitive community redevelopment."

The leaders cite five principles to "both ensure effectiveness and concrete progress on restoration before the end of your first term in 2012." They are:

1. Complete the near-term restoration program authorized by Congress in 2007
2. Apply multi-agency resources and coordination
3. Streamline bureaucracy and reconcile inconsistent policies
4. Develop multi-year programmatic funding and budgeting, starting with Fiscal Year 2011
5. Complete the authorized comprehensive planning, design, and management effort

• Steven Peyronnin, Executive Director, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana
• Ann Rheims, Executive Director, Lake Pontchartain Basin Foundation
• Cynthia Sarthou, Executive Director, Gulf Restoration Network
• Terri King, Manager, Gulf Coast Operations, Conoco-Philips
• Jeff Benoit, President/CEO, Restore America's Estuaries
• R. King Milling, President, America's Wetland Foundation
• Michael Hecht, President/CEO, Greater New Orleans Inc.
• Ted Falgout, Director, Greater Lafourche Port Commission
• Charlotte Randolph, President, Lafourche Parish/President, Parishes Against Coastal Erosion
• Adam Mcbride, Director, Port of Lake Charles
• Ken Babcock, Senior Director of Conservation, Ducks Unlimited
• Gary Lagrange, Director, Port of New Orleans
• Pam Dashiel and Charles Allen, Co-Directors, Lower Ninth Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development
• Scott Burns, Environmental Program Director, Walton Family Foundation