New Orleans-- Corey Robinson and Kenny Mitchell, crabbing near Bayou Bienvenue in the Lower 9th Ward, had a so-so day outing.
"It's slow today," observed Robinson, as the they filled a cooler with their catch.
The pair stands to lose their favorite crabbing spot if the state and the city succeed in pushing back salt water intrusion and re-creating 4,000 acres of cypress swamp.
"It's good," said Robinson. "I'm glad to see they're trying to bring New Orleans back."
Only steps away, Nancy Sutley, the Chair of The White House Council On Environmental Quality, was getting briefed on a $10 million restoration effort to reclaim that forest.
The Sewerage & Water Board will introduce effluent, treated sewage, into the Bienvenue Triangle and later, plant cypress trees.
This pet project of local environmentalists has taken years to become reality.
"As I heard this morning, certainly the message of urgency is one I will take back with me (to Washington)," said Sutley.
Sutley has already established the Gulf Coast Task Force, a group of federal agencies with sometimes competing agendas, with the aim of hitting the accelerator on coastal projects.
"We're committed to making sure the federal government is an essential partner in helping to move along these efforts."
Coastal advocates have been frustrated by a process stuck in molasses, a mind-numbing, sometimes decades long effort just to start turning dirt on an individual project.
"I think this administration realizes that they don't want to drop money into a broken process," said Garrett Graves, head of the Governor's Office of Coastal Activities.
Given the Washington budget realities, Sutley makes no commitments yet on how far the administration will go in helping Louisiana piece back together it's coastline.
"Part of what we have to do is understand is how do we prioritize the projects," said Sutley. "Money is not infinite."
Coastal advocates will be looking for money in the 2011 budget the president will propose early next year.
Graves sees that as a pivotal moment. "If we don't see some type of commitment in the 2011 budget, then I think it would be a significant missed opportunity."
