The U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources held an oversight hearing entitled “Rigs to Restoration: Examining Gulf Coast Restoration through Energy Production and Permitting” on August 2, 2024. The hearing examined Louisiana’s experience in coastal restoration, including the barriers encountered through the permitting process and the shared relationship between energy production and environmental protection. Witnesses were Ms. Meg Bankston, Executive Director, Parishes Advocating for Coastal Endurance; Mr. Kyle Graham, Former Executive Director, Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority; and Mr. Michael Hecht, President & CEO, Greater New Orleans, Inc.
Hecht stated that “ensuring a resilient coast for Louisiana is not just a regional priority but a national imperative – properly prioritizing coastal restoration in Louisiana is essential for energy security and prosperity of the American economy.” He elaborated in that “our coast – alongside our flood protection systems and internal stormwater management capacity – has direct and indirect implications on the national supply chain and the global economy across industries,” as for example, “disrupting traffic on the Mississippi River for one day results in an economic impact of about $300M,” which “passed Hurricane Ida’s Category 4 test and prevented widespread flooding (and wider FEMA disaster relief payments) for approximately one million people and $170B in assets behind it.”
Yet, Hecht addressed that “despite being safer on paper, Louisianians are struggling with cost burdens – inflation and all types of
Insurance,” and he explained Congress’s role in the National Flood Insurance Program, which was initially created in 1968 as “reasonable method of sharing the risk of flood losses is through a program of flood insurance which can complement and encourage preventive and protective measures.” Hecht then explained the impacts of Risk Rating 2.0 and the longstanding work of CSFI. Hecht suggested NFIP reforms that better tie restoration projects to premium reductions: “CSFI believes that property-level mitigation measures, like elevating a home, or community-wide measures like building wetlands, should predictably, reliably, and immediately influence flood insurance premiums.”
