Environment

A saltwater wedge is on its way. How will it affect our lives?

By GABRIELLA KILLETT | Staff writer
Updated 9 hrs ago

From drinking and bathing to watering plants, here's what to know?

When will the saltwater wedge reach your drinking water system? Here's a timeline.

By GABRIELLA KILLETT | Staff writer
Sep 22, 2023

Plans made to barge in 36 million gallons of fresh water a day

New Orleans area officials preparing for possible saltwater intrusion by mid-October

BY BEN MYERS | Staff writer
Sep 22, 2023

Unsafe levels of saltwater are expected to reach New Orleans-area drinking water systems in the middle of next month, as officials scramble to deal with a mass of saltwater making its way from…

As saltwater pushes upriver, Corps prepares to ship in 36M gallons of freshwater a day

BY MARK SCHLEIFSTEIN | Staff writer
Sep 22, 2023

Mayor LaToya Cantrell has declared a state of emergency to provide authority to city officials to deal with looting, need for public shelters, other issues, during the saltwater emergency.

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Is my water about to get salty? 3 things to know about saltwater invading the Mississippi River

BY TRISTAN BAURICK | Staff writer
Sep 22, 2023

A wedge of saltwater that has been moving up the Mississippi River from the Gulf of Mexico, thanks to extremely low flows on the river, has already sullied water supplies in south Plaquemines …

Judge blocks effort to cut Gulf oil lease sales to help endangered whales

BY ROBERT STEWART | Staff writer
Sep 22, 2023

A coalition of oil industry advocates, including Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, has won a preliminary legal victory over a looming Gulf of Mexico oil and gas auction after a federal j…

Emergency declared for salt cavern in southwest Louisiana over stability concerns

By MIKE SMITH | Staff writer
Sep 20, 2023

Gov. John Bel Edwards declared an emergency Wednesday over stability concerns in a southwestern Louisiana salt cavern that has been operated by a chemical company, but said there were no signs…

New Orleans SWB keeping eye on potential saltwater contamination in drinking water

BY MARK SCHLEIFSTEIN | Staff writer
Sep 20, 2023

The New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board announced Wednesday that it would notify drinking water customers well in advance of any potential impacts from saltwater moving up the Mississippi R…

Pogy boats dumped 850,000 fish off Louisiana coast, spurring new calls for fishing limits

BY TRISTAN BAURICK | Staff writer
Sep 20, 2023

Three massive fish spills that coated waves and beaches off the southwest coast of Louisiana last week has renewed calls for tighter restrictions on the menhaden industry.

Louisiana native wins prestigious environmental justice award worth $250,000

BY ROSHAUN HIGGINS | Staff writer
Updated Sep 20, 2023

Colette Pichon Battle, from St. Tammany Parish, has worked to help those affected by disaster and climate change.

Groups sue EPA to tighten rules on ethylene oxide, citing cancer risk in Louisiana and elsewhere

BY DAVID J. MITCHELL | Staff writer
Sep 20, 2023

In 2016, federal environmental regulators determined that a chemical widely used in products ranging from cosmetics to seat cushions posed a cancer risk nearly 60 times greater than earlier believed.

Offshore carbon capture hub planned near Cameron Parish’s Gulf of Mexico coast

BY ROBERT STEWART | Staff writer
Updated Sep 20, 2023

A Denver carbon capture management company and a Houston energy firm plan to develop an offshore carbon capture hub in state waters near Cameron Parish’s Gulf of Mexico coast.

How to manage the Mississippi River? A coalition of mayors wants a new approach

By Keely Brewer, The Daily Memphian
Sep 18, 2023

A coalition of Mississippi River mayors want a 10-state compact that would establish collective management of the waterway.

Low Mississippi River limits barges just as farmers want to move their crops downriver

BY SCOTT MCFETRIDGE | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sep 18, 2023

DES MOINES, Iowa — A long stretch of hot, dry weather has left the Mississippi River so low that barge companies are reducing their loads just as Midwest farmers are preparing to harvest crops…

A 'hurricane hunter' trades planes for forecasting bullpen

BY MARK SCHLEIFSTEIN | Staff writer
Sep 18, 2023

Lisa Bucci's bumpiest flight happened when she flew above a hurricane?— on purpose.?

How do you fix a giant crevasse in the Mississippi River? Revised plan aims to build new wetlands.

BY MARK SCHLEIFSTEIN | Staff writer
Sep 18, 2023

A revised plan to limit the growth of a new pass along the Mississippi River south of New Orleans calls for filling its entrance with stone while still allowing some water to flow through to f…

New Orleans Wild: Meet the caretaker of Bayou Sauvage, among biggest urban wildlife refuges in U.S.

BY TRISTAN BAURICK | Staff writer
Sep 17, 2023

New Orleans has something uniquely wild in its northeast corner. Bayou Sauvage is the largest national wildlife refuge that's completely within a city. Not far from tall buildings, crowded str…

Fall arrives in one week. Will it relieve Louisiana's historical hot summer?

BY ROSHAUN HIGGINS | Staff writer
Updated Sep 16, 2023

Heat dome no longer directly over Louisiana, but its effects linger

Mississippi River saltwater wedge worries Plaquemines Parish farmers

By ALYSSA CURTIS | WWL-TV
Sep 15, 2023

'It’ll kill our business,' nursery owner says of citrus, vegetable growers

Bennett Powell, driving force to clean up Lake Pontchartrain, dies at 83

BY JOHN POPE | Contributing writer
Updated Sep 16, 2023

He founded public agency that banned shell dredging, backed sewerage and drainage improvements

Saltwater in Mississippi River will cause Corps to build a higher underwater levee

BY MARK SCHLEIFSTEIN | Staff writer
Sep 15, 2023

"Based off the current forecast, and if no action is taken, you potentially could see the saltwater wedge all the way up to the French Quarter," said Col. Cullen Jones.

Flood insurance hikes are slow-moving ‘hurricane,’ state lawyers argue in high-stakes hearing

By MIKE SMITH | Staff writer
Sep 14, 2023

Sharp flood insurance increases are provoking a slow-moving “hurricane” in Louisiana, state lawyers argued Thursday in a high-stakes federal court hearing in New Orleans that could determine t…

Pope Francis gives 'big thumbs-up' to Together Louisiana solar program at Vatican meeting

By DREW BROACH | Staff writer
Sep 14, 2023

Community Lighthouse seen as response to pontiff's framing of climate change as moral issue

Low river may allow saltwater to overtop emergency sill and threaten drinking water: Corps

BY MARK SCHLEIFSTEIN | Staff writer
Sep 14, 2023

In the next few weeks, saltwater from the Gulf of Mexico will likely overtop an emergency sill built on the bottom of the Mississippi River to protect Plaquemines Parish's Belle Chasse water p…

Watch: What's Louisiana's future by 2050 with rising sea levels, land loss?

Staff report
Sep 14, 2023

Louisiana 2050: Rising sea levels will upend life and bring new risk to the state over the next few decades.

Louisiana 2050: Explore the perilous future of our coast with maps and data

BY JEFF ADELSON and DAN SWENSON
Sep 14, 2023

Louisiana may be the state most at risk from climate change, and the year 2050 could prove to be an inflection point as seas rise and more land is lost. Explore our interactive data to see pro…

Photos: Louisiana 2050, an uncertain future for the coast

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER, SOPHIA GERMER, [email protected]
Sep 14, 2023

Louisiana may be the state most at risk from climate change, and time is running short to limit the damage. Sea level rise will combine with long-existing threats like erosion and subsidence t…

Louisiana 2050: Rising seas will upend life. Time is running out to limit the impact.

By MIKE SMITH | Staff writer
Sep 14, 2023

A special report from The Times-Picayune | The Advocate examines Louisiana's perilous future in a time of rising seas and intensifying storms.