MRGO History
The Mississippi river Gulf Outlet (MRGO) is a 76-mile
long man-made navigation channel connecting the Gulf of Mexico to the Port
of New Orleans' Inner Harbor Navigation Canal in eastern New Orleans.
Construction was originally authorized by Congress in the River and Harbor
Act of 1956 and completed in 1965. The MRGO is a shorter route to New
Orleans than the Mississippi River. The MRGO provides deep-draft,
ocean-going vessels with access to the Port of New Orleans' Inner Harbor
Navigation Canal (IHNC) wharves. Deep-draft ships cannot get to the inner
harbor from the Mississippi River because they cannot fit through the
existing Industrial Canal Lock, which is 31.5 feet deep and 75 feet
wide.
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Wetlands Destruction by Soil Erosion
The MRGO channel was excavated through 40 miles of the
virgin wetlands of lower St. Bernard Parish and cut through four natural
levees to a depth of 36 feet, a surface width of 650 feet, and a bottom
width of 500 feet. This means that the sides of the original channel were
at a 25-degree angle. But the soft soils on the sides of the original
channel would not stand up at such a steep angle, so the soil slid or
"sloughed-off" into the bottom of the channel. This erosion
process has continued over the years, and as a result, the channel is now
over 2,000 feet wide at the surface. But this sloughing-off of the soft
sides along the channel banks only partially explains why the MRGO's banks
have eroded from 650 feet wide to over 2,000 feet wide.
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Wetlands Destruction by Saltwater Intrusion
The MRGO has no current like the Mississippi River, so
saltwater from the Gulf of Mexico flows up the MRGO and into the St.
Bernard Parish marshes through which the channel was dug. This saltwater
intrusion kills the natural vegetation of the marsh the roots of these
dead plants can no longer hold the soil together along the MRGO channel
banks. The MRGO has thus created an environmental disaster. Tidal flows,
and the wave action, suction, and propeller backwash from passing ships
and other marine vessels erode the soil from the MRGO channel banks and it
settles into the bottom of the channel.
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Wetlands Destruction by Dredging
Soil from the MRGO's banks which settles in the bottom
of the channel impedes the movement of ships. In order to maintain the
depth of the channel to allow ships to pass, the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers dredges soil from the bottom of the channel, hauls most of it
away in barges and dumps it into the Gulf of Mexico. Some of the dredged
soil is piled on spoil banks along the channel, but very little is used
beneficially to restore the wetlands the channel has destroyed. The Corps
of Engineers does not mitigate or compensate for the damage they do to the
wetlands. Each year our U.S. Congress pays contractors $22 million to
dredge the bottom of the MRGO channel and dump soil, which came from St.
Bernard Parish wetlands, into the Gulf of Mexico. Our U.S. Congress has
authorized the removal of our wetlands and annually appropriates $22
million for the Corps of Engineers to do the work! To make matters worse,
the Corps does advanced maintenance dredging of the channel to a depth of
41 feet. With each dredging the MRGO channel grows wider and wider. The MRGO dredging must be stopped now!
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How can Louisiana Congressmen spend
$22 million a year destroying our wetlands instead of using this money to
restore our coast? How can Louisiana Congressmen ask the U.S. Congress and
the President to appropriate $15 billion for Louisiana coastal restoration
while they allow the operation and dredging of the MRGO to destroy
Louisiana's wetlands? How can they destroy wetlands and ask for money to
restore our coast at the same time?
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The MRGO Is A Threat To Public Safety
Since 1965 operation and maintenance of the MRGO
channel have caused the destruction of over 20,000 acres of Louisiana
wetlands resulting from soil erosion, saltwater intrusion and channel
dredging. The wetlands provide a natural barrier against tidal surge from
storms and hurricanes. When hurricanes pass over wetlands, friction is
created, which in turn reduces the storm's wind speeds. Wetlands also
absorb hurricane storm surges, softening and shrinking the wall of water
that slams inland during a hurricane. Wetlands loss caused by the MRGO now
allows a greater volume of water from the Gulf of Mexico to move more
quickly inland. Wetlands loss from the MRGO now makes the residents of
Orleans, St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes more vulnerable to tidal
surge from tropical storms and hurricanes. The MRGO has increased the
flooding risk to thousands of people, their homes and businesses!
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In 1965 Hurricane Betsy created a tidal surge that
moved up the MRGO channel and breached the levees in Orleans Parish
killing over 80 people and causing $2 billion in damages. Today the MRGO
is a much greater threat to the safety of people living in Orleans, St.
Bernard and Plaquemines parishes than it was in 1965 because the MRGO is
more than 2000 feet wide, allowing it to carry a tidal surge several times
greater than the destructive power of Hurricane Betsy. In 1998 the tidal
surge from Hurricane George caused enough erosion to shut down the MRGO
for several months, and the channel had to be re-dredged in order to
re-open it to navigation. The MRGO provides a superhighway for tidal surge
caused by tropical storms and hurricanes. The MRGO threatens lives and
property! The MRGO must be closed now!
How can Louisiana Congressmen
continue to allow our lives and property to be endangered by the operation
of the MRGO when they have the power to close it now?
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The MRGO Is Not Economically Justified
The economic rationale for building the MRGO was to
provide deep draft vessels and ships with access to the Port of New
Orleans' inner harbor navigation canal (INHC) from the Gulf of Mexico.
These vessels could not access the inner harbor from the Mississippi River
because they could not fit through the existing Industrial Canal Lock. The
goal was increased earnings for the Port of New Orleans by enabling ships
to access the inner harbor wharves.
The MRGO was also supposed to bring industrial
development to St. Bernard Parish, but this has not happened. Nor has the
MRGO had any strategic military use as was envisioned in the original
appropriation for the channel's construction.
But the MRGO is uneconomic to
operate! It is an unfair burden to taxpayers. Congress spends over
$22 million a year dredging the
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MRGO so ships can have access to the Port of New
Orleans' container terminal on the INHC. However these ships generate less
than $1 million a year in revenue for the Port. This INHC container
operation could be moved to the Port of New Orleans' new container
terminal on the Mississippi River now, without any loss of jobs or revenue
to the Port. Deep-draft vessels would no longer need to get to the INHC.
The MRGO could be closed now! Any business now being done on the INHC that
is dependent on deep draft vessels can be moved to the Mississippi River
with no loss of jobs and no loss of revenue to the State. The MRGO must be closed to deep draft, ocean going vessels
now!
There is no economic
justification for keeping the MRGO open! There are no economic
benefits being derived from the operation of the MRGO which could ever
outweigh the risk to our lives and property, and the environmental damage
being caused by the MRGO.
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How can Louisiana Congressmen waste
$22 million a year dredging the MRGO when the Port of New Orleans
generates only $1 million in revenue from the inner harbor terminal
operation, when this same revenue could be generated by the Port on the
Mississippi River? Why do Louisiana Congressmen put the Port of New
Orleans and the shipping industry ahead of our safety and the restoration
of our coast?
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A Ship Lock Is Unnecessary; The MRGO Can Be Closed Now!
Louisiana Congressmen and the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers have said that the MRGO channel cannot be closed to deep-draft
vessels until a ship lock is built at the Industrial Canal. They say
before closure of the MRGO can happen ships must have a way to access the
Port of New Orleans' inner harbor wharves from the Mississippi River. But
any business being done on the INHC that is dependent on deep-draft
vessels can be moved to the Mississippi River with no loss of jobs and no
loss of revenue to the State. If the Port's inner harbor container
operation is moved to the Port's new Mississippi River container terminal
now, deep draft vessels will no longer have to go the inner harbor and
the MRGO could be closed now. So, closure of
the MRGO does not have to wait on the construction of a ship lock at the
Industrial Canal which will probably not be completed until 2025. A deep
draft ship lock then becomes unnecessary, and Congress could save millions
of our tax dollars by building only a 12 foot deep barge lock at the
Industrial Canal instead of a 36 foot deep ship lock.
How can Louisiana Congressmen allow
the Corps of Engineers to waste our tax dollars by building a ship lock at
the Industrial Canal when the Port of New Orleans' inner harbor container
operation could be moved to the Port's new container terminal on the
Mississippi River now, without any loss of jobs or revenue to the Port?
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Studies Are Unnecessary; The MRGO Must Be Closed Now!
Louisiana Congressmen and the Corps of Engineers have
said that they must complete a five year re-evaluation of the MRGO before
the channel can be closed. But studies are unnecessary! The MRGO has
proven to be an environmental disaster which is destroying our wetlands.
The MRGO has increased the flooding risk to thousands of people, their
homes and businesses. It is a threat to our lives and property. Operation
of the MRGO is not economically justified. Our tax dollars are being
wasted on dredging the MRGO instead of restoring Louisiana's coast. These
facts make further study of the MRGO's closure unnecessary and a total
waste of time. The MRGO must be closed
now!
How can Louisiana Congressmen allow
the Corps of Engineers to waste time studying the closure of the MRGO when
its continued operation destroys our wetlands, threatens our safety and
wastes our tax dollars?
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