Did Oil Canals Worsen Katrina's Effects?

I have just had emails from a Green party member researching Hurricane Katrina - interestingly there are 10,000 miles of service canals dug to tap oil and natural gas dart everywhere through the black mangrove shrubs, bird rushes and golden marsh. While they feed America's thirst for energy, it now seems they have also helped to bring its biggest delta to the brink of collapse.

Photo: Copyrighted photo reprinted here with permission of Seattle-based photographer Chris Jordan. See more photos of Katrina.

Since the 1930s, a fifth of the 10,000-square-mile delta has turned into open water, decreasing the delta's economic and ecologic value by as much as $15 billion a year, according to Louisiana State University studies. The rate of land loss is among the highest in the world - it now seems clear that the oil industry played a crucial role in helping to worsen the effects of the $135 billion Katrina disaster - the nation's costliest. See an article by Cain Burdeau here with more info.

This info is very interesting - I had no idea of this factor - although it has always been clear that the devastation of Hurricane Katrina cannot be described as just an unfortunate 'natural' disaster. Scientists have long warned that climate change will create more violent storms and other weather extremes (see recent info here). President Bushs' refusal to address climate change and focus on non-oil based energy perpetuates conditions that make these situations more likely and more deadly - see here calls for action.

Clearly in addition to this info new to me the situation was compounded by Government policies that include: channelling rivers, allowing developers to destroy wetlands, increasing developments in New Orleans despite the city being below sea-level and surrounded on three sides by water, abysmal disaster planning and cutting budgets to fortify levees in order to send engineers to Iraq and cut taxes for the rich. I remember well emails from Greens frustrated by not being allowed to enter the City to help - see here.

For me it is interesting that this info shows how damaging removing the protective mangroves has been - this was also a key factor in making the 2004 Asian Tsunami much worse - see here Greens call for action on shrimp farming - it was found that the loss of the mangroves was one of the reasons for the tsunami having had such a devastating effect; the lack of these protective coastal ecosystems meant the tsunami hit the coast much harder and left very much greater devastation in it's wake. It is our appetite for shrimps that is partly responsible for the loss of over 35% of the world's mangroves in the last 20 years.

One study found shrimp farming accounted for over a third of the mangrove destruction and there are other well documented serious ecological problems associated with shrimp farming. In the light of these facts we wrote to the supermarkets to see if they have reviewed their practices since the tsunami. We have asked a series of questions about the standards used in prawn farming and about the need for Fair trade standards. I have to say the answers were wholly unsatisfactory....but maybe folk reading this blog could consider this issue when thinking about purshasing shrimps?