Last Wednesday night, the League of Women Voters of St. Tammany held a meeting in the Parish Council Chambers that posed the question: Can the Northshore coast be saved? The answer? Well, no one is really sure at this point.

The meeting was led by Garret Graves, Executive Assistant to the Governor for Coastal Affairs, and also chairman of the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. Helping out with the science was Dr. Denise Cook, interim director of the Laboratory for Coastal Restoration at the University of New Orleans.

After Hurricane Katrina roared through the area four years ago, the storm surge inundated parts of St. Tammany Parish along the coast, and many acres of marshland were destroyed. Cook explained that the Lake Pontchartrain Basin has a unique ecosystem for several reasons. First, the Northshore coast has very little subsidence, because it was not built up by Mississippi silt like the Louisiana coast. The West Pearl River is responsible for the creation of the coast on the Northshore. The West Pearl also built a land bridge that extends across the eastern end of the lake and ends at the Rigolets and Chef Pass. Because of the mixture of salt water from the Gulf of Mexico and fresh water from all the rivers that empty into the lake, a unique ecosystem has developed.

Graves said saving the Louisiana coastline is a top priority, because the mouth of the Mississippi is important to the economy of both the state and the country. The port of New Orleans and the oil and gas industry depend on a viable coastline. However, he admitted that not much time and money has gone into saving the coast of the Northshore. South of the lake, the government has put in $15 billion for coastal restoration. The Northshore has so far gotten $16 million for hazard mitigation. There are planned flood protection projects totaling $47 million. Graves said he does not know why there is such a disparity.

Since Hurricane Katrina, local officials like Parish President Kevin Davis and residents have asked for floodgates across the Rigolets and Chef Pass to keep storm surges out of the lake. The U.S. Corps of Engineers estimates that such a project will cost $18 billion. The idea is not new. The Corps proposed it back in 1965, but environmental groups took the issue to court and convinced a judge the gates would harm the ecosystem of the lake.

Cook said the gates sound like a good idea, but more study needs to be done. Though the gates will stay open until a hurricane approaches, she said disturbing the tide patterns could disrupt the environment of the lake.

A resident of Eden Isles was not convinced.

“I won’t go through another Katrina again,” Thomas Thompson told Graves. “We need a barrier system, and that should be the focus of your office.”

Graves and Cook agreed, but said that it was a balancing act between protecting both property and the environment. There have been other suggestions such as building up more wetlands in the lake or creating more barrier islands in the Gulf. Cook said barrier islands are too far away to help the Northshore, and the state would have to build up a huge area of wetlands to act as a buffer. That would be very expensive. Graves said the estimate for building wetlands is about $80,000 per acre of marshland.

Graves said Northshore residents can call their legislators and push for more effort and money to keep the Northshore coast intact, and to push for a barrier on the east end of the lake.