To the barrier island situation. The barrier islands do indeed afford protection to the gulf coast. However, they are the remnants of a coastline brought down during the melting of the last ice age. Th ice is gone. The material that built the delta lands is no longer being deposited. Storms erode. That is nature. In the 1700′s, a storm formed Grand Isle, LA. Prior to that,what is now known as Grand Isle, was part of the mainland. Camile, in 1969 cut Cat Island in half. In 1900, a hurricane completely inundated Galveston Island killing over 7,000 people. there is nothing new happening here.

Sedimentation builds land in the water. Storms and floods tear that land away. We can now build breakwaters and dredge materials and place them to rebuild and preserve the barrier islands and beaches. But, only as long as we have the money to do so. If our economy is allowed to continue to slip, the money used to take care of the islands will be gone. So will the money used to clean up, or remediate, contaminated sites.

It takes a rich country indeed to maintain land and to clean it up. The only way known so far to produce rich countries is capitalism. And that is under attack here and has been for decades. As the resourse bank shrinks, more and more projects will be left undone.