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Fringey Mini: Emoceans unsure, possibly cancelled? · Journey to the Fringe

• 0:00
  Okay, Chelsea, as I mentioned on last week's
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  Fringy Mini, I do have sort of a plan for this
• 0:06
  two -parter to somewhat be in the same route.
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  So, okay. Once again, no option. Once again,
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  the contrast of rich people's emotions spelt
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  the way that it would look in the title, as somebody
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  puts it in this one. Yes. Just to give you an
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  idea of how to title these episodes. Well, I'm
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  interested to see what way it goes. Is it going
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  to be? rich people and their emotions, or is
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  it going to be the other side of it? Time will
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  tell. Anyhow, I hope it's brief. This article
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  comes from the Associated Press. It is written
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  on July 17th by Jack Brooke. Article title, Louisiana
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  cancels three billion dollar coastal restoration
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  project funded by oil spill settlement. Hold
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  on, I need to really let that sink in. Well,
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  I think that's the whole point of an article,
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  is it not? Yeah, yeah, you can breathe. I still
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  need to process that for a second. But you can
• 1:01
  continue. Louisiana on Thursday. Don't stop for
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  me. I always hate when people do this in the
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  past. They say a very specific day of the week
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  and I have to go back and think about what day
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  of the week that is. No, I'm not doing that.
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  Louisiana on Thursday cancelled a three billion
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  dollar repair of disappearing Gulf Coastline,
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  funded by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill
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  settlement. scrapping what conservatives called
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  an urgent response to climate change, but Governor
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  Jeff Landry viewed as a threat to the state's
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  way of life. What? Despite years and reviews,
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  the project at the center of Louisiana's coastal
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  protection plans grew increasingly imperiled
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  after Landry, a Republican, took office last
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  year. Its collapse meant that the state could
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  lose out on more than $1 .5 billion in unspent
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  funds and may even have to repay $618 million.
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  What? It already used to begin building. The
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  Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group, a mix
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  of federal agencies overseeing the settlement
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  funds, said that Unused project funds will be
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  available for future Deepwater Horizon restoration
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  activities," but would require review and approval.
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  The mid -borotarius sediment diversion project
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  aimed to rebuild upwards of 20 square miles of
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  land. over a 50 -year period in southeast Louisiana
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  to combat sea level rise and erosion on the Gulf
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  Coast. When construction stalled last year because
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  of lawsuits, trustees warned that the state would
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  have to return the hundreds of millions of dollars
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  it had already spent if the project did not move
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  forward. Former Louisiana representative Garrett
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  Graves, a Republican who once led the state's
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  coastal restoration agency, said that killing
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  the project was quote, a boneheaded decision,
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  end quote, not rooted in science, quote, is going
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  to result in one of the largest setbacks for
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  our coast and the protection of our communities
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  in decades. I don't know what chiropractor or
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  palm reader they got advice from on this, but
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  baffling that someone thought this was a good
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  idea," Graves said. Project supporters stressed
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  that it would have provided a data -driven, large
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  -scale solution to mitigate the worst effects
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  of an eroding coastline in a state where a football
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  field of land is lost every 100 minutes and more
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  than 2 ,000 square miles of land have vanished
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  over the past century, according to the US Geological
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  Survey. The project, which broke ground in 2023,
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  would have diverted sediment -laden water from
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  the Mississippi River to restore wetlands disappearing
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  because of a range of factors including climate
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  change and due sea level rise and a vast river
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  levee system that choked off natural land for
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  a generation from sediment deposits. Quote, the
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  science has not changed nor has the need for
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  urgent action, end quote said Kim Rayhair, executive
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  director of the coalition to restore the coast
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  of Louisiana. Quote, what has changed is the
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  political landscape, end quote. Louisiana trustee
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  implementation group last year had noted that,
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  quote, no other single restoration project has
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  been planned and studied as extensively over
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  the past decades, end quote. While the project
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  had largely received bipartisan support and was
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  championed by democratic governor John Bell Edwards,
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  his successor has been a vocal opponent. Landry
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  recoiled at the rising price tag and amplified
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  concerns that the massive influx of fresh water
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  would devastate local fisheries. Landry has said
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  the project would break Louisiana's culture of
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  shrimp and oyster harvesting and compared it
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  to government efforts a century ago to punish
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  school children for speaking Cajun French. Quote,
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  we fought this battle a long time ago, but Governor
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  Landry is the reason we won this battle, end
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  quote said Mitch Jurisich, who chairs Louisiana
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  Oyster Task Force and sued the state over the
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  project's environmental impacts, including likely
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  killing thousands of bottlenose dolphins due
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  to the onslaught of fresh water. Landry said
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  in a statement that the project is quote no longer
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  financially or practically viable, end quote
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  noting that the cost had doubled since 2016.
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  Quote, this level of spending is unsustainable,
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  threatens Louisiana's seafood industry, our coastal
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  culture, and the livelihoods of our fishermen,
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  people who have sustained our state for generations.
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  End quote. The project's budget had included
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  more than $400 million for mitigating the costs
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  to local communities, including the help to the
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  oyster industry to build new oyster beds. Project
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  proponents said that the rapid loss of coast
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  meant communities would be displaced anyways
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  if the state failed to take actions to protect
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  them. Quote, you either move oysters or move
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  people, and there's only one answer to that question.
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  End quote for ASAP. Louisiana's Coastal Protection
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  and Restoration Authority, the lead agency overseeing
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  the project, said in a statement that the project
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  was, quote, no longer viable at the time, based
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  on a totality of the circumstances, end quote,
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  including cost litigation and a federal permit
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  suspended earlier this year after the state halted
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  work on the project. We also should note that
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  that's under the Trump administration. Chairman
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  Gordon Dove said that, quote, our commitment
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  to coastal restoration has not wavered, end quote,
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  and that the state plans to pursue a smaller
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  scale diversion nearby. Dove told lawmakers earlier
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  this year that the state could save at least
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  $1 billion with a different plan to channel river
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  water into the Gulf Coast at a rate five to 30
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  times less than the mid -Varataria project's
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  75 ,000 cubic feet per second. Conservation groups
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  bristled at the change in plans. The Mid -Barataria
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  Project's termination marked, quote, a complete
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  abandonment of science -driven decision -making
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  and public transparency, end quote. Restore the
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  Mississippi River Delta, a coalition of environmental
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  groups said in a statement adding that the state
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  was, quote, throwing away, end quote, money intended
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  to protect its coastal residents and economy.
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  The coalition said alternative measures proposed
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  by the state such as the smaller scale diversion
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  or rebuilding land by dredging were insufficient
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  to meaningfully combat land loss and did not
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  undergo the same level of scientific vetting
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  as the Midbarataria project. Quote, a stopgap
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  project with no data is not a solution, end quote.
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  The coalition said, quote, we need diversion
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  designs backed by science, not politics, end
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  quote and a barter. I have a couple of questions
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  now. Did I miss where the oil? money came from
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  it was a settlement with the deep water horizon
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  issue way back in the day 2010 anything did they
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  just like i have so many questions about this
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  well it sounds like there was a fun set aside
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  to mitigate climate change yeah and restore the
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  code and it sounds like it may have gone Above
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  it sounds like it had to be specifically used
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  for certain projects and it's not going to be
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  so they're not gonna get the money That is super.
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  I don't know. I find it super weird. However,
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  I'm not in that area No, but it also feels like
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  all that the governor probably has money coming
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  in more to him But less than the actual project
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  amount in kickbacks from what would that be BP?
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  I think it was BP who would have settled that
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  right just speculation. Oh it totally but I'm
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  wondering like why are they just not gonna get
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  this money and why are they abandoning? I mean,
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  Louisiana is known for wild corruption within
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  its in its governance and I know you said under
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  Trump So I know there's a whole bunch of stuff
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  going on about there with woke And I don't know
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  if he's lumping climate change in with the world.
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  I know it's it's been clear He told the EPA that
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  they're not allowed to they've changed all their
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  rules that climate change is not a thing and
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  carbon Dioxide is not a blue right? Yeah That
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  is fucked. I know Louisiana is probably the one
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  that is sinking into the ocean the fastest, I
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  believe, out of all of the states. I know that
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  the beaches are eroding in multiple places, but
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  I believe Louisiana has been sinking for a long
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  time. Oh, like they said, they've lost 2000 miles
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  of land. Yeah. So this is. I'm just trying to
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  make heads or tails of why the fuck they wouldn't
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  be well it sounds like it's a money thing a funding
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  thing as well as this but Why can't they put
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  it into wildlife or something like that that
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  they're also destroying with oil and stuff like
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  why why does it specifically have to be this
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  if they can't get the money for it But well,
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  I find it hilarious. They're not a fun article.
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  They are trying to do a political like, oh, well,
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  we can just do this much cheaper version, which
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  all the scientists were like, no, you need to
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  do the full version. No, that that does make
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  sense to do the full version. Yeah. Yeah. Anyhow,
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  like I said, there's not rich people in the areas
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  that are impacted. I was literally just going
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  to say that. I mean, how beachfront property
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  in Louisiana? I don't believe it would be many
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  there. They're complaining elsewhere. Well, and
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  I don't think there's expensive beachfront property
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  in Louisiana. I don't know that there, I mean,
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  it's been known for a while, so you wouldn't
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  think billionaires, they just buy it where it's
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  about to. Yeah, and I think the fun part about
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  living in Louisiana is everybody eventually is
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  going to have beachfront property there. Plus,
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  there's Friar, no, it's not Friar Bonatti, it's
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  Baron Samaddy. Baron Samaddy, those are different
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  people. They sound the same, though. And I really
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  wish they put Baron Samedi in charge of AI. I
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  really wish they put Baron Samedi in charge of
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  this project as well. As many things, I wish
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  he was. I love that guy. Oh, he just wants to
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  have a good time. Oh, he he loves rum. So and
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  with that with that. Yeah. Yeah. You got 48 hours.
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  I don't. You can take that implication how you
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  will. It could be a call to action to drink rum
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  it could be a call to action to deal with climate
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  change I don't know you take it. We'll see you
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  on Friday. Bye. Bye