White House Issues Doctrine on Gulf Coast Restoration

Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration

President Obama recognizes the importance of the Louisiana and Mississippi coastal region to the economic, cultural, and environmental integrity of the nation.  The high rate of coastal wetland and barrier island loss in Louisiana and Mississippi, combined with the vulnerability of the region to coastal storms and climate change, threaten major population centers and valuable commercial and environmental resources.  Bold and decisive action is needed now to curtail the rate of ecosystem loss in the area and, where possible, to restore the ecosystems and the services they provide.

Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Working Group

In October 2009, President Obama formed the Louisiana‐Mississippi Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Working Group, co‐led by the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and comprising senior‐level officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Departments of the Army (USACE), Homeland Security, the Interior, and Transportation. The Working Group has spent the past six months engaging with the States, local governments, and the public and has developed a Roadmap for Restoring Ecosystem Resiliency and Sustainability in the Louisiana and Mississippi Coast.

Roadmap for Restoring Ecosystem Resiliency and Sustainability

On March 4, 2010, Obama Administration officials released a Roadmap for Restoring Ecosystem Resiliency and Sustainability in the Louisiana and Mississippi Coasts that emphasizes the protection and restoration of coastal ecosystems as a key element to the long-term safety and viability of the region. In keeping with President Obama's effort to cut through red tape and ensure residents of the Gulf Coast have access to the tools and funds they need to rebuild, the Roadmap outlines Federal actions over the next eighteen months to address policy, process, and legal hurdles to coastal restoration in the region and lays the foundation for a long-term vision achieved jointly with the States.

• Roadmap for Restoring Ecosystem Resiliency and Sustainability (view as html | download as pdf)