The state of Louisiana could be the first state to adopt a massive plan to push residents out of coastal areas threatened by sea level rise and coastal erosion. More states are expected to follow Louisiana's lead.
"Louisiana is finalizing a plan to move thousands of people from areas threatened by the rising Gulf of Mexico, effectively declaring uninhabitable a coastal area larger than Delaware," reports Christopher Flavelle.
Flavelle describes the plan as the most aggressive response to climate change in the United States. A draft of the plan, "calls for prohibitions on building new homes in high-risk areas, buyouts of homeowners who live there now and hikes in taxes on those who won’t leave."
The plan, known as Louisiana Strategic Adaptations for Future Environments (LA SAFE), responds to a combination of environmental factors: sea level rise brought on by climate change and sinking land caused in part by oil and gas extraction. Bloomberg News obtained a copy of the draft plan, the basis for Flavelle's reporting, but the final draft plan is expected to be complete early in 2018.
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