Innovation

Executive Director Chett Chiasson says that Louisiana’s land loss can be traced back as far as the 1930s, when levees blocked off the Mississippi River. “Ever since then, our land has been sinking. You have storms come on top of that, which erodes much of the coast.” In 1985, one such storm named Hurricane Juan hit Louisiana. The impact was significant, creating a large cut-through in the head of Fourchon Beach. It was this event that made the GLPC realize that it needed to take proactive steps to renourish their state’s first line of defense. Since 1986, the Port has implemented beach restoration projects that regularly renourish and rebuild this mile-long section of the beach.

The real innovation began with their Northern Pass Expansion in 2000. The project widened the area from 500 feet to 700 feet, generating millions of cubic yards of dredged materials. Normally, the dredged materials would then be dumped back into the ocean. However, port officials realized that the dredged material would be better put to use in rebuilding the surrounding marshlands. Three years later, with the assistance of the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program, the Greater Lafourche Parish Commission began a process of rebuilding over 5,000 feet of ridge and adjacent marshland and planting over 100,000 woody and herbaceous plants. The project officially ended in 2015, but the port continued to maintain and rebuild this area, having built an additional 1,000 acres as of today.

Port Fourchon plans to maintain its momentum by expanding its current projects. “We are embarking on a very large project called the Belle Pass Expansion. This project is going to deepen our channels from 27 feet to 33 feet deep, and we are going to use all of that material beneficially to create about 500 or 600 acres of marsh to the west side of Bayou Lafourche and Port Fourchon. It is a huge project that is, again, in basically a year, [going to] create that many acres of marsh where before it took us 20 years to create 1000 acres of marsh.”

Inspiration

Director Chiasson says that he is inspired and driven by the health of his community. “For us, it’s about doing things that attract business, investment in our community, create jobs, but at the same time, protect and renourish our environment. We look at all those things as creating what we call “holistic resiliency.” Everything we are trying to accomplish is to create a more resilient landscape to have a more resilient future as a community.”

Overall impact

GLPC’s coastal restoration work in Port Fourchon impacts multiple sectors including the business of the port, the economic vitality of the South Lafourche region, and the natural environment of the region. Initially, the mitigation projects are meant to rebuild the coastline affected by erosion to serve as a buffer in storm weather and serve as a base to expand the port. With 5,000 feet of ridgeland, 1,000 acres of marsh, and 100 acres of recreational land being created so far, the project has become a success. It continues to see expansion with support from the state government of Louisiana and the Federal government. For example, restoration efforts on Fourchon Beach caused by Hurricane Juan in 1985 have resulted in 56,000 feet of land restoration to the beach area, and such restoration held up in the wake of Hurricane Ida in 2021, helping suppress the extent of damage that could have occurred in the port. However, the true impact of the project is seen in the long-term impacts on the economic vitality of the port and the South Lafourche community.

The long-term focus on impacting the business and the larger economy serves as the driving factor for the project. Mr. Chiasson explained that investing in the mitigation projects directly links to the ability to attract businesses to the port, stating “In order for us to continue to attract new business into our community to create jobs, to pay taxes, to invest in your community and economy, you have to show that you are doing something to protect their investment”. In this case, building up the land surrounding Port Fourchon and maintaining that investment attracts businesses to invest back into the area by conducting business with the GLPC and routing itself into the South Lafourche community. Over the years, investing in mitigation funds has caused a long-term effect of investing in the subsequent community in which the port thrives. As best stated by Mr. Chiasson, “If Port Fourchon doesn’t exist, South Lafourche doesn’t exist, because everyone’s job is in one way connected or another to activity that takes place in the offshore sector.”

Business benefit

The investments that the company receives increase and they are able to hire more people because they have proved that their innovation process is effective and beneficial long-term. They have increased retention as they have created more jobs and as many see that what they are doing is beneficial to society long-term. As stated by Mr. Chiasson, “Everything we are trying to accomplish is to create a more resilient landscape to have a more resilient future as a community.”

The company can also create new products and services from this and build new relationships with many companies that are looking for new opportunities in, as stated, “traditional and/or renewable energy to commercial fishing, seafood, shipping, tourism, or recreation.” Not only that but being that their innovation has many things that go into it, they receive business/investments from not only those in the same industry as them but also from many different industries as different resources are needed, and as it is seen what they do and the benefits, it attracts many others from foreign markets.

Social and environmental benefit

This restoration process helps reduce coastal erosion by building more marsh over eroded areas. As stated by Mr. Chiasson, “We have an industrial reason for Port Fourchon and the work going on there, but we also have a recreational side. We are trying to attract people to come in and recreate in those marshes that we are creating especially the coastal wetlands, and enjoy it on a daily basis and understand how industry and the environment can and do work very well together in that same location.” The coastal wetland park is the mitigation area of marsh that will in the future have an elevated area that will show what was created such as the marsh plants and trees, as well as the type of wildlife habitat it has created.

This process is what keeps South Louisiana going. According to Mr. Chiasson, “The people who live here, many either work directly in the port or work for companies that have facilities in the port or they work in other ancillary companies that provide services to the offshore energy industry.” It has created jobs as some people work directly in the port or work for companies that provide services to the offshore industry, recreation, investments, pay taxes, and attracts new businesses. Also just by keeping the community together by protecting the coast and wetlands to control their environment and the place many call home safe, and bringing in all these factors helps the society as one. Not only does the business save money but the people of Louisiana can save money as well as what they spend on paying the low cost of coastal protection and restoration. Mr. Chiasson emphasized, “For every $1 you spend on coastal protection and restoration, it saves $7 spent on reconstruction after storm impact.”

Interview

Chett Chiasson, Executive Director