Crystal Stevenson

It was a full house Thursday night at Central School Arts and Humanities Center for the Coalition to Restore Louisiana’s 3rd Congressional District Coastal Issues Forum.

Democrats Rob Anderson, Judge Mildred “Mimi” Methvin and Larry Rader and Republican Josh Guillory participated in the forum ahead of the Nov. 6 election.

Republican incumbent Rep. Clay Higgins, who could not attend Thursday’s event, sent a video statement in his place.

CRCL said it only invited candidates who have raised money for the election based on Federal Election Commission filings as of Aug. 31. Verone Thomas, a Democrat, and Aaron J. Andrus, a libertarian, were not invited to participate; however, Thomas was a member of the audience.

Rader said the most critical coastal issue facing the district is land loss.

“It’s to the point that something must be done,” he said. “We really don’t have a choice at this point. From Washington, I would be willing to support whatever we come up with locally as a solution to our massive land loss.”

He said, if elected, he would support a carbon tax to create the funding necessary to solve Louisiana’s coastal problems.

“A carbon tax would help us move into the direction to a solution,” he said. “If we don’t find a solution soon we might not even be living here ourselves, we may have to leave further north.”

Methvin said the country is in “an era of political gridlock.”

“Louisiana is on the front lines of this global challenge,” she said. “We have the ability to become world leaders in coastal protection and in addressing storm protection issues and sea level rising challenges.”

She said the state must have federal backing to empower Louisiana to help address the challenge.

Guillory said coastal restoration is often looked at “from a Band-Aid perspective and not from a larger picture.”

“We need to look at this as a Gulf Coast region issue,” he said.

Anderson said the government knows how to fix the land loss issue, it just doesn’t.

“We have an Army Corps of Engineers, we have people capable of stopping this encroachment of land being lost,” he said. “We have a government that likes to talk about things instead of doing it.”

The National Flood Insurance Program is on its seventh short-time extension and hasn’t undergone a full reauthorization of funding in five years.

“The program is broken,” Guillory said. “Right now the federal government is controlling flood insurance premiums and I fundamentally disagree with that.”

Guillory said he would like to find ways to transition to a private sector-led industry.

“I trust the private sector far more than I trust the federal government,” he said. “Private sector is in a much better position to allocate risk than burecrats in Washington. We don’t like universal health care, but we shouldn’t accept universal flood care.”

Anderson disagreed, insisting insurance companies “don’t want to pay insurance, they want to collect insurance premiums.”

“We need the national government to regulate homeowners’ insurance programs to make sure residents in Louisiana are protected,” he said.

Rader said Washington needs to shift its focus to cleaner, greener energy to help solve flooding issues “or we are all going to pay.”

Methvin said none of the funding sources for the coastal master plan are reliable or long term.

“We already know that at a $50 billion level, which is the minimum funding level for the master plan, we’re going to have a huge amount of net land loss and that is why I am advocating for a full federal partnership at the $100 billion level so that we have a dedicated, reliable funding source to allow Louisiana to address these challenges.”

In his video, Higgins said he has been supportive of projects to restore Louisiana’s coastline and to mitigate potential flood and storm threats.

“We have battled alongside other members of Louisiana’s delegation to preserve and expand (Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act) revenue funding, sharing provisions that fund coastal restoration efforts,” he said. “We’ve delivered over $82 million in funding to our state last year from GOMESA revenue. We also secured key language in the water resources bill signed by President Trump that prioritizes the Southwest Louisiana coastal projects for completion by the Corps of Engineers.”

He said $262 million in funding projects was also secured.

Higgins said his office would continue to support measures that benefit Louisiana’s coastal communities and help coastal restoration efforts across the state.

Guillory said Washington doesn’t have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem.

“We put three men on the moon in 1969 and I am confident we can save our coast,” Guillory said.

Rader agreed.

“We have provided so much for this nation,” he said. “The federal government should at least give a little bit back.”

The Coalition to Restore Louisiana hosted a coastal issues forum Thursday night at Central School Arts and Humanities Center for candidates in the 3rd Congressional District race.

Special to the American Press