https://www.essence.com/news/louisiana-governor-withholding-water-infrastructure-funds-reproductive-rights/
Louisianas Governor-Elect Wants To Withhold Funds For New Orleans Decaying Water Infrastructure Until Women Who Seek Abortions Are Prosecuted
In September, the city of New Orleans and some surrounding parishes in south Louisiana began to prepare for at least three months of saltwater intrusion in the local water supply. President Joe Biden then declared the crisis a federal emergency and authorized funding for FEMA and other state agencies to mitigate the burgeoning crisis.
While months of extreme, record-high heat and lack of rainfall in and around the Crescent City are responsible for the crisis, some are pointing at current Louisiana Attorney General and Louisiana governor-elect Jeff Landry as partially responsible for the citys ability to address the now circumvented crisis, as well as the decayed state of the citys entire water infrastructure. Landry personally solicited the Louisiana State Bond Commission last year to withhold millions in funding from the New Orleans Sewage and Water Board due to the city governments refusal to arrest and prosecute women in the wake of Louisianas total ban on abortion. The New Orleans Sewage and Water Board remains in desperate need of funding to tackle necessary repairs to its four water intake structuresone of which that has been inoperable for 34 years.
Despite a race against time to keep saltwater from encroaching from the Gulf of Mexico, there has been no concerted efforts by the state to improve its most populated citys water infrastructure. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and New Orleans Homeland Security spent weeks unloading daily shipments of 36 million gallons of fresh water into the Mississippi in an attempt to dilute the river enough to prevent any further progression of the saltwater or the growing concern of the intrusion of lead into the citys water supply. Both Jefferson Parish and Orleans Parish are in the process of building two respective pipelines to avoid both saltwater and lead contamination in their drinking water.
This ordeal unfolding during the Louisiana gubernatorial election coupled with the ascent of two Louisiana conservative GOP extremists to the highest offices in the land has sparked conversations and frustration about the fate of a city caught in the crosshairs. With reproductive justice and environmental justice acutely intersecting, Black families are especially vulnerable.
In an email to Matt McBride, a reporter from the Louisiana Illuminator, that was later published, a spokesperson for the New Orleans Sewage and Water Board, Grace Birch, said We are at a critical point with nearly a billion dollars in capital improvement projects slated for the next five years that are 93% unfunded, Birch said. We have scoured every source of City, State and Federal funding, but our customers must know that these are one-time sources that are not sustainable, and we are looking at long-term plans for capital projects, especially as it relates to water treatment and distribution. As of October 2023, the state of Louisiana has a surplus budget of $330 million.
Throughout the ordeal, residents took to social media to express frustration at the now slow-moving but omnipresent water crisis itself as many fear the implications upon daily life like possible school closures, food accessibility, and the ability to maintain tourism levels, a major economic driver of the city of New Orleans, ahead of the Mardi Gras season.
Some mentioned facing derision from local residents in neighboring parishes as they flock to the shelves to stock up on drinking water. Last months governors race highlighted the almost exclusive anti-abortion political arena that is complicit in the burgeoning crisis.
Louisiana is one of the poorest states in the union, and 61.4% of babies born in the state in 2020 were born under the Louisianas Medicaid plan. Lack of reproductive care access has sent women who can afford other options as close as Illinoisgeographically the closest sanctuary state for abortion access and as far away as New York to have their choice respected.
Since the Dobbs vs. Jackson Womens Health Organization U.S. Supreme Court decision struck down the constitutionally protected right for women to obtain abortion care, multiple abortion bans have been triggered in the Louisiana legislature. Senate Bill 342, authored by Democratic representative Katrina Jackson, is one of the strictest in the nation. It mandates one to 10 years of prison time and a fine of $10,000 up to $100,000 for anyone who has had an abortion in the state of Louisiana.
My metal band, Ivory King, has 2 songs out now - allmylinks.com/ivorykingtx (all of our links there so you can choose which one you'd prefer to use)