Louisiana

Louisiana is Extremely Vulnerable to Climate Change:

• Louisiana faces the highest rate of sea level rise within the United States. According to a Risky Business report, the mean sea level at Grand Isle will rise to  1.9 to 2.4 feet by mid-century if carbon emissions are not abated. State coastal property worth $44.8 billion is at risk of inundation by 2050.
• The Southeast in general is exceptionally susceptible to extreme heat, more frequent and more intense hurricanes, and decreased water availability.
• In the past 30 years, the average resident of Louisiana experienced about 12 extreme heat days in a year. By 2050, the number of days with temperatures above 95°F could reach up to 82 — more than two additional months of summer heat.
• Louisiana is one of the top ten states most frequently impacted by natural disasters. Scientists have found that the effects of Hurricane Katrina were greatly amplified due to climate change.
• The Isle de Jean Charles Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Indians recently received the first federal designation as a group displaced by climate impacts.
• The National Climate Assessment also noted the negative impacts of climate change on tribal communities in coastal Louisiana, coupled with saltwater intrusion, subsidence, and land loss due to oil and gas extraction.
• Those combined impacts of coastal erosion and climate change-driven sea level rise are already proving to be a difficult and costly challenge for Louisiana’s coast.
• Louisiana does not have any statewide plans to adapt to climate change.

Louisiana’s Clean Energy Efforts and Opinions:

• A majority of adults in Louisiana, 57 percent, understand global warming is happening. Seventy-three percent support funding research into renewable energy resources, and 68 percent support regulating CO2 as a pollutant.
• The Clean Power Plan would require Louisiana to cut 28.9 percent of its power-sector emissionsby 2030. The state isparty to the lawsuit against the CPP but is continuing in its efforts to devise a compliance plan, led by Gov. John Bel Edwards (D). The state Attorney General Jeff Landry (R) believes Louisiana does not need to develop compliance plans.
• The state, home to Henry Hub, sources most of its electricity from natural gas and coal. As of 2014, Louisiana ranked 23rd in the country for installed solar capacity. Its overall renewable energy capacity is almost negligible and the state does not have a renewable energy standard.