It’s no secret that Louisiana’s coastal region faces serious problems, a fact that almost all of the candidates for Louisiana’s 3rd Congressional District seat agree upon. But despite the district covering a Gulf Coast stretch from the Texas state line to Terrebonne Parish, they have offered few to no specific policy ideas on how to limit future land loss. The equivalent of 14 and a half football fields of wetlands are lost to the rising coastal waters every day in Louisiana, accumulating to over 2,000 square miles of land lost since 1932, according to Louisiana’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. Worsening hurricanes batter shores laid bare from loss of crucial marshland, exacerbating flooding in District 3’s coastal communities. Funding for coastal restoration efforts, largely provided by settlement money from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, is set to run out as advocates and governmental officials scramble to plan for further project funding. As early voting begins Friday and residents head to the polls for the Nov. 5 election, the Illuminator gathered information from the candidates on how coastal policy plays a role in their political platform. The incumbent, Republican U.S. Rep Clay Higgins, did not respond to interview requests made through his Washington office, but he did make himself available briefly at a town hall meeting last week in Jennings. Democrats Priscilla Gonzalez of Lafayette and Sadi Summerlin of Westlake sat down for virtual interviews. The other candidate in the race, Republican Xan John of Lafayette, would only answer questions via email but offered no insight into his stances on coastal matters, saying issues such as flood protection, coastal land loss and hurricanes were a far less important topic than election integrity. The rest of John’s email repeated allegations of fraud from the 2020 presidential election that have been proven false. Additional information was compiled from the candidates’ websites. What sort of infrastructure changes should coastal Louisiana emphasize to protect against coastal land loss, flooding and hurricane damage? Higgins places emphasis on increasing “gray” infrastructure projects that use a traditional engineered approach, such as building levees and seawalls with concrete or dredging man-made channels. “These levees work,” Higgins said at a town hall meeting. He also reiterated the importance of parishes working collaboratively with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on projects such as Morganza to the Gulf hurricane and storm risk reduction system. Gonzalez advocates for an exact balance between gray infrastructure and green projects, such as building wetlands and other natural features that reduce flooding and erosion. Her answers were more general rather than specific. “Obviously, we are on the coast, so I completely support any type of legislation that is going to improve our coastal region,” Gonzalez said. Summerlin throws more of her support towards green infrastructure expansion, while still citing her desire to follow the guidance of the U.S. Geological survey and build infrastructure “strategically in order to work with nature, rather than working against it.” She has no specific plans for coastal infrastructure improvement, but said she thinks more investment in the region is central to any fixes. “I am extremely concerned about our environment, and especially our coastline. I don’t think that we’re doing enough. I don’t think that we’re investing enough,” Summerlin said. “I would emphasize green infrastructure to restore and protect our precious coastal region and wetlands … we must prioritize our environmental health.” Louisiana’s coastal restoration programs are set to reach a fiscal cliff in the next decade. Where should primary funding sources for coastal protection and restoration come from? “Revenues from the energy industry have long supported coastal projects for Louisiana,” Higgins said, in reference to the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006. He also highlighted the importance of consistent federal funding for local, state and Corps of Engineers projects, adding that “sustainability of funding, from a federal perspective, means a constant evaluation of how effective programs are.” Gonzalez said she would advocate that federal land management funding be expedited to prevent delays in coastline rebuilding. She also emphasized her stance on the importance of open communication with parishes being a top priority in knowing where funding should go. “I have to meet with every single mayor, president and councilman once a month, and we have to actually identify which parishes are most vulnerable and allocate proper fundings for them,” she said. In advocating for a restructured tax system designed to take more from corporations and higher-income taxpayers, Summerlin said she thinks more federal tax money should go toward needs such as coastal restoration and away from defense spending. “The crux of my platform is that we need to reinvest in us, the people, because we pay a ton of taxes,” she said. “And so I really would like to see a restructuring of our tax allotment and how we’re using it because we spend a gargantuan amount on arms.” What energy source should have emphasis in Louisiana? How should that play a role in funding coastal restoration? On his website, Higgins refers to fossil fuels as “the lifeblood of our society.” He is a strong supporter of the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA), which shares revenues generated from all offshore energy production. With regard to the role fossil fuels play in climate change, Higgins has been critical of the Biden administration’s lack of accountability for foreign nations with emissions standards far below America’s. While Gonzalez encourages a move toward renewable energy, she acknowledged the long legacy of fossil fuels in Louisiana’s economy. “Obviously we’re not going to make a dramatic shift. It is Louisiana oil and gas. So I know it’s going to be a process of decades of shifting towards clean energy. So I’m going to focus on that.” Summerlin said that while a new bill proposing revenue from all energy production in the Gulf of Mexico is helpful for funding coastal protection, renewable energy shouldn’t have to account for climate change reparations. “I would like to see them paying into it, but I don’t want to hold them accountable for what the oil and gas industry has done,” she said. Lack of detail Candidates focused largely on general promises of advocating for federal funding rather than specific policy on how to help keep Louisiana’s shoreline from disappearing. Having been in office since 2017, incumbent Higgins had the most specific plans for how to manage land loss in District 3. At the same time, he missed key elements to consider, making no mention of how climate change and oil and gas infrastructure plays a large role in coastal land loss and overemphasis on gray infrastructure can make flooding worse. Projects largely unnoticed by District 3’s congressional candidates like those listed in the Louisiana Coastal Master plan and recycled oyster reef restoration continue fighting to push back the rising waves of salt and flood on the coast.