Word: gulf
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...Gulf's busy oil-and-gas industry doesn't help matters. Extracting those resources below the Gulf floor is like sticking a straw into the ground and sucking out all the liquid: ultimately you pull up the very material that's holding up the surrounding terrain. One study found that the greatest loss of Gulf wetlands coincided with the greatest extraction of oil and gas in the 1970s and '80s. Houston is thought to be sinking for much the same reason...
...Louisiana, the shrinkage is most dramatic. The state has lost 1 million acres of coast--11/2 times the area of Rhode Island--since 1930, nearly half of that vanished land lying between New Orleans and the Gulf. The city proper is estimated to be sinking 3 ft. per century. And while the whole world is struggling with rising sea levels, New Orleans and its environs hurt more than most. The State of Louisiana is estimated to be losing land at the alarming rate of about two acres every hour...
Just as important as fixing the artificial barriers will be replacing the natural ones: the protective wetlands that have been stripped away from the city's perimeter. In 2000, federal and state officials initiated proposals to spend $14 billion over the next 30 years for wetlands restoration along the Gulf Coast. But Congress balked at the initial outlay of $1.9 billion, and only $540 million has so far been allocated. As for measures to combat global warming, the Bush Administration has consistently resisted any legislation or global treaty that would hurt the energy industry or require sacrifices from American motorists...
Katrina didn't just fling barges across bayous--it ripped a hole in the nation's economy. The storm crippled oil and gas production in the Gulf, idled refineries and chemical-processing plants and devastated New Orleans' $7 billion tourism industry. The city stands to lose more than $500 million a month in visitor dollars. J. Stephen Perry, head of the Convention and Visitors Board, says the empty and damaged hotels "are like Baghdad on a bad day." But for the national economy, what's more critical is that Katrina disrupted a vital node in the country's transport network...
...storm hits or events in the Middle East disrupt supply. Katrina sidelined nine refineries that account for about 12% of U.S. capacity. By the end of last week, the storm had prevented production of 547 million bbl. of crude, a 25-day supply. Offshore oil production in the Gulf accounts for nearly 10% of U.S. daily consumption. Worse yet, natural-gas production also shut down, costing us about 8.3 billion cu. ft. a day, which is 13% of what we consume, according to the U.S. Minerals Management Service...