After more than 15 years of research, engineering, and public engagement, the State of Louisiana broke ground this week on the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion, the single-largest ecosystem restoration project in the United States. One of the most heavily studied and modeled projects in Louisiana’s history, this project is a keystone of Louisiana’s $50 billion Coastal Master Plan, as well as 吃瓜黑料’s vision for restoring the Gulf Coast following the BP oil spill. Louisiana’s coastline is vanishing at an alarming rate. Since the 1930s, Louisiana has lost more than 2,000 square miles of coastal wetlands—that’s roughly the size of Delaware—due to several human-made and natural factors, such as leveeing the Mississippi River, erosion, and sea-level rise. Barataria Basin, just south of New Orleans on the western side of the Mississippi River, is a large complex of wetlands that is experiencing some of the highest rates of land loss in the country. Without action, the...