Opinion: Environmental regulations are the only thing between us and the sea

If you're paying a mortgage on a house south of Interstate10, I have some bad news for you. For that matter, if you own a business, work or play south of that line (I'm thinking hunting and fishing) the news is just as dire:

President Donald Trump and your GOP congressional delegation are preparing to increase the odds that the Gulf of Mexico will drown your homes and any future your grandchildren might have in south Louisiana.

That's because Trump has nominated Brett Kavanaugh, a regular opponent of government regulations on businesses, to fill the coming vacancy on the Supreme Court -- and he has the support of your GOP delegation.

Environmental lawyers say Kavanaugh's confirmation could be a disaster for south Louisiana because the only chance the state has to win its $92 billion do-or-die race against sea level rise and sinking land is to keep government regulations reducing the volume of greenhouse gases industries are pumping into the air.

Indeed, few states depend more on environmental regulations for survival than Louisiana. We've only been able to slow the destruction of our remaining coastal wetlands thanks to regulations under the Clean Water Act. And our fishing industries are more secure thanks to new regulations placed on the offshore oil industry following the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010.

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