© 2007 Natalie Maynor

Picking up the pieces, rebounding from adversity, and exhibiting patience and fortitude. That has been the modus operandi along the Gulf Coast in both Louisiana and Mississippi, as well as in communities well inland.

If you're talking about shifting priorities— at least as it relates to a desire to proceed with ambitious redevelopment projects—those priorities were redirected in August 2005 when Hurricane Katrina formed over the Bahamas. It made its second landfall as a Category 3 storm on August 29 in southeast Louisiana, causing severe destruction along the Gulf Coast from central Florida to Texas, much damage due to storm surge. At least 1,836 people lost their lives in the actual hurricane and in subsequent floods, making it the deadliest U.S. hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane.

In Moss Point, Miss., along the Alabama border, equidistant to Biloxi, Miss. and Mobile, Ala., an ambitious redevelopment came to a screeching halt in the wake of the deadly hurricane. The Pelican Landing Convention Center had been on the drawing board, representing a formidable conference and meeting facility that the local community had worked hard to envision and get off the ground .

In 2002, the city of Moss Point purchased an abandoned gas station, referred to as Swifty Serve, as part of Phase II of the city's Waterfront Plan. The plan's vision called for a 12,000-sq. ft. conference center at the gateway of the city along the Escatawpa River. The gas station and fuel dispensers were subsequently demolished and removed from the location, but three 10,000-gallon underground storage tanks, two fuel dispenser islands and product piping remained.

The back portion of the property, abutting the river, was transformed into what would eventually become the Pelican Landing Convention Center. The operative word is "eventually." Plans to remove the dispenser islands, piping and USTs were put on hold when Hurricane Katrina hit. Priorities shifted and the completion of the project was placed on hold.

Help on the way
In 2006, Mississippi's Dept. of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) received brownfield grants for assessing and remediating brownfields in communities impacted by Katrina. MDEQ applied for and received a CERCLA 104(k) brownfield grant in the wake of the storm to identify brownfields in communities on the Gulf Coast for consideration early in the rebuilding process. Today, Pelican Landing is in full operation thanks to the programs ability to identify communities impacted by Katrina.

MDEQ relies on technology to make this effort a qualitative one. Using approximately 10% of the grant, the staff of the Groundwater Assessment and Remediation Division (GARD) of MDEQ created a Google Earth coverage map for the Mississippi Gulf Coast that includes pertinent information about sites that may have environmental conditions for consideration prior to rebuilding.

The coverage includes MDEQ's existing brownfields inventory of CERCLA/uncontrolled sites, underground storage tank sites, above ground storage tank sites, pest control sites, agency interests and dry cleaners. Some of the data were collected from within MDEQ while other data were collected from the Mississippi Dept. of Agriculture and Commerce.

In Louisiana, headway is also being made in the four years following Katrina. The Louisiana Brownfields Association, through community outreach and education, promotes a wide array of brownfield-related goals, objectives and initiatives, including environmental restoration, economic development and revitalization, natural resources preservation, enhancement of financial and regulatory incentives, and protection of human health.

Late in 2004, a group of interested parties believed that the creation of a state brownfields organization in Louisiana could help promote further redevelopment and revitalization of potentially contaminated property in Louisiana.

In July of 2006, the Louisiana Brownfields Association was born, with the goal to promote a broad range of brownfield-related objectives and initiatives, including environmental restoration, economic revitalization, natural resource preservation, conservation and recreational-based beneficial reuse, enhancement of financial and regulatory incentives, job creation and training, public health, environmental equity and justice and community outreach and education.

Life along the Gulf Coast—and even inland—in both the Bayou and Magnolia states: It's all part of the task to pick up the pieces, rebound from adversity, and exhibit patience and fortitude—the new "M.O." that's been established after priorities shifted in the late summer of 2005.