Speakers
John A. Lopez, PhD
John is a resident of Louisiana who has lived in southeast Louisiana all his life except while attending college or on brief job assignments out of the state. John and his wife currently reside in Livingston Parish after losing their home in Slidell to Hurricane Katrina. John was born in New Orleans. He has lived for 20 years in Orleans Parish, 12 years in Jefferson Parish and 13 years in St. Tammany Parish.
John is a coastal scientist with multi-disciplinary training in Geology, Engineering and Biological Sciences with a Doctorate in Engineering and Applied Sciences. After working in the oil industry for 20 years, and working in coastal restoration pro bono, he decided to work full time professionally in coastal restoration. He has worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Project Management for the Coastal Restoration Branch. Project assignments included CWPPRA and LCA. John is President of Delta Science, LLC., a coastal consulting firm, and also is currently Director of the Coastal Sustainability Program for the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation. John is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of New Orleans.
Starting in 2003, he chaired a team of scientists and engineers to develop a comprehensive restoration plan for the Pontchartrain Basin. As an outgrowth of this work, he developed the Multiple Lines of Defense Strategy to integrate flood protection and coastal restoration. This concept was developed prior to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. It was presented in August 2005 at the Coastal Zone 05 Conference in New Orleans, where John was awarded a national award for his coastal work. The Multiple Lines of Defense Strategy has recently been adopted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a cornerstone to the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration planning process being developed jointly with the State of Louisiana.
Since release of the Multiple Lines of Defense Strategy, John has been asked to participate in several post-Katrina programs and has presented this concept in many venues including as an Invited Speaker at the 2nd Presidents Forum Meeting: Coastal Challenges - Safer Growth in Coastal Louisiana.
John has held board or chairmanship positions with the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, the State Review of Oil and Natural Gas Regulations, the Pontchartrain Research Committee, the Comprehensive Habitat Management Plan Draft Committee, the Technical Advisory Committee and the Lake Pontchartrain Artificial Reef Working Group. He currently serves on the Navigation Engineering Committee for the American Society of Civil Engineers.
- University of New Orleans, Doctorate Engineering and Applied Sciences, 2003
- Loyola University Institute of Environmental Communications, Fellow, 2000
- University of Southern California, Master of Science Geology, 1981
- Louisiana State University, Bachelor of Science Geology, 1976
- Tulane & UNO, Non-degree Studies: Business Law and Political Science
"Panel Presentation: Hurricane Protection: Where Do We Stand?"
The Multiple Lines of Defense Strategy has potential to integrate flood protection and coastal restoration.
This strategy has been officially adopted by the state of Louisiana in their development of a Comprehensive Coastal Master plan.
In implementation of the strategy by the state, their draft plan falls short on some key elements, but most significant is the failure to define habitat goals to assure the functionality of the estuary as the plan is implemented.
The US Army Corps of Engineers has also adopted this strategy for the LaCPR. It's too early to determine the effectiveness by the USACE to implement the strategy, but it is anticipated the LaCPR's restoration recommendations will be strongly influenced by the State's Master Plan.
Concern persist that integration of flood protection and restoration will lead to further commingling of funding which may result in an unwarranted bias toward flood protection projects.
Major technical issues pertaining to coastal planning persists or have emerged recently, such as "Leaky levees", role of major diversions, and flood gates.
In the Pontchartrain Basin, the Multiple Lines of Defense Strategy has created planning and funding direction in the intensified, post-Katrina coastal planning initiatives.