Healthy coastal wetlands in Louisiana protect the communities along the coast from hurricane storm surge. One south Louisiana community that every American should care about is Erath, Louisiana. Erath is the home of Henry Hub. Henry Hub is a point where 9 interstate and 4 intrastate natural gas pipelines meet. It is also the pricing point for natural gas futures on the New York Mercentile exchange.
If anyone is interested in modeling catastrophe scenarios and better understanding the importance of the Louisiana coastal wetlands, it would be valuable to understand the importance of Henry Hub. If Henry Hub were destroyed by a hurricane and we were unable to restore the service for several months, the impact on the eastern United States would be substantial. Any negative impact on the eastern United States would have a broad negative impact on the nation as a whole.
The entire United States has an enormous interest in maintaining and restoring coastal wetlands in Louisiana. If for no other reason, the country has an interest in protecting Henry Hub from hurricane storm surge.