Louisiana
How long is Louisiana shoreline? Would you believe it’s top 5 in US?
See the shoreline road in Falmouth often battered and eroded by storms
A flyover heading west along Surf Drive in Falmouth shows a section of the road the town has decided needs ‘targeted nourishment’ to prevent erosion.
When you think of long shorelines in the U.S., your mind most likely goes to Florida or California.
While Florida does have the second-most shoreline in the U.S., Louisiana is not far behind.
Louisiana may not be known for sandy, swimmable beaches, but it is among states with the most shoreline in the U.S.
Louisiana has the third longest shoreline in the U.S. according to WorldAtlas
Louisiana has the third most shoreline, with total shorelines in the state equating to 7,721 miles, according to WorldAtlas.
Louisiana’s amount of shoreline is no surprise, as the state borders the Gulf of Mexico and its coastline is home to a maze of wetlands, bayous, estuaries, barrier islands and tidal waterways.
All of these waterbodies add up under the NOAA’s definition of shoreline, with edges where land and tide-influenced water making up shoreline mileage, says WorldAtlas.
While Louisiana is not exactly known for its beaches, the state has approximately 397 miles of direct coastline, and the longest beach in the state, Holly Beach, spans 17 miles and can be found in Cameron Parish, according to A-Z Animals.
10 states with the longest shorelines according to WorldAtlas
- Alaska: 33,904 miles
- Florida: 8,436 miles
- Louisiana: 7,721 miles
- Maine: 3,478 miles
- California: 3,427 miles
- North Carolina: 3,375 miles
- Texas: 3,359 miles
- Virginia: 3,315 miles
- Michigan: 3,224 miles
- Maryland: 3,190 miles
Presley Bo Tyler is a reporter for the Louisiana Deep South Connect Team for USA Today. Find her on X @PresleyTyler02 and email at PTyler@Gannett.com
A Roman Catholic priest in the south-west Louisiana diocese where the US church’s clergy abuse scandal effectively started decades ago has been formally charged with three counts of felony indecent behavior with a juvenile.
A bill of information from the district attorney for Acadia parish charges 37-year-old Korey LaVergne with three counts of felony indecent behavior with a juvenile who was 15 at the time of the alleged offenses.
Court documents charge LaVergne with “willfully, unlawfully, knowingly and intentionally [committing] lewd or lascivious acts upon [the] juvenile” – or in the presence of the minor – on or about 1 January 2024. The charges contend that LaVergne had the “intention of arousing or gratifying the sexual desires of either person”.
A document dated 11 March filed by LaVergne’s attorneys state that the clergyman opted to waive his formal arraignment and in writing pleaded not guilty to the charges outlined in the bill of information.
LaVergne is a priest for the diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana. Another Lafayette diocese priest named Gilbert Gauthe brought the Catholic clergy abuse crisis to the US’s collective conscience by pleading guilty in 1985 to molesting several boys he encountered through his ministry.
He served 10 years in prison and now lives in Texas, and he has continued to be named in civil lawsuits from victims seeking damages from the Lafayette diocese over their abuse at Gauthe’s hands.
LaVergne’s formal charges came after he was arrested in mid-January on the same three counts referred to in the bill of information.
At the time, records showed that LaVergne, the pastor at the St Edward Catholic church in the community of Richard, posted bail of $15,000 less than 90 minutes after being jailed. That secured his release from custody while the case proceeds.
A week after his arrest, the Guardian obtained the investigators’ initial report on the case, which stated that LaVergne had been jailed after local authorities were told that the clergyman had “inappropriately touched a child” over the course of a year.
The Lafayette news station KADN reported on 16 January that another priest had reported the allegations against LaVergne to authorities prior to his arrest.
A pretrial hearing in the case has been tentatively scheduled for 12 June after LaVergne’s attorney filed a series of standard court motions, records show.
Neither LaVergne nor his attorney immediately responded to requests for comment from the Guardian on Friday regarding the formal charges.
LaVergne faces a maximum sentence of seven years in prison and up to $5,000 in fines.
Generally, under Louisiana law, indecent behavior with a juvenile can be punished with up to seven years in prison.
The state defines the offense as “any lewd or lascivious act … in the presence of any child under the age of 17”. The law also states that messages – including texts – and actions alleged to constitute grooming can fall under the offense.
As the joint U.S.-Israeli war on Iran stretches into its third week, Louisiana maritime leaders are keenly monitoring disruptions to the global supply chain, and energy markets in particular.
The effects of the conflict on the state’s shipping industry will be largely determined by its duration, experts say. But while the shock of high fuel prices and damage dealt to Gulf Arab economies threaten to inflate costs across the board, the destruction could also offer opportunities to Louisiana industry — in the form of more market share and reconstruction contracts.
The Mac Ubery VIII container ship passes under Crescent City Connection as it heads up the Mississippi to the Port of New Orleans
“Clearly, the shorter the duration, the less disruption to the supply chain and to the global overall cost of moving cargo,” said Greg Rusovich, CEO of the logistics and freight company Transoceanic Development. “The longer the duration, the more severe the impact on the global supply chain and on a whole variety of related transportation costs.”
‘Biggest crisis’
Since the war began, oil prices have spiked to nearly $120 a barrel before falling and climbing again. The world’s largest liquified natural gas plant, in Qatar, was knocked offline by an Iranian drone strike and ceased production. Iraqi oil production is down by about 70%.
An oil tanker burns after being hit by an Iranian strike in the ship-to-ship transfer zone at Khor al-Zubair port near Basra, Iraq, late Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo)
And the Strait of Hormuz has been effectively blockaded, cutting off the route through which about 20% of the world’s petroleum usually passes. Only 66 commercial vessels transited the strait during the first nine days of March, compared with more than 100 a day before the outbreak of war, according to the maritime intelligence firm Windward. Iranian forces on Wednesday attacked several commercial vessels in the strait, and as of Thursday, at least seven mariners have been killed in the conflict, according to The Associated Press.
Because of global supply chains in a world that is deeply interconnected through international trade, the increased energy costs will spread throughout the economy, impacting energy costs, goods and, by extension, construction costs.
“It is going to have an impact on everybody personally,” said Chett Chiasson, executive director of the Greater Lafourche Port Commission, which handles Port Fourchon and services about 95% of the Gulf’s deepwater energy production. “But it’s also going to have an impact on projects because higher fuel costs increase the cost for contractors and projects in general.”
Chett Chiasson, executive director at Port Fourchon and South Lafourche Airport, speaks during March 16, 2023, news conference at the Port of New Orleans building in New Orleans.
Chiasson said significant disruptions would have to linger for several months to spur major investment shifts, as Louisiana’s oil and gas producers lack OPEC members’ ability to quickly “turn the spigot” to increase output.
“There’s the ability to ramp up, if and when necessary,” he said. “We just have to see the operators pull those triggers.”
Import vs. export
For the Port of New Orleans, Louisiana’s only international container port, the immediate shock to the system from the stopped-up strait has been blunted — in part, experts said, because operators rerouted around the southern tip of Africa in late 2023 in response to attacks on commercial shipping by Houthi rebels.
“The shipping industry had already been largely avoiding that area unless cargo was destined for the Middle East,” said Port NOLA Chief Commercial Officer Kristi App.
While the cost of bypassing the Red Sea has already been factored in by the industry, many major carriers have recently imposed new emergency surcharges to cover increased fuel cost.
Kristi App became the chief commercial officer of the Port of New Orleans in December 2025.
“There’s been a pause button pushed from a lot of the carriers, whether they are carrying containerized cargo or bulk or breakbulk, to see if this is just going to be a few days into a few weeks — much like Venezuela was,” App said.
But the longer the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked, the more likely congestion will spread to transshipment hubs around the world, with repercussions for the entire global supply chain.
Last year, Port NOLA handled about 514,600 TEUs — the unit equivalent to standard 20-foot shipping containers — up 3% from the prior year, while the total number of container ships was up 7.7% to 394.
App predicted the conflict is unlikely to take a significant cut out of that traffic.
“We feed cargo into and out of the Middle East, but it is not our major market, so from that perspective, we’re well-insulated from any heavy or intense volume impact,” she said. “We’re diversified, which is good.”
Downriver, the Port of South Louisiana, which handles over 250 billion tons of cargo annually, is keeping in close contact with the seven grain transfer complexes, four major oil refineries, 11 petrochemical manufacturing plants and other industrial facilities within the 54-mile long port district, according to Chief Commercial Officer Micah Cormier.
“While too early to assess effects of this conflict, we are in communication with stakeholders and partners to gauge the impact to our Port and industry,” Cormier said in a statement.
Post-war profit?
Transoceanic Development CEO Greg Rusovich, pictured a 2016 file photo, speaks during a press conference at Louis Armstrong International Airport.
“There are a large number of Louisiana contractors that perform that type of work that could go in and help bring the country back under the right regime and help it become part of the global system,” Rusovich said.
On the downside, he said, the economic damage inflicted by Iran’s attacks on the United Arab Emirates and regional U.S. allies could trigger the Gulf monarchies to pull back from their commitments to significant capital investments in Louisiana.
Chiasson, the director of Louisiana’s primary base for offshore oil and gas operations, said increased oil prices will ultimately generate more revenue for the state’s producers, even if the long-term impact on the state’s maritime industry and the broader economy remains to be seen.
“We can’t make rash decisions either way because sooner or later, this is all going to be over and we’re getting back to where we thought we were going to be,” he said.
Port Fourchon, La., photographed on Saturday, June 3, 2023. (Flight courtesy of SouthWings)(Photo by Sophia Germer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune)
NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – It’s no secret that American farmers, including crawfish farmers like David Savoy, rely on migrant labor.
“Our main concern is labor. We don’t have the labor anymore,” said David Savoy, a crawfish farmer for over two decades and president of the Louisiana Promotion and Research Board.
When we visited Savoy’s crawfish farm in Richard, Louisiana, back in January, it was early in the crawfish season. Now, closer to the season’s peak, producers have to process their catch. For that, they need foreign labor secured through the H-2B visa program, but those producers are struggling to bring in migrant workers this year.
USDA secretary says administration working to ease farm labor restrictions for Louisiana crawfish, shrimp industries
“In the state, our 20 major processors employ anywhere from 40 to 150 people. Only 15 of the 20 processors so far have gotten any labor,” said Mike Strain, commissioner of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry.
Commissioner Mike Strain said the state needs about 2,000 H-2B workers. Strain says last year’s federal government shutdown delayed work visa applications. On top of that, the program is capped, allowing domestic workers to apply. The visa limit for the first half of this year has already been reached, and Strain says if the cap isn’t lifted, Louisiana’s crawfish industry could be in trouble.
“If we don’t get these workers in, the bottom line the farmers will lose in excess of $120 million to $125 million,” said Commissioner Strain.
“We’re working to make a very quick change, as quickly as we can to basically open up the market so these labor questions can be resolved. There’s a question of how expensive it is and we’re working to bring the cost down for farmers, but just getting the labor, we’re really singularly focused on this labor issue,” said U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.
MORE: Louisiana crawfish industry faces worker shortage after DHS caps seasonal visas
On Thursday, Secretary Rollins came to Fox 8’s studios to discuss the labor shortage. When asked if the Trump administration will lift or raise the cap for H-2B visas, Secretary Rollins said that is a decision the White House cannot make.
“So the administration cannot remove the cap. That’s a Congressionally authorized statute, so the Congress has to do that. What we can do and what we’re looking to do is changing some of the rules within that to perhaps allow other programs that these farmers can apply for that are outside of the current restricted cap,” Secretary Rollins said.
With just weeks left in crawfish season, a multimillion-dollar industry hopes that help arrives in time.
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