Home  >  Business Daily  >  Louisiana’s billion-dollar coastal restoration project
Business Daily
Louisiana’s billion-dollar coastal restoration project
Business Daily
Jul 9, 2024

It's the biggest operation of its kind in US history, as the state tries to save its coastline which is vanishing at an alarming rate.

We travel to the Mississippi River and the city of New Orleans to see how billions of dollars are being spent to fix the rapid land loss.

The project to revert the Mississippi to its land-making pathways could restore ecosystems destroyed by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and create buffers to protect against sea level rise and hurricanes.

The Louisiana coastline is disappearing due to human-made and natural factors, such as leveeing the Mississippi for oil and gas infrastructure, erosion, and sea-level rises.

And this is having an impact on local wetlands which are eroding, leaving communities vulnerable to storm surges and flooding.

Produced and presented by Beth Timmins

(Image: Oyster shells painted by members of the community as part of the shorelines project )

More Episodes
Apr 2, 2026
The self-taught coder building a drone empire

We hear from a founder who taught himself how to code as a child, set up several businesses, and now with his drone delivery firm Manna Air Delivery - one of the largest in Europe - is trying to challenge aviation regulations around the world. Serial entrepreneur Bobby Healy talks about how being from a poor background helped him build a leading company, which is now becoming a major global player, and why, even as a busy CEO, he still loves writing computer code into the early hours.

If you'd like to get in touch with the team, our email address is [email protected]

Presenter: Sarah Rogers Producers: Niamh McDermott and Jay Behrouzi Sound mix: Nathaniel Danter

Business Daily is the home of in-depth audio journalism devoted to the world of money and work. From small startup stories to big corporate takeovers, global economic shifts to trends in technology, we look at the key figures, ideas and events shaping business.

Each episode is a 17-minute, daily deep dive into a single topic, featuring expert analysis and the people at the heart of the story.

Recent episodes explore the weight-loss drug revolution, the growth in AI, the cost of living, the economic impact of the war in the Middle East, and why bond markets are so powerful.

We also feature in-depth interviews with company founders and some of the world's most prominent CEOs. These include Google's Sundar Pichai, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, and the CEO of Canva, Melanie Perkins.

(Picture: Bobby Healy next to a drone. Credit: Bobby Healy)


22min 06sec

Apr 1, 2026
Is this social media's 'Big Tobacco moment'?

We look at the fallout from the recent court case which found Meta and Google liable for harming the mental health of one their young users and deliberately making their platforms addictive.

Some have suggested this is “a tobacco moment” for Big Tech – comparable to the time when cigarette companies were forced to acknowledge that their products were harmful.

We ask if social media companies should be brought into line, and if they can be. And if reforms are agreed, what would a responsible social media landscape look like?

To get in touch with the team, our email address is [email protected]

Presenter: Gideon Long Producer: Josh Martin

Business Daily is the home of in-depth audio journalism devoted to the world of money and work. From small startup stories to big corporate takeovers, global economic shifts to trends in technology, we look at the key figures, ideas and events shaping business.

Each episode is a 17-minute, daily deep dive into a single topic, featuring expert analysis and the people at the heart of the story.

Recent episodes explore the weight-loss drug revolution, the growth in AI, the cost of living, the economic impact of the war in the Middle East, and why bond markets are so powerful.

We also feature in-depth interviews with company founders and some of the world's most prominent CEOs. These include Google's Sundar Pichai, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, and the CEO of Canva, Melanie Perkins.

(Picture: Left to right, Victims families and supporters Shelby Knox, Amy Neville, Mary Rodee, Laura Marquez-Garrett, Sarah Gardner, and Lennon Torres react to the verdict outside the Los Angeles Superior Court on the 25th of March 2026. Credit: Getty Images)


17min 28sec



Louisiana’s billion-dollar coastal restoration project

--:--
--:--