Bad News For New Orleans’ Short And Long Term Future
First came the storm that wiped out the city. Then came lagging restoration efforts, despite determined-sounding promises from government officials. Now comes the news from the Bush administration that due to rising costs New Orleans may not be able to be totally protected again, despite earlier statements:
The Bush administration said yesterday that the cost of rebuilding New Orleans’s levees to federal standards has nearly tripled to $10 billion and that there may not be enough money to fully protect the entire region.Donald E. Powell, the administration’s rebuilding coordinator, said some areas may be left without the protection of levees strong enough to meet requirements of the national flood insurance program. Those areas probably would face enormous obstacles in attracting home buyers and investors willing to build there.
The news represents a shift for the administration; President Bush had pledged in the weeks after Hurricane Katrina to rebuild New Orleans “higher and better.” Now, some areas may lose out as they compete for levee protection. Powell’s announcement, in a conference call with reporters, prompted denunciations from state and local officials who said the federal government is reneging on promises to rebuild the entire region.
“This monumental miscalculation is an outrage,” said Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D). “This means that, just two months before hurricane season, the Corps of Engineers informs us they cannot ensure even the minimum safety of southeastern Louisiana. This is totally unacceptable.”
The change followed a surprise announcement from the Army Corps of Engineers that the levee reconstruction project, most recently estimated at $3.5 billion, would now cost $9.5 billion if insurance-certified levees were extended throughout the region.
The Washington Post piece goes on to say that tensions between administration officials and state and local leaders in Louisiana now could not be worse:
State and local leaders said the U.S. government had broken a trust and appeared to backing away from commitments to rebuild. Louisiana officials also questioned why federal engineers are just now announcing that the task would cost $6 billion more.“Every time we turn around, there’s a new obstacle,” said Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-La.). “The estimates were done for rebuilding the levees, and a number was given to the administration and to the Congress. Now all of a sudden they say they made a $6 billion mistake?”
Melancon said he wondered whether the changes reflected the comments made by officials such as House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) after the storm questioning the wisdom of rebuilding the low-lying city.
Maybe it doesn’t reflect those comments — but it seems to reflect that attitude. And, indeed, on one hand you could say that assessment is speaking realistically. On the other hand, it is a valid question: isn’t a $6 billion mistake on an estimate enough to raise both eyebrows and your neck? How was it made? Who made it? Why? And what does it say about the thoroughness and competence of those who made the earlier estimate — and those who supervise them?
opinions powered by SendLove.to
6 Responses to “Bad News For New Orleans’ Short And Long Term Future”
Imagine a $6 billion mistake. I can think of a $500 billion mistake. It’s called Iraq. And in a year or so it will be a $1 trillion mistake. What’s a few billion dollars thrown hither and thither on the New Orleans levees?
The levees won’t matter much in about 20 more years when the ocean levels rise.
Time to look at restoring mother natures natural barriers that were there before. All the marshlands that were there before need to be in the mix. Mother nature really doesn’t give a crap how big and how strong you build something, she will always find a way to knock it down. Marshlands on the other hand should rise w/ the ocean levels in a natural way.
And why would anyone want to move back into an area that is so flood prone anyways?
Why would anyone live in San Francisco because of the earthquakes? Or Kansas because of Tornados? Or the entire Gulf Coast? Because IT’S THEIR HOME, this is Americans and deserve better than what is happening.
Also 10 Billions is what, almost a month in Iraq?
Neglecting the rebuilding of New Orleans is scandalous. A politicized Congress, overwhelmed Red Cross, National Guard, which is busy elsewhere, and an Army Corp of Engineers, which is exhibiting colossal incompetence, are building a memorial to failure on a national scale.
People who appear to be perfectly rational question whether New Orleans should be rebuilt after the devastating failure of its infrastructure to stand up to two catastrophic storms in one month. That is not a rational response to the desperate plight of New Orleans residents.
Here in Oregon we sit astride the mother of all subduction zone faults. We’re downstream from millions of gallons of radioactive material that’s moving at groundwater speed into the Columbia River. Downhill from Mount St Helens, an erupting volcano, we mistakenly feel safe in our little bastion. If the mountain had been pointing our way when the big one blew in 1980 hundreds of thousands of Portland residents could have been in the same sorry shape as the hundreds of thousands of wandering New Orleanians: waiting in some god-awful motel in Fresno or Pocatello to hear if our fellow Americans would care enough about our corner of our nation to come dig us out. The essence of our pact with our fellow Americans is this: “We’ll dig you out”.
Every—repeat—every successful reconstruction of a city after a major disaster in the United States has been managed, operated, and funded by the citizens of the city.