I couldn't agree more with Not rebuilding New Orleans in it's existing location. For anyone to respond with simply saying that the levy system need to be fixed and or made higher, I say that you could rebuild that entire levy system several feet higher, but it's still at the mercy of mother nature. There's no garuntee that during any other hurricane that large debris being pushed into the levy walls won't breach it again.
Now lets factor in the enviros claim of global warming and sea levels rising. Actually the real fact of what is causing global warming is not greenhouse gas emissions, it is the fact that the sun itself is getting hotter, melting icecaps, that are making sea levels rise. Hurricanes will also continue to increase in frequency and intensity as this is natures way of maintaining temperature balance across the globe.
Why rebuild an already vulnerable city that is sure to be even more and more vulnerable by not only more frequent deadly storms but also gradually becoming even farther below sea level?
One of the major problems with N.O. is that it is sinking deeper and deeper into the silt it was built a top. Levees are not the full solution to this - relocation is pretty important, it seems to me.
Unfortunately no one will want refugees from New Orleans - permanently. Where will they go? They'll be like the Palestinians and former executives of Enron.