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Posted on 09/02/2005 7:29:49 PM PDT by Sen Jack S. Fogbound
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Is Bush to Blame for New Orleans Flooding?
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He did slash funding for levee projects. But the Army Corps of Engineers says Katrina was just too strong. September 2, 2005 Modified: September 2, 2005
Summary
Some critics are suggesting President Bush was as least partly responsible for the flooding in New Orleans. In a widely quoted opinion piece, former Clinton aide Sidney Blumenthal says that "the damage wrought by the hurricane may not entirely be the result of an act of nature," and cites years of reduced funding for federal flood-control projects around New Orleans.
Our fact-checking confirms that Bush indeed cut funding for projects specifically designed to strengthen levees. Indeed, local officials had been complaining about that for years.
It is not so clear whether the money Bush cut from levee projects would have made any difference, however, and we're not in a position to judge that. The Army Corps of Engineers – which is under the President's command and has its own reputation to defend – insists that Katrina was just too strong, and that even if the levee project had been completed it was only designed to withstand a category 3 hurricane. |
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We suspect this subject will get much more attention in Congress and elsewhere in the coming months. Without blaming or absolving Bush, here are the key facts we've been able to establish so far:
Bush Cut Funding
Blumenthal's much-quoted article in salon.com carried the headline: "No one can say they didn't see it coming." And it said the Bush administration cut flood-control funding "to pay for the Iraq war."
He continues:
Blumenthal: With its main levee broken, the evacuated city of New Orleans has become part of the Gulf of Mexico . But the damage wrought by the hurricane may not entirely be the result of an act of nature.
…By 2003 the federal funding for the flood control project essentially dried up as it was drained into the Iraq war. In 2004, the Bush administration cut funding requested by the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for holding back the waters of Lake Pontchartrain by more than 80 percent. Additional cuts at the beginning of this year…forced the New Orleans district of the Corps to impose a hiring freeze.
We can confirm that funding was cut. The project most closely associated with preventing flooding in New Orleans was the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Hurricane Protection Project, which was “designed to protect residents between Lake Pontchartrain and the Missisippi River levee from surges in Lake Pontchartrain,” according to a fact sheet from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. (The fact sheet is dated May 23, long before Katrina). The multi-decade project involved building new levees, enlarging existing levees, and updating other protections like floodwalls. It was scheduled to be completed in 2015.
Over at least the past several budget cycles, the Corps has received substantially less money than it requested for the Lake Pontchartrain project, even though Congress restored much of the money the President cut from the amount the Corps requested.
In fiscal year 2004, the Corps requested $11 million for the project. The President’s budget allocated $3 million, and Congress furnished $5.5 million. Similarly, in fiscal 2005 the Corps requested $22.5 million, which the President cut to $3.9 million in his budget. Congress increased that to $5.5 million. “This was insufficient to fund new construction contracts,” according to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ project fact sheet. The Corps reported that “seven new contracts are being delayed due to lack funds” [sic].
The President proposed $3 million for the project in the budget for fiscal 2006, which begins Oct. 1. “This will be insufficient to fund new construction projects,” the fact sheet stated. It says the Corps “could spend $20 million if funds were provided.” The Corps of Engineers goes on to say:
Army Corps of Engineers, May 23: In Orleans Parish, two major pump stations are threatened by hurricane storm surges. Major contracts need to be awarded to provide fronting protection for them. Also, several levees have settled and need to be raised to provide the design protection. The current funding shortfalls in fiscal year 2005 and fiscal year 2006 will prevent the Corps from addressing these pressing needs.
The Corps has seen cutbacks beyond those affecting just the Lake Pontchartrain project. The Corps oversees SELA, or the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control project, which Congress authorized after six people died from flooding in May 1995. The Times-Picayune newspaper of New Orleans reported that, overall, the Corps had spent $430 million on flood control and hurricane prevention, with local governments offering more than $50 million toward the project. Nonetheless, "at least $250 million in crucial projects remained," the newspaper said.
In the past five years, the amount of money spent on all Corps construction projects in the New Orleans district has declined by 44 percent, according to the New Orleans CityBusiness newspaper, from $147 million in 2001 to $82 million in the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.
A long history of complaints
Local officials had long complained that funding for hurricane protection projects was inadequate:
Walter Maestri: It appears that the money has been moved in the president’s budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq , and I suppose that’s the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can’t be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us.
Would Increased Funding Have Prevented Flooding?
Blumenthal implies that increased funding might have helped to prevent the catastrophic flooding that New Orleans now faces. The White House denies that, and the Corps of Engineers says that even the levee project they were working to complete was not designed to withstand a storm of Katrina's force.
White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, at a press briefing on September 1, dismissed the idea that the President inadequately funded flood control projects in New Orleans :
McClellan: Flood control has been a priority of this administration from day one. We have dedicated an additional $300 million over the last few years for flood control in New Orleans and the surrounding area. And if you look at the overall funding levels for the Army Corps of Engineers, they have been slightly above $4.5 billion that has been signed by the President.
Q: Local people were asking for more money over the last couple of years. They were quoted in local papers in 2003 and 2004, are saying that they were told by federal officials there wasn't enough money because it was going to Iraq expenditures.
McClellan: You might want to talk to General Strock, who is the commander of the Army Corps of Engineers, because I think he's talked to some reporters already and talked about some of these issues. I think some people maybe have tried to make a suggestion or imply that certain funding would have prevented the flooding from happening, and he has essentially said there's been nothing to suggest that whatsoever, and it's been more of a design issue with the levees.
We asked the Corps about that “design issue.” David Hewitt, a spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers, said McClellan was referring to the fact that “the levees were designed for a category 3 hurricane.” He told us that, consequently, “when it became apparent that this was a category 5 hurricane, an evacuation of the city was ordered.” (A category 3 storm has sustained winds of no more than 130 miles per hour, while a category 5 storm has winds exceeding 155 miles per hour. Katrina had winds of 160 mph as it approached shore, but later weakened to winds of 140 mph as it made landfall, making it a strong category 4 storm, according to the National Hurricane Center.)
The levee upgrade project around Lake Pontchartrain was only 60 to 90 percent complete across most areas of New Orleans as of the end of May, according to the Corps' May 23 fact sheet. Still, even if it had been completed, the project's goal was protecting New Orleans from storm surges up to "a fast-moving Category 3 hurricane,” according to the fact sheet.
We don't know whether the levees would have done better had the work been completed. But the Corps says that even a completed levee project wasn't designed for the storm that actually occurred.
Nobody anticipated breach of the levees?
In an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on September 1, President Bush said:
Bush: I don’t think anyone anticipated breach of the levees …Now we’re having to deal with it, and will.
Bush is technically correct that a "breach" wasn't anticipated by the Corps, but that's doesn't mean the flooding wasn't forseen. It was. But the Corps thought it would happen differently, from water washing over the levees, rather than cutting wide breaks in them.
Greg Breerword, a deputy district engineer for project management with the Army Corps of Engineers, told the New York Times:
Breerword: We knew if it was going to be a Category 5, some levees and some flood walls would be overtopped. We never did think they would actually be breached.
And while Bush is also technically correct that the Corps did not "anticipate" a breach – in the sense that they believed it was a likely event – at least some in the Corps thought a breach was a possibility worth examining.
According to the Times-Picayune, early in Bush's first term FEMA director Joe Allbaugh ordered a sophisticated computer simulation of what would happen if a category 5 storm hit New Orleans. Joseph Suhayda, an engineer at Louisana State University who worked on the project, described to the newspaper in 2002 what the simulation showed could happen:
Subhayda: Another scenario is that some part of the levee would fail. It's not something that's expected. But erosion occurs, and as levees broke, the break will get wider and wider. The water will flow through the city and stop only when it reaches the next higher thing. The most continuous barrier is the south levee, along the river. That's 25 feet high, so you'll see the water pile up on the river levee.
Whether or not a "breach" was "anticipated," the fact is that many individuals have been warning for decades about the threat of flooding that a hurricane could pose to a set below sea level and sandwiched between major waterways. A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) report from before September 11, 2001 detailed the three most likely catastrophic disasters that could happen in the United States: a terrorist attack in New York, a strong earthquake in San Francisco, and a hurricane strike in New Orleans. In 2002, New Orleans officials held the simulation of what would happen in a category 5 storm. Walter Maestri, the emergency coordinator of Jefferson Parish in New Orleans , recounted the outcome to PBS’ NOW With Bill Moyers:
Maestri, September 2002: Well, when the exercise was completed it was evidence that we were going to lose a lot of people. We changed the name of the [simulated] storm from Delaney to K-Y-A-G-B... kiss your ass goodbye... because anybody who was here as that category five storm came across... was gone.
--by Matthew Barge
Sidney Blumenthal, “No one can say they didn’t see it coming ,” salon.com, 31 August 2005
Deon Roberts, “Bush budget not expected to diminish New Orleans district’s $65 million,” New Orleans CityBusiness, 07 February 2005
Manuel Torres, “Flood work to slow down; Corps delays new projects,” Times-Picayune, 13 October 2001
Mark Schlefistein, “Corps sees its resources siphoned off; Wetlands restoration officials sent to Iraq ,” Times-Picayune, 24 April 2004
“Mark Schleifstein, “Ivan stirs up wave of safety proposals; Hurricane-proofed stadium is one idea,” Times-Picayune, 22 September 2004
Deon Roberts, “Bush budget not expected to diminish New Orleans district’s $65 million ,” New Orleans CityBusiness, 07 February 2005
Mark Schleifstein, “Bush budget cuts levee, drainage funds; Backlog of contracts waits to be awarded,” Times-Picayune, 08 February 2005
“Bush budget fails to fund flood control in New Orleans ,” New Orleans CityBusiness, 14 February 2005
Deon Roberts, “ New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers faces ,” New Orleans CityBusiness, 06 June 2005
Will Bunch, “Did New Orleans catastrophe have to happen? ‘Times-Picayune’ had repeatedly raised federal spending issues,” Editor & Publisher, 31 August 2005
Toby Eckert, “Could disaster have been prevented?,” Copley News Service, 02 September 2005
Jim VandeHei and Peter Baker, “ Critics say Bush undercut New Orleans flood control ,” Washington Post, 02 September 2005
“The City in a Bowl ,” Transcript, NOW, Public Broadcasting Service, 20 September 2002
Jon Elliston, “ A Disaster Waiting to Happen ,” bestofneworleans.com, 28 September 2004
Scott Shane and Eric Lipton, “ Government saw flood risk but not levee failure ,” New York Times, 02 September 2005
Paul Krugman, “ A can’t-do government ,” New York Times, 02 September 2005
“Lake Pontchartrain, LA and Vicinity Hurricane Protection Project, St. Bernard, Orleans, Jefferson, and St. Charles Parishes, LA ,” Project Fact Sheet, US Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans District, website, 23 May 2005
“Fiscal Year 2006: Civil Works Budget for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ,” Department of the Army, February 2005
“Press Briefing by Scott McClellan ,” whitehouse.gov, 01 September 2005
Karen Turni, “Upgrade of levees proposed by corps; gulf outlet levee may be too low, officials worry,” Times-Picayune, 12 November 1998
John McQuaid and Mark Schleifstein, “The big one: A major hurricane could decimate the region, but flooding from even a moderate storm could kill thousands. It’s just a matter of time,” Times-Picayune, 24 June 2002
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Copyright 2005 Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania
Judgments expressed are those of FactCheck.org’s staff, not the Annenberg Center
:D Someone needs to start bashing his incompetence
"I hope this is an accurate fact checking! Still the lefteist politicians are quick to blame Bush!"
The funny thing is that Fact Check is run by Annenberg.
The head of Annenberg is Adam Clymer.
Yes... That Clymer.
Well. My mom always used to say, "If you want to live below sea level, do it in Death Valley." Only an idiot would live below sea level next to the sea.
I am not familar with the name. Who is that?
Fact checking is not needed, only common sense. You would have to be a deluded idiot to believe that Bush caused the hurricane.
Wasn't there a substantial issue of matching funds that LA didn't want to contribute to?
Follow up:
New Orleans' sinking problems beg question of whether city should rebuild post-Katrina
Sid, you're right...from now on we should fully fund the Corp of Engineers, DOT, and all other infrastructure and national security projects. States that build and operate ports and refineries and encourage energy exploration should receive heftier federal tax breaks and benefits.
This spending should be offset with deep cuts/defunding of...[insert worthless, wasteful program here]...starting with the National Endowment of the Arts and Public Broadcasting.
MSM: Take Note - Clinton's Contribution to the Katrina Disaster ( Must Read )
The Federal Register ^ | September 1, 2005 | EagleUSA
Posted on 09/01/2005 6:21:59 PM EDT by EagleUSA
The MSM began politicizing the hurricane Katrina disaster before it even happened. Of course, their one objective is to blame President Bush, our military and anyone else that represents an idealogical barrier to their agenda. What the MSM has not done, is look in their own backyard -- in 1998 the Army Corps of Engineers provided a Draft Request to pursue the protection of noted areas in the Gulf region, to enhance their ability to survive heavy hurricane damage. The project was summarily REJECTED BY BILL CLINTON as not important.
The complicit MSM is making insane charges and accusations based on emotion and hate. Here, in the Federal Register is SOLID FACT that thier poster child, BILL CLINTON, materially contributed to the conditions which permitted hurricant Katrina to dessimate the Gulf region.
Posted elsewhere on FR.........
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1475127/posts
This will be the standard reply I'd present to all presstitutes and others who carry the water (make excuses for DUmocrats) when the subject is to blame Bush for all:
The nanny state/welfare mentality - it's always someone else's job. What part of MANDITORY EVACUATION do these fools in the media not get? The people on the coast were warned, told to leave, and chose to stick it out thereby endangered themselves and their families. That would be considered neglect when parents put their children in danger.
The Governor and Mayor's extreme ineptitude is what the bozos in the lame-steam media should be focused on. It was their job to prepare their constituents, NOT the federal government. There was ample time to prepare, and most responsible adults took to the road for safety. Yet all that was offered on the state level was another poor evacuation plan from the dimwit dimocrats. Either using "one way out" stuck in traffic or holing up in the dome, what choices!
Before the storm, they could have used all the school & city buses to evacuate those who couldn't make it on their own to higher ground further inland. But they chose weakness in the face of real danger instead.
After the storm, all resources were put at their disposal, yet they delayed making the request as well as delayed the delivery when aid arrived. Martial Law was declared and yet they still sat on their hands allowing lawlessness to erupt. Neither can handle their jobs, yet refuse to step aside and allow someone else to handle it.
If President Bush hadn't announced the evacuation order, there would be more loss and suffering, mainly due to the clueless Democrats who failed to do anything - who, by the way, have been in charge of that state long before Bush ran for office.
When you have your hand extended, you shouldn't b!tch about getting aid when you were told to prepare for 3-5 days of food and water. When it comes to your family's safety, waiting on government to solve your problems is no better than waiting on a welfare check instead of getting off your arse and finding work.
But I guess wading around in sewage and griping about it is a much more pleasing alternative if you always pull the "D" lever when it's time to elect leadership. The failure of a democrat-led state is why the media is out in force trying to point fingers at Bush, when they all know the reality of the situation...their own failures cause many more to die than would have if they hadn't been slow to react.
Corps of Engineers on unwatering New Orleans
11:28 PM CDT on Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Q.1. How long will it take to get the water out of New Orleans?
A.1. We are unsure. A number of factors play into this. First, Lake Pontchartrain is at roughly 4.5 feet above sea level and falling. The city is at a lower elevation so water will continue to flow into it until it equalizes.
Once the breach on the 7th Street Canal is closed, Pump Station 6 can pump 10,000 cubic feet per second.
Once the breaches are closed and all of the pumps are running, the pumps can lower the water level ½ inch per hour or about a foot per day. We can get the water level to sea level in four and a half days. The ½ inch rate assumes the late is at normal levels. That would create pumping inefficiency, as could trash in drains and canals that feed into the pump stations.
That’s a “Best Case” scenario. We don’t know the conditions of all of the pumps. Fortunately most of the pump motors and controllers are at an elevation greater than 5 feet and we hope they weren’t submerged. There could be other unforeseen problems.
We assume the pumps have not been submerged since most pumps are at an elevation greater than five feet above sea level. Pumps are operated and maintained by the local sewage and drainage districts.
Q.2. Why did the levees fail?
A.2. What failed were actually floodwalls, not levees. This was caused by overtopping which caused scouring, or an eating away of the earthen support, which then basically undermined the wall.
These walls and levees were designed to withstand a fast moving category 3 hurricane. Katrina was a strong 4 at landfall, and conditions exceeded the design.
Q.3. Why only Category 3 protection?
A.3. That is what we were authorized to do.
Q.4. How many other areas do you need to get water out of?
A.4. There are at least five ringed levees (areas surrounded by levees) that need to be emptied. New Orleans and Jefferson; New Orleans to Venice (Hurricane Protection project - Port Sulfur to Venice, LA); Chalmette Loop (lower 9th ward of Orleans Parish and Urbanized part of St. Bernard Parrish ); and, Plaquemines Parish non-federal levees have also been overtopped.
Q.5. What will be done to unwater these areas?
A.5. The unwatering plan will be used in these areas as well. Crews and equipment will be mobilized to breach the levees at predetermined locations and allow for gravity drainage into Lake Bourgne or other surrounding water bodies.
"Whiny DU voice: "It's obvious Bush and Karl Rove have allied with the Israeli Jews with backing from redneck Neo-nazi groups and used their dreaded hurricane generator to flood NO. Then they used a military satellite to broadast tachyon rays all over the disaster area to dominate the minds of the poor black victims and to compel them to rape, pillage and burn the city so Halliburton can rebuild it."
Wildcard line you're on the air.
bookmark
It's disgusting, they haven't even recovered the bodies and he's trying to blame someone. Blumenthal's beyond partisan, he's a slimy cotton-mouthed snake.
The levee system never had a greater champion, but without Bob, Louisiana had no one in the House power structure.
It's time to blame this on the Congressional Black Caucus from which much of the leadership in the battle against Livingston came.
Everyone has known for at least fifty years that NO was a disaster waiting to happen - to try to blame this mess on a bit of reduced funding during only the last four years goes beyond outrageous.......
;-)
There was actually a thread on DU just like that. Even their mods pulled it.
Did funding for the levees only begin in 2001? I don't believe I saw anything cited before that, like, say, any cuts by the Clinton administration.
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