Katrina's enablers: Levees were ignored for decades

Manchester Union Leader ^ | September 4, 2005 | Editorial

[billorites]

WHO OR what gets the blame for the levee breaches that wrecked so much of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina struck? We have heard people point fingers at all of the following: President Bush, global warming, the Iraq war and racism. We are still trying to figure that last one out. The real culprit, however, has been right before our eyes for a long time.

The Army Corps of Engineers is in charge of flood control in New Orleans, but state and local officials play important roles in planning and funding too. Engineers as well as local, state and federal officials have known for decades that the New Orleans levees were designed to survive only a Category 3 hurricane. Katrina was a Category 5, which dropped to a 4 shortly before impact. Why didn't officials use their resources to build stronger, higher levees since the last Category 5 hurricane hit New Orleans in 1969?

With the federal government in charge, local and state officials were able to shift the burden to Washington and divert their attention to more frivolous pursuits. Instead of pumping the necessary resources into walls and levees that would withstand the worst storms, they built convention centers and sports arenas.

The Louisiana Superdome Cost $163 million to build in 1975. The Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, a state entity, was built in 1985. It was expanded in 1999, and the state just completed negotiations for a new 500,000 square foot expansion. The state signed a contract for the new expansion on Aug. 17, just 12 days before Katrina hit. The price: $315 million. Construction would have begun years ago, for a cost of $275 million, but for some delays. There was a legal dispute over the contract in 2003, then in 2004 Gov. Kathleen Blanco tried to combine the expansion with a new stadium to replace the Superdome.

There have been charges that recent decisions not to fully fund the requests of the Army Corps of Engineers in New Orleans were somehow to blame for the flooding last week. But the lower than requested funding for the Army Corps of Engineers in New Orleans was slated for the 2006 budget; it would have made no difference last Monday.

However, Washington has neglected its duties in this area for years. Instead of spending the hundreds of millions, even billions, to replace levees that all experts knew were inadequate, federal politicians chose for decades to fund pork projects. Instead of new levees for New Orleans, the American people were given sports stadiums, bicycle trails and roads in powerful politicians' districts. Experts have known of the city's vulnerability since at least the 1960s, and yet no one at the local, state or federal level made sure that the levees could withstand a hurricane even less powerful than Camille in 1969.

Several decades' worth of politicians of both parties played with taxpayer money while neglecting their duty to protect the citizens. As a result of their irresponsibility, hundreds, perhaps thousands, have died.

[newzjunkey]

Decades? Doesn't matter. It's Bush's fault! He cut, err, diverted, err, wait: It's Bush! Always Bush's fault!

[Dallas59]

Didn't Clnton cut the levee budget also in 1995? Didn't that money go for street cars?

[TheRobb7]

Does anyone have links to stories criticizing Bush for visiting Florida "too soon" after Hurricane Ivan?

It was about this time last year, around the time of the Debates.

I've Googled for hours and come up empty. Any help you could give me would be appreciated.

[highlander_UW]

Seems an accurate assessment to me...it's not what the MSM is going to spout.

[agere_contra]

Several decades' worth of politicians of both parties played...

Have the Republicans been in power in LA at any time in the last few decades?

[Ronaldus Magnus Reagan]

Instead of new levees for New Orleans, the American people were given sports stadiums, bicycle trails and roads in powerful politicians' districts.

And don't forget the funding for such things as the mating habits of the elephant, $400 toilet seats, alligator museums, and many other ridiculous projects.

[Mr. Bird]

In hindsight, the question I have is why would a municipality below sea-level not have built something, anything, that could serve as a command and control center in the event of catastrophic flooding?

It would require no engineering genius, no massive funding, and the creativity of a four year old.

[Ronaldus Magnus Reagan]

Does anyone have links to stories criticizing Bush for visiting Florida "too soon" after Hurricane Ivan?

Ask and you shall recieve!

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/08/16/national/main636126.shtml

Here's the relevant part that the Bush bashers want it both ways in the "damned if you do and damned if you don't" category....

""Even before the storm hit, the president declared four counties disaster areas to speed federal money to victims. But that quick response fueled suspicion that he is using disaster politics to help his campaign in one of the most critical battleground states, a notion the president dismissed Sunday"".

[Read2Know]

Think the MSM willl run with this editorial like they did with the falsified TANG memos?

[nmh]

Bump!!!

[Galtoid]

It's not until tragic times like this that the full brunt of media hatred for Bush is exposed, laid bare for anyone with a brain to see. They were mourning the fact that 9/11 hadn't happened during the Clinton presidency, and now they're blatantly blaming a sitting president for a disaster of biblical proportions. The pent-up rage is amazing. Why do they not see that they're not having any effect on most thinking Americans?

[GeorgiaDawg32]

That about says it all..

[Alberta's Child]

This article is way off-base. One of the first sections of levee to fail was actually one that had recently been reconstructed.

[ConsentofGoverned]

This spending on pork - the big ditch in Boston-sen kerry.kennedy. Sports Sadiums for millions, the levey commission of NO buying Casinos not fixing or upgrading the levies ON and on while infrastructure of the nation crumbles - bridges, dams, highways, railroad beds - no new refineries, no major water project upgrades , do we all forget the power transmission failures and blackouts that have not been addressed?? Folks washington has spent and spent but on what?? trillions to the war on poverty has produced the people we see in NO..crying that no one has helped them..what did they do or are they expected to do for themselves?? the result of dependency on BIG GOV to solve your problems what a tragic farce.
Why do so many conservatives want tax cuts?? because those in Washington and State Capitals spend on pork while true public needs are ignored or have bad-aids applied..the American voters are the biggest dupes of all.

[Loyal Buckeye]

How many leeves could the money spent for the Big Dig have built?

[stopem]

But seriously, we cannot ignore this MEDIA Driven political storm and pretend if we ignore it will go away. It's getting worse than the actual hurricane. The media are chewing up and spitting us out, by us I am referring to our party and our President.

I have never seen it this bad and yes while we agree the devastation is very dramatic and very serious the people in N.O. are not helping with their comments. Instead of blaming their own mayor, governor and senators of their state they are turning on the government for the whole world to see.
They are fueling the fire for the MSM to have a field day.

They are being evacuated to a warm dry place, Few, very few are indeed grateful but there are those dissenters even when safe will complain for the media. LA isn't evacuating their own to somewhere in LA they have been welcomed to TX, over 200,000 of them. Than governor Perry says he can't accept anymore we are OVER capacity now!
You think?

[Dallas59]

Somnething I guess...June 23, 1995Times-Picayune

A hurricane project, approved and financed since 1965, to protect more than 140,000 West Bank residents east of the Harvey Canal is in jeopardy.

The Clinton administration is holding back a Corps of Engineers report recommending that the $120 million project proceed. Unless that report is forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget, Congress cannot authorize money for the project, U.S. Rep. William Jefferson's office said Thursday.

Without the improvements - a flood gate in the Harvey Canal and raised levees along the Intracoastal Waterway - a tidal surge produced by a hurricane "could result in the catastrophic loss of life and property damage," corps officials reported. In a worst-case-scenario storm, 82 percent of the buildings east of the Harvey Canal, from The Point in Algiers to the Algiers Lock in the Industrial Canal, would be flooded, causing $2.2 billion in damage, according to corps estimates.

Gerald Spohrer, executive director of the West Jefferson Levee District, is seething. "The bureaucracy in Washington has been given a specific instruction and the way they are dealing with it is to do nothing," he said.

If financed by Congress, the project could be started early next year, Spohrer said. Work on the Westwego to Harvey Canal Project hurricane levee, costing $90 million, is 30 percent complete, and plans are about to be drawn for the $20 million Lake Cataouatche Project, which would protect the area west of Westwego....

That project is not the only West Bank flood-control work in jeopardy. Federal budget cuts also may prevent construction of levees outside the main hurricane levee system that would protect the Jean Lafitte-Barataria area. Those levees, to cost $5 million, would not protect the area from severe hurricane surges, but could offer protection against a storm such as Hurricane Juan, which while weak, had heavy rains that caused massive flooding.

http://eurota.blogspot.com/2005/09/us-left-all-straws-clutched-every.html

February 17, 1995

An Army Corps of Engineers "hit list" of recommended budget cuts would eliminate new flood-control programs in some of the nation's most flood-prone spots - where recent disasters have left thousands homeless and cost the federal government millions in emergency aid.

Clinton administration officials argue that the flood-control efforts are local projects, not national, and should be paid for by local taxes.

Nationwide, the administration proposes cutting 98 new projects in 35 states and Puerto Rico, for an estimated savings of $29 million in 1996.

Corps officials freely conceded the cuts, which represent only a small portion of savings the corps ultimately must make, may be penny-wise and pound-foolish. But they said they were forced to eliminate some services the corps has historically provided to taxpayers to meet the administration's budget-cutting goals.

June 23, 1995

A hurricane project, approved and financed since 1965, to protect more than 140,000 West Bank residents east of the Harvey Canal is in jeopardy.

The Clinton administration is holding back a Corps of Engineers report recommending that the $120 million project proceed. Unless that report is forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget, Congress cannot authorize money for the project, U.S. Rep. William Jefferson's office said Thursday.

On June 9, John Zirschky, the acting assistant secretary of the Army and the official who refused to forward the report, sent a memo to the corps, saying the recommendation for the project "is not consistent with the policies and budget priorities reflected in the President's Fiscal Year 1996 budget. Accordingly, I will not forward the report to the Office of Management and Budget for clearance."

July 26, 1996

The House voted Thursday for a $19.4 billion energy and water bill that provides $246 million for Army Corps of Engineers projects in Louisiana.

The bill, approved 391-23, is the last of the 13 annual spending measures for 1997 approved by the House.

One area in which the House approved more financing than the president requested was for flood control and maintenance of harbors and shipping routes by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Flood control projects along the Mississippi River and its tributaries were allotted $303 million, or $10 million more than the president wanted.

June 19, 1996

The Army Corps of Engineers, which builds most flood protection levees on a federal-local cost-sharing basis, uses a cost-benefit ratio to justify a project. If the cost of building a levee is considered less than the cost of restoring a flood-ravaged area, the project is more likely to be approved.

For years, the Jean Lafitte-Lower Lafitte-Barataria-Crown Point areas couldn't convince the corps they were worthy of levee protection. But the use of Section 205 and congressional pressure has given the corps a new perspective, Spohrer said.

But even so, when the Clinton administration began to curtail spending on flood control and other projects a year ago, the corps stopped spending on Section 205 projects even after deciding to do a $70,000 preliminary Jean Lafitte study, Spohrer said.

July 22, 1999

In passing a $20.2 billion spending bill this week for water and energy projects, the House Appropriations Committee approved some significant increases in financing for several New Orleans area flood control and navigational projects.

The spending bill is expected on the House floor within the next two weeks.

For the New Orleans District of the Army Corps of Engineers, the panel allocated $106 million for construction projects, about $16 million more than proposed by President Clinton.

The bill would provide $47 million for "southeast Louisiana flood control projects," $16 million for "Lake Pontchartrain and vicinity hurricane protection," $15.9 million for the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal Lock on the Industrial Canal in New Orleans and $2 million for "West Bank hurricane protection -- from New Orleans to Venice."

Most of the projects received significant increases over what the Clinton administration had proposed. The exception: general flood control projects for southeast Louisiana, which remained at the $47 million suggested by Clinton. Local officials had hoped for double that amount.

February 8, 2000

For the metropolitan New Orleans area, Clinton's budget was seen as a mixed bag by local lawmakers and government officials. For instance, while Clinton called for $1.5 billion to be spent at Avondale Industries to continue building LPD-17 landing craft, his budget calls for significantly less than what Congress appropriated last year for Lake Pontchartrain and vicinity hurricane protection and for West Bank flood control projects.

September 29, 2000

The House approved Thursday a $23.6 billion measure for water and energy programs, with sizable increases for several New Orleans area flood-control projects. The Senate will vote Monday, but it may be a while before the bill is enacted.

President Clinton is promising to veto the annual appropriation for the Energy Department and Army Corps of Engineers, not because it is $890 million larger than he proposed, but because it does not include a plan to alter the levels of the Missouri River to protect endangered fish and birds.

May 8, 2005 (extra)

Ten years ago today, the Bonneaus and hundreds of thousands of New Orleans area residents rode out a rain unlike any they had ever experienced. The flood killed six people and generated more claims than any in the history of the National Flood Insurance Program. In its aftermath, Congress created a new role for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and federal and local governments spent more than a half-billion dollars to widen and line drainage canals, bury culverts bigger than cars and beef up pumping stations.

But not even those improvements could prevent massive flooding if a storm of similar intensity were to strike today.

[manwiththehands]

Just a note about our last "Highway Bill":

"But the measure contains more than 6,300 special projects.
They include $231 million for a bridge in Anchorage to be named Don Young's Way after Republican Rep. Don Young of Alaska, who heads the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee ..."

Pork: it will have taxpayers for dinner.

[VOYAGER]

Katrina's enablers: Levees were ignored for decades.

If the money that would have been required to make New Orleans safe from levee failure had been spent doing just that without going through this catastrophic occurrence that just occurred by way of Katrina, the lying stealing politicians would have responded with livid anger at the waste of the nation's tax money(their own private slush fund)just to make safe the sin city of America from something that has never happened before!