Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco speaks at a Rebuilding and Recovery Conference in New Orleans, La., Thursday, Nov. 10, 2005. Blanco talked about the effects of Hurricane Katrina and how the state would have to rebuild. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)
Posted on 11/12/2005 7:01:26 AM PST by Libloather
Support for Category 5 Storm Protection in New Orleans Ebbs in D.C.
BY BILL WALSH And BRUCE ALPERT
Newhouse News Service
Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco speaks at a Rebuilding and Recovery Conference in New Orleans, La., Thursday, Nov. 10, 2005. Blanco talked about the effects of Hurricane Katrina and how the state would have to rebuild. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)
WASHINGTON -- In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the tattered Gulf Coast received an outpouring of sympathy -- and money -- from Washington. Congress appropriated $62 billion for relief and recovery, and President Bush vowed to rebuild New Orleans "higher and better."
But 21/2 months after the storm, such unequivocal support is hard to come by in the nation's capital.
When, for example, Louisiana's political leaders show rare unity in asking Washington for assurances that a rebuilt New Orleans will be protected from Category 5 hurricanes, they often are met with skepticism, ignorance and outright hostility.
Protection from the strongest hurricanes, state and local officials say, is essential to giving residents and businesses the confidence they need to return and rebuild.
But Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., chairman of the House Appropriations Committee overseeing federal spending, said he wasn't aware until Wednesday that Louisiana officials saw Category 5 protection as the key to redevelopment. The top-ranking Democrat on the panel, Rep. David Obey of Wisconsin, said he wants proof that it will work. Senate Appropriations Committee member Conrad Burns, R-Mont., said that in his view, New Orleans could get by just fine with Category 3 protection for the time being.
"I think over time we should keep reinforcing it and eventually get to a Category 5," Burns said. "That way we can spread the cost out over time."
And in contrast to the clear commitment Bush gave in a speech in New Orleans' Jackson Square on Sept. 15 to "do what it takes ... stay as long as it takes" to restore the city, he now appears reluctant to signal his support for protection from hurricanes stronger than Katrina and Rita.
At a brief photo opportunity at the White House on Thursday, Bush repeated his commitment to rebuilding the Gulf Coast. But when asked if he supported Category 5 hurricane protection, he declined to answer.
The ambiguous wording is beginning to worry members of Louisiana's congressional delegation who have been struggling to keep Washington's focus on rebuilding the state even as other news -- a Supreme Court nomination, the White House leak scandal and congressional criminal investigations -- compete for attention.
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., is preparing a letter that she hopes Senate colleagues will sign that expresses their commitment to rebuilding the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., said colleagues think he is looking for a blank check rather than merely a show of support.
"I think they are confusing, quite frankly, some sort of full authorization with that initial statement," Vitter said. "I'm trying to educate them that I'm not avoiding the normal stages of the process and just want a general, solid statement that leaves plenty of room for questions to be answered."
The 200-mile levee system snaking through metropolitan New Orleans was supposed to be able to withstand a direct hit from a Category 3 hurricane, which can pack winds of up to 130 mph and a 12-foot storm surge. But breaches in the levees that flooded much of the city during Katrina, a Category 3 storm, have raised questions about design and construction flaws.
The Army Corps of Engineers, which designed the levee system, has estimated that reinforcing them to withstand a Category 5 hurricane, with winds greater than 155 mph and an 18-foot storm surge, could cost about $3.5 billion. Extending that level of protection 72 miles south to the Gulf of Mexico would send the price up to $18 billion, according to the Louisiana governor's office.
But cost is not the only thing generating questions on Capitol Hill, according to interviews with more than two dozen lawmakers this week. Some members of Congress want assurances that the Corps is capable of building hurricane protection that can withstand a Category 5 storm.
"I want the science to be there," Obey said. "I don't want to approve something without knowing it will work. Otherwise we're just throwing (money) down a rat hole."
Others want some sign from state and local officials that enhanced levees will be part of a well-thought-out reconstruction plan.
"I think there needs to be a redevelopment plan that we can look to and understand what the scope and extent is," said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. "That's when you will get buy-in from Congress."
Numerous commissions and planning authorities have cropped up in the wake of the storm, but there has been little consensus on how to proceed. There are disagreements about what areas should be rebuilt and how, what new building and zoning standards will say, what kind of hurricane protection is most appropriate, what should be protected and what shouldn't.
Even an enthusiastic supporter of rebuilding, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., said she was confused about who is calling the shots.
"Someone has to be in charge, and I don't know who that is," she said at a hearing on hurricane protection Wednesday. "At what point does the rubber hit the road and someone says, `This is what we are going to do?"'
Montana's Burns said he doesn't agree that a congressional promise to build a hurricane-proof city is the key to repopulating the New Orleans region, as Mayor Ray Nagin and Gov. Kathleen Blanco have said.
"That's their opinion," he said.
Lewis, the House Appropriations Committee chairman, said he first learned at a hearing this week that Louisiana officials have made Category 5 levees their top priority. In an interview, he declined to embrace the plan, although he said Congress has a long-term financial commitment to the hurricane-battered region.
Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., has a warm place in his heart for New Orleans. It's where he proposed to his wife and where he sent his son to college. But he said the onus isn't on Congress alone to send signals to evacuees that it is safe to return.
"People coming back to New Orleans will depend as much on actions of local governments and how they plan for their return as what the federal government does with the levees," Isakson said.
There are a few hopeful signs on Capitol Hill. The Senate last week approved as part of a budget bill the dedication of $1.2 billion to work on Louisiana's coast and levees by 2010; the money comes from the sale of rights to television airwaves as the country moves to digital broadcasting. The House is preparing to take up its own version of a budget with $323 million annually for hurricane protection. But it is unclear whether the House and Senate will even agree to a final budget deal, putting all the financing in jeopardy.
House and Senate negotiators this week agreed to spend $8 million for the Corps of Engineers to develop Category 5 hurricane protection plans for all of south Louisiana. But the bill doesn't promise a dime for actually building it.
Nov. 11, 2005
Another story on Yahoo describes Nagin having trouble getting reelected - if there's an election at all.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20051111/pl_usatoday/neworleanselectionmayorbothupinair
Nagin will be reelected. The Democrats will demand that Nagin's evacuated constituents be allowed to vote by absentee ballot and a sufficient amount of ballots will magically appear to ensure his reelection.
Any thing any one from Alaska has to say about spending money wisely is a total joke and waste of time. Until they drop their stupid "bridge to no where" they are just a bunch of buffoons, with no room to talk.
Idiotic statement - instead of doing it right, from the get-go, ensure it ends up costing 10 times what it should by "spreading it out".
It is cheaper to rebuild the city every hundred years than build to contain the perfect storm. There is no such thing as doing it right, just too many variables. For a reasonable amount they can try to contain a Cat 3. More than a Cat 3 is just uneconomical, and sets the taxpayers up for a bigger liability. Build for a Cat 3 with no warranty, people can then take their chances.
We produce a lot of heating fuel, gasoline, synthetic rubber for tires, the base products for a lot of building materials, detergents, and other petrochemical byproducts that we all use every day. Perhaps we could stop allowing the oil and gas industry from destroying our natural hurricane buffers, the coastal wetlands.
Let's see, how many states refuse any drilling off their coasts or refuse to allow drilling in ANWR? These same states also refuse to have more refineries built too.
"Bush repeated his commitment to rebuilding the Gulf Coast. But when asked if he supported Category 5 hurricane protection, he declined to answer."
"Even an enthusiastic supporter of rebuilding, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., said she was confused about who is calling the shots."
How can she make a decision when Bush hasn't? Sbe needs him to take a stand, so she can take an opposite one and call him a Repubican idiot or meanie.
I think that's how the Democrats are taking their positions nowadays.
That will not happen. The people of N.O. blame Nagin 100% for the lack of perperation and evacuation. Its the media that blames Bush. Not saying another Democrap won't get elected, but after this fiasco, not likely to happen!
I think the Gov and Mayor of NOLA think that by using the old axiom "the squeaky wheel gets greased" they will win out by whining loudly non stop everyone will cave and give, well Republicans are saying and rightfully so, I don't think so! LOL:)
keep in mind that the levees in New Orleans
are owned by the 'Orleans Levee Board', a state agency,
not the Army Corps of Engineers,
although the C-o-E may have some part in
their design.
Protection from the strongest hurricanes, state and local officials say, is essential to giving residents and businesses the confidence they need to return and rebuild.
You are right the "Not in my back yard" crowd is rather irksome, and pathetic.
Nothjing wrong with rebuilding New Orleans higher--as long as higher means on Higher ground. Its plain stupid to try to beat Mother Nature. Tear down the homes under sea level and build them, where they belong --on higher ground. Cheaper easier and smarter.
That's $127,921.04 EACH. For a family of four that's $511,684.14
Hell, just give them the money, tell them to move, then bulldoze the city and turn it back into a 'wetland' (swamp).
Okay, we keep the port open, but that's it.
The earthquake in Pakistan reminds me of something I read about Antioch, one of the great cities of the Roman Empire. It was leveled six times over a period of five hundred years. Each time it was rebuilt on the ruins of the destroyed city. Like living in Florida. Expect to get hit sometimes and prepare to rebuild until it becomes impossible.
$62,000,000,000 (billion) to rebuild a city of 484,674 people?!?
That's $127,921.04 EACH. For a family of four that's $511,684.14
That's what it's already cost for welfare for the displaced citizens of New Orleans. Right or wrong, that's what we do in America--dig deep to help those who have lost everything. I know that a lot of these people had little or no work before, but we don't ignore them. And yes, it's costing about $100k per person from FEMA for food and housing for up to 24 months.
But in many ways it was brilliant to disburse these people into the rest of the country. They have a chance to integrate with more opportunities than they had in New Orleans.
I have a buddy there now rebuilding. It's getting more back to normal but the Ninth Ward will never ever come back. It's too low and will become a park or something. I've heard that 60% of those residents owned their own homes though so Congress will probably vote to give each homeowner $150k for their house and lot and call it square.
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