Rebuilding LA Levee System CLEARLY Federal Responsibility--Gulf Coast Recovery Director

FOX News ^ | 12/14/05 | Don Powell

[Dont_Tread_On_Me_888]

Don Powell, Gulf Coast Recovery Director, was asked by Sheppard Smith on FOX News just minutes ago, whose responsiblity it is to rebuild the New Orleans levee system--the city, parrish, state or federal. Don Powell answer--"it CLEARLY is the responsibility of the federal goverment. Taxpayer money will be used to rebuild the levee system."

[Dont_Tread_On_Me_888]

Sheppard Smith just sat there like a rock, said absolutely nothing.

Is there any Constitutional scholar out there who would like to correct Don Powell as to who is responsible to rebuild New Orleans levee system?

What is with these idiot hosts on FOX News who let officals make comments like this unopposed?

John Gibson let Bob Beckel last week bitch about a lack of phone communication ability among fire and police in New York City, even after it was revealed the $21 BILLION given to New York City post-911 was squandered away to corrupt cronies and wasted away. Gibson sat there like a corpse, just like Sheppard Smith today.

[silentknight]

The levee system falls under the federal responsibility. There is no new news here. I would have thought most people know that. Most of our towns and cities along the rivers are protected by these. MY TAX DOLLARS WELLLLLLL SPENT! Much better spending my tax dollars on protecting my town than spending it on some stupid project like a bridge to nowhere.

GOOD lord imagine the chaos if the feds were not in charge of the standards and so on when it comes to the damns and levee system.

I don't trust the states - would you trust Louisiana to rebuild the levees????? LOL

[Rodney King]

Who says it should be rebuilt at all? I don't even know the answer to that. What should happen is that the whole area should be given over to administration by a conglomerate of insurance companies with taxing power. They could then decide whether it is worth rebuilding the levees. By putting the decision of rebuilding the levees into the hands of people who will bear both the cost and receive the benefit of the levees, we have the best chance of the correct decision being made.

[silentknight]

Pssst ever hear of these guys?

http://www.usace.army.mil/


:)

[silentknight]

The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) serves the Armed Forces and the Nation by providing vital engineering services and capabilities, as a public service, across the full spectrum of operations—from peace to war—in support of national interests.
Corps missions include five broad areas:

Water Resources
Environment
Infrastructure
Homeland Security
Warfighting

These capabilities are complementary and reinforcing. For example, employees working on water resources projects on our Nation's waterways have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and applied their technical skills to support the warfighter.

[silentknight]

I don't think it should be rebuilt...that is just my opinion though. It is stupid to have a city that far below sea level. They can NEVER fully protect it. Let it go and move on already.

Plenty of land elsewhere...move the city.

[conservative physics]

I agree 100%, brake all the remaining levees and let the whole place return to the swamp from which it came.

[Dont_Tread_On_Me_888]

The levee system falls under the federal responsibility

According to what authority?

Yes, USACE does the work, but who funds it and is it Constitutional? The levee system was not operated by USACE. I believe the city/parrish/state was operating and maintaining the system. They let it decay, and now taxpayers from all across the nation are being forced to rebuild it. Again, can a Constitutional lawyer out there define the authority for funding this? Don Powell did not say USACE, he said "taxpayers" will rebuild it. That is my point.

[H. Paul Pressler IV]

Where exactly do you plan to move New Orleans?

And if you do move the city to a new place are you going to condemn the land in the new spot for the city via Eminent Domain?

[popdonnelly]

How about we just move most of the city? It's cheaper.

[H. Paul Pressler IV]

So you must be a big fan of Eminent Domain.

[goresalooza]

I so agree. Let them keep the "skeleton crews" there for the port activity. That's pretty much all that NOLA has left anyway, save the Quarter for tourism and a few neighborhoods' worth of housing. I know there are lots of apartments/hi-rises in the city and I have no idea what folks are doing with their properties, even if they are habitable. Everything has changed, it's a small city now, not anything like it was. Just let it go. No one can be forced to move back and you can't pay Americans to move there even if wages are very high. It's too risky.

[Dont_Tread_On_Me_888]

Also, the DOT builds (helps funds) highways through cities. Many of these cities have tolls. Here in Orlando, the 429, the 417, the 528 et al. are all TOLL roads.

New Orleans scum can pay for their levee system through tolls, taxes, etc just like we pay for use of our roads here in Orlando.

Why should taxpaying Floridians pay for the damn levee system for the scum in New Orleans?

[trebb]

I have mixed thoughts on this. After all, it was the Feds, via the Army Corps of Engineers that put in the whole levee system throughout the Mississippi Delta network and have channeled the Mississippi River to keep it on the present course instead of letting it "wander" as it would naturally do.

[H. Paul Pressler IV]

Good point, the next time a hurricane hits Florida the Federal Government should not spend a dime for the recovery.

[Jack of all Trades]

What's the beef? I'm sure he's waaayyy too busty maintaining the brand new free citywide wireless internet system and planning for Mardi Gras to trifle with mundane things like elections, and vital infrastructure.

Mon dieux!

[Dont_Tread_On_Me_888]

Just because the USACE did that, and they did it poorly, does that jsutify taxpayers having to redo it all over again?

I am not arguing so much with WHO does the work or manages it. What I question is the taxing to pay for it. Why not tax LA? Why tax the whole nation?

Also, LA and the city did have some mangement and control over the maintenance of that system. From what I understand, USACE did not have 100% of the maintenance and mangement of that levee system, but the locals did. There were threads on this forum disclosing millions of dollars that were supposed to be used to shore up the levee system but got diverted by city and state officials.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

Well - he actually has a point. The levee system contributes to the navigability of the Mississippi River through the City of New Orleans and out to the Gulf of Mexico. The agricultural commodities which pass out through the Port of New Orleans are the products of numerous Midwestern states and have an economic value that substantially outweighs anything that LA contributes to GDP. I'm certain that LA does not have the resources, the tax base, the talent or the foresight to fix/maintain/upgrade the levee system as part of the overall Mississippi river system. It becomes a federal responsibility essentially by default, not by an edict from Don Powell, not by affirmative directive from the Constitution - but simply because no one else is capable of doing something on that scale.

I think the essential issue that has yet to be faced was the one expressed by Denny Hastert in the immediate aftermath of the Hurricane - is the rebuilding of New Orleans (the city, not the levees or the navigation system), and whether that is a good idea, given its enormous cost.

In an excellent 2-part piece in The New Yorker back in 1987 John McPhee covered the Mississippi River in LA, the Corps of Engineers and their efforts at river control - and the inescapable conclusion is that you can have a navigable river that facilitates commerce - or - you can have a river delta system that protects New Orleans. You just cannot have both.

I'm not keen on seeing LA feeding at the federal trough any more than they have heretofore - and I don't trust them (State and local governments) to administer large amounts of federal money. But the scope of the problem is so large - practically speaking, that fixing the levee system is going to be a federal project.

 

[silentknight]

Where should they move it? I don't know nor do I really care. I just don't want my tax dollars going into another sink hole. New Orleans (I ASSURE AND PROMISE YOU) will be destroyed again and again by hurricanes.

Don't waste my money.

[H. Paul Pressler IV]

So, you seem to be a big Propoent of Eminent Domain?


You do not happen to be a clerk in Justice Souter's chambers?