Save New Orleans
“This is enormously frustrating to me,” said Sen. David Vitter, R-La. “I’ve been telling them since last November that they’ve sought way too little money for essential levee work.”[“L.A. Wants More Levee Money — And Quick (NOLA.com)]
Last week the Army Corps of Engineers announced new estimates of an additional $6 billion would be needed to raise and repair the levees to protect the New Orleans area from a major hurricane. According to this article in the Times-Picayune, while the east bank of Orleans Parish has financing for levees that would meet the necessary certification by 2010, $3 billion in improvements are still needed to bring Algiers, eastern New Orleans, the Lower 9th Ward, West Jefferson, and most of Jefferson Parish’s east bank, St. Charles Parish, Belle Chasse and Lower Coast Algiers to the appropriate protection levels; plus $3 billion more would be needed for Plaquemines Parish alone.
President Bush’s Gulf Coast recovery coordinator, Donald Powell, told reporters that the administration will decide in the next two weeks whether to request the additional money — nearly three times what the administration said was needed just a month ago.
But at a closed-door meeting in the Capitol late Thursday, Louisiana lawmakers said they told Powell that they want a commitment by Tuesday, the day the Senate Appropriations Committee is to take up an emergency hurricane spending bill.
A new request from the president is critical to the release of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s long-awaited flood-elevation maps, which will give residents and businesses an indication about whether to rebuild in the region. Property behind the upgraded levees could see relatively minor changes in elevation requirements, subject primarily to more typical flooding. Those areas without improved levees would have to build substantially higher to account for flooding and storm surge. [“L.A. Wants More Levee Money — And Quick (NOLA.com)]
However, Bush and gang is making no promises. In fact, a supplemental spending bill for hurricane recovery has already passed the House and it doesn’t include the costs of the new estimates.
Now, the administration is saying that to protect against a “100-year flood,” up to $6 billion more could be needed.
According to an analysis by the corps, that figure could be cut dramatically if the state is willing to make an excruciating choice: Leave some portions of southeast Louisiana without full protection against a hurricane with a 1 percent chance of hitting the area during any hurricane season.
About 98 percent of the New Orleans area population could be protected at a cost of $3 billion, but that would leave out increased protection for the 14,725 residents of Plaquemines Parish, according to the analysis.
[…]
“If you say you aren’t going to protect lower Plaquemines, what’s next? Lower Terrebonne? Lower Lafourche? And then what, the middle parts?” asked a visibly angry Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., as she walked out of the meeting with Powell and Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, commander of the corps. “Seven months after Katrina, they still don’t realize they have a bill to pay. They don’t want to pay it.”
Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-Napoleonville, who represents Plaquemines Parish, said that basing decisions on population overlooks the economic significance of the parishes that dip into the Gulf of Mexico.
“This is about people, the nation’s energy production and fisheries,” Melancon said. “People don’t seem to realize the importance of south Louisiana.”[“L.A. Wants More Levee Money — And Quick (NOLA.com)]
So, it’s all about the numbers today. Nevermind the photo-ops and the promises and the mistakes. Nevermind the hundreds of nameless dead or the thousands of displaced and homeless. Imagine if this was your home; imagine if this was where your family had lived for a hundred years; imagine if everything you knew and everything everyone you ever knew wasn’t worth protecting or rebuilding or even considering by the government you pay your taxes to.
Don’t think it can’t be you. You need to stand up for New Orleans and Plaquemines and Louisiana now before you’re sitting on the doorstep of a closed FEMA shelter wondering where your tax dollars went when that tornado/earthquake/forest fire/ice storm/flood/etc. destroyed your neighborhood too.
Contact your House Representative.
Hat tip to First Draft.
Further reading: “Levee Repair Costs Triple” - Washington Post
tags: Hurricane Katrina, David Vitter, New Orleans, Plaquenines, Louisiana, FEMA, Army Corps of Engineers, Times-Picayune, George W. Bush
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on September 5, 2006 at 4:53 pm
Andrew said:
I am a field organizer for representative Melancon, and I was wondering if anyone in or around the Louisiana 3rd that is reading this would be interested in joining the fight to take back the house. If so please e-mail me at Andrew@melanconforcongress.com, or call (985) 359-7001.