Why The Levee Broke
We sent our dollars to Iraq, writes Will Bunch on Alternet:
New Orleans had long known it was highly vulnerable to flooding and a direct hit from a hurricane. In fact, the federal government has been working with state and local officials in the region since the late 1960s on major hurricane and flood relief efforts. When flooding from a massive rainstorm in May 1995 killed six people, Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, or SELA.Over the next 10 years, the Army Corps of Engineers, tasked with carrying out SELA, spent $430 million on shoring up levees and building pumping stations, with $50 million in local aid. But at least $250 million in crucial projects remained, even as hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin increased dramatically and the levees surrounding New Orleans continued to subside.
Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at the same time as federal tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain. At least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars.
Newhouse News Service, in an article posted late Tuesday night at The Times-Picayune Web site, reported: "No one can say they didn't see it coming. ... Now in the wake of one of the worst storms ever, serious questions are being asked about the lack of preparation."
In early 2004, as the cost of the conflict in Iraq soared, President Bush proposed spending less than 20 percent of what the Corps said was needed for Lake Pontchartrain, according to this Feb. 16, 2004, article, in New Orleans CityBusiness:
The $750 million Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity Hurricane Protection project is another major Corps project, which remains about 20% incomplete due to lack of funds, said Al Naomi, project manager. That project consists of building up levees and protection for pumping stations on the east bank of the Mississippi River in Orleans, St. Bernard, St. Charles and Jefferson parishes.The Lake Pontchartrain project is slated to receive $3.9 million in the president's 2005 budget. Naomi said about $20 million is needed.
"The longer we wait without funding, the more we sink," he said. "I've got at least six levee construction contracts that need to be done to raise the levee protection back to where it should be (because of settling). Right now I owe my contractors about $5 million. And we're going to have to pay them interest."
On June 8, 2004, Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, told the Times-Picayune: "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."
Oh yeah, and the forces for defending our nation, "National" Guard, are in Iraq, too, or supporting the war effort. Oops!
It's pretty sick to try to make political hay out of a tragedy. But if you're gonna do it then why not blame the Democratic governor of Louisiana? How come she wasn't spending money to protect New Orleans? Why should this be a Federal issue anyway?
nash at September 1, 2005 10:28 AM
The governor is at fault as well. I posted a column here recently about lack of thought for infrastructure in this country. We're too busy having special sessions to make laws for one (Terri Schiavo) because it works for pandering to the irrational believer voting block...science be damned.
Amy Alkon at September 1, 2005 10:38 AM
I don't think it's sick at all to make a political issue out of a tragedy!!! Good god, obviously things are going disastrously bad in New Orleans. This is very VERY political. And all Bush has done so far is "urge a crackdown on the lawlessness"! This from a man who has had the ALWAYS had a cushy life. When people are starving, thirsty and desparate they will do anything. All the money and support for the "War on Terrorism" should be here at home, helping Americans. And I'm hoping this will give some fuel to the global warming debate as well.
Diana at September 1, 2005 11:17 AM
Hey Nash, I guess the 11% national oil production represented by the rigs offshore of New Orleans is just a local matter as well? Tell that to you gas station when you fill up, K?
hrc at September 1, 2005 12:53 PM
Yes, Bush has some responsibility for the lack of updated infrastructure in New Orleans, but there's a huge cast of characters to go around here.
The flood control and levee systems in NO are divided among state, municipal, and federal orgs like the Army Corp. of Engineers. Some levees are controlled by the state, others by the city, and yet two others by the Army Corp.
So go ahead and make all the hay you want on Bush, but it's much more problematic when you try to find effective oversight regarding this situation. Here's an open question for everyone -when they rebuild the city, should we ask the taxpayers if they should subsidize more high - risk reconstruction in an area that's naturally unsustainable? The rate of commercial development there has dramatically decreased the floodlands acreage, leading to a similar scenario that we witnessed during the floods along the Miss. river over a decade ago.
Dmac at September 1, 2005 2:31 PM
Dmac,
If you do the research, you will find out that the decrease in floodlands acreage is recent and due to bush relaxing the development strictures. But, hey when has anything ever been his fault? As far as he is concerned, being President, means never having to say you're sorry.
moe at September 1, 2005 7:47 PM
Watching all this on the news tonight, the first thing I thought was "more shit to debate on the blog." My second thought was "when is America going to acknowledge we have limited resources, and we are ignoring our own people?" It is all so very sad.
So I turned off the tv, put on some Buddy Guy, and wrestled with my dogs.
eric at September 1, 2005 9:06 PM
Sorry- hit the send button too soon...
My friends George and Susan called us to let us know they were still alive, and that luckily their house was not flooded, which they evacuated saturday.. It was looted to the bone though, which is even worse.
eric at September 1, 2005 9:18 PM
Well, you can blame the sitting President for not doing something during his Administration, but you can't leave Congress out - nor can you ignore the history of the issue in question.
New Orleans has been a disaster-in-waiting for some time. Do you want to be reasonable about it? Then ask yourself and others, "Why should New Orleans be rebuilt?"
You'll be spending more than $90 - along with every other breathing soul in the US - to "repair" the city, and it's been slowly sinking into the mud since it was built. It will continue to do so. How many times must a city be destroyed before its people recognize that wasn't a good place to be to start with?
Radwaste at September 2, 2005 4:28 AM
Eric - were your friends able to get flood insurance? Where was their house, I heard the Garden District got really hammered.
Moe - Scientific American covered this very topic recently. The pace of development of the surrounding wetlands has continued unabated since 1989, so you're better off hanging the blame on the local and state agencies that encouraged this type of construction.
CNN interviewed Bush Sr. and Clinton yesterday, and when the anchor kept trying to pin all the blame on the current administration, Clinton stepped in and basically took her to the woodshed for her ignorance about the topic.
Dmac at September 2, 2005 7:41 AM
I think they were in the garden district. I know they are a few blocks away from Anne Rices house. They moved there early this year from Florida after getting hit by two hurricanes yesterday. They were well insured, apparantly.
eric at September 2, 2005 8:16 AM
If that isn't bad luck, then I don't know what is. But at least they're in good health, despite everything.
Dmac at September 2, 2005 8:28 AM
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