That's what I'm learning from this:
http://www.pnionline.com/dnblog/attytood/archives/002331.htmlThe reason they were making plans, with start dates being pushed off is because budget cuts caused them to cancel contracts with construction firms, and so all the staff had left to do was make plans.
But it appears they did want the money for construction and maintenance, and it was cut. They knew the levees were sinking and wanted to repair them in 2004.
From that article:
That June, with the 2004 hurricane seasion starting, the Corps' Naomi went before a local agency, the East Jefferson Levee Authority, and essentially begged for $2 million for urgent work that Washington was now unable to pay for. From the June 18, 2004 Times-Picayune:
"The system is in great shape, but the levees are sinking. Everything is sinking, and if we don’t get the money fast enough to raise them, then we can’t stay ahead of the settlement," he said. "The problem that we have isn’t that the levee is low, but that the federal funds have dried up so that we can’t raise them."
The panel authorized that money, and on July 1, 2004, it had to pony up another $250,000 when it learned that stretches of the levee in Metairie had sunk by four feet. The agency had to pay for the work with higher property taxes. The levee board noted in October 2004 that the feds were also now not paying for a hoped-for $15 million project to better shore up the banks of Lake Pontchartrain.
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