{Read me!!} Katrina, Funding Cuts, Iraq War & political aftermath

[V. Kid]

This:

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4200/is_20050606/ai_n14657367/print

is an intresting article. It's VERY prophetic:

In fiscal year 2006, the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is bracing for a record $71.2 million reduction in federal funding.

It would be the largest single-year funding loss ever for the New Orleans district, Corps officials said.

I've been here over 30 years and I've never seen this level of reduction, said Al Naomi, project manager for the New Orleans district. I think part of the problem is it's not so much the reduction, it's the drastic reduction in one fiscal year. It's the immediacy of the reduction that I think is the hardest thing to adapt to.

-- and ---

Landrieu said the Bush administration is not making Corps of Engineers funding a priority.

I think it's extremely shortsighted, Landrieu said. When the Corps of Engineers' budget is cut, Louisiana bleeds. These projects are literally life-and-death projects to the people of south Louisiana and they are (of) vital economic interest to the entire nation.

One of the reasons that it's important to the entire nation, beyond the simple human tragedy, is because of the fact that the port of New Orleans is one of the buisiest on the Continent.

Another intresting link highlighting the direct link between the topics on my threads title:

http://www.pnionline.com/dnblog/attytood/archives/002331.html

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. (Much of the research here is from Nexis, which is why some articles aren't linked.)

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."

--and--

But the cost of the Iraq war forced the Bush administration to order the New Orleans district office not to begin any new studies, and the 2005 budget no longer includes the needed money, he said.

http://www.rabble.ca/babble/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic&f=37&t=000874

Here's another link to where I got many of these links from, it's a Canadian based, left leaning, website, with various posters of various stripes. There are some more links on that thread if your intrested.

Anyhow though I'm intrested in talking about what effect this will have on the political scene. How will local congress people, specifically those who voted to decrease the budget for emergency preparadness, suffer from the voters in 2006? Will their opponents even remind them of this? Or will they shy away from it due to fear of being accused of "exploiting" a tragedy, even though it's a perfectly legitimate issue to raise, and a hugely important one considering the importance of this.

Anyhow I hope y'all actually post to this thread, and don't consider it too long, it's an intresting topic so come on all, don't let the length scare you off. :)

[jessicazi]

1. I have sent this article to some

Rethugs, but they all say the same thing. The cuts will take effect in 2006. They are saying it didn't effect the city's preparedness for Katrina. Can someone help me understand if this did affect it and how?

[V. Kid]

2. Well...

...regardless of the future status of these cuts, there have been funding freezes now. And within that article you'll find information that'll point out that certain projects that were supposed to be created to help New Orleans, ie: improving the pumping facilities and more importantly the dykes, were specifically delayed due to a lack of funding. There have been funding freeze's right now. So regardless of the fact that these massive cuts were going to take place in 2006, the programmes designed to protect NO weren't properly taken care of during this year (and the years before that)!

[mikelewis]

6. He cut it in 2004! The money for 2005 was underfunded...

as well.

[V. Kid]

3. Oh yeah...

...if anyone else has any other articles criticizing the lack of insite into this issue, before the fact, then please feel free to add them, I have some but I need to find them first...

Including this one: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/1/142049/1430

{J}ust this past week, there was at least 36 hours notice that a major hurricane was going to hit the Gulf Coast, including likely a devastating blow to New Orleans, which certainly came to pass. The President continued with his regular schedule on Monday and Tuesday in California, Arizona, and Texas to hold some staged Medicare events and enjoy more vacation time, while finally returning to the White House yesterday. The joint task force including National Guard set up by the Pentagon failed to be on the scene in New Orleans in a timely manner to stop the looting and assist in the evacuation. Where is the leadership?

Then just this morning, the President claimed that no one could have anticipated the levee breaches we've seen in New Orleans after Katrina hit. That's not leadership, that's an excuse. In fact, people have predicted this kind of disaster for many years, including President Bush's own FEMA in 2001, when they ranked hurricane flood damage to New Orleans among the three likeliest, most catastrophic disasters facing America. Instead, funding was significantly cut back, leaving key engineering projects on hold. Instead, this Administration focused on the war in Iraq, tax cuts, and private sector economic growth without asking the American people to make needed sacrifices for the good of the country. Again I ask you, where is the leadership?

[V. Kid]

11. Double Post Ignore Please

[Cha]

4. And this..

is probably not the only slashing that could result in potential catastrophies for American cities and states.

"But the cost of the Iraq war forced the Bush administration to order the New Orleans district office not to begin any new studies, and the 2005 budget no longer includes the needed money, he said."

Welcome to DU, V Kid!

[V. Kid]

13. Thanks...

been here for almost a year though, but the sentiment is appreciated. (And yeah I know this post is another attempt to bump this thread but :)).

[JNelson6563]

5. Nominated and bookmarked!

Nice compilation. I hope others with additional info join in. This could be a valuable resource for us all in the coming days.

Julie

[V. Kid]

Why the Levee's broke...another article.

http://www.thetyee.ca/Views/2005/09/02/LeveeBroke/

It has much of the same information, but it's just another source.

I like that compliation idea, I'll try to post articles on here when I get a chance.

[V. Kid]

7. Why the Levee's broke...another article.

http://www.thetyee.ca/Views/2005/09/02/LeveeBroke/

It has much of the same information, but it's just another source.

I like that compliation idea, I'll try to post articles on here when I get a chance.

[V. Kid]

8. Why the Levee's broke...another article.

http://www.thetyee.ca/Views/2005/09/02/LeveeBroke/

It has much of the same information, but it's just another source.

I like that compliation idea, I'll try to post articles on here when I get a chance.

[V. Kid]

9. Parishes Against Coastal Erosion Response to the Bush Admin Response Plan

http://www.dhs.gov/interweb/assetlibrary/NRPbaseplan.pdf

It's a long goverment document but I thought it'd be intresting.

P.S I didn't mean to have three double posts in a row, so just ignore two of them.

[reprehensor]

10. Excellent find!

More nails in the coffin.

[V. Kid]

12. Nat'l Geographic Article re: the Danger to S. Lousiana and New Orleans

http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0410/feature5 /

This is from October 2004:

The Louisiana bayou, hardest working marsh in America, is in big trouble—with dire consequences for residents, the nearby city of New Orleans, and seafood lovers everywhere.

It was a broiling August afternoon in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Big Easy, the City That Care Forgot. Those who ventured outside moved as if they were swimming in tupelo honey. Those inside paid silent homage to the man who invented air-conditioning as they watched TV "storm teams" warn of a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. Nothing surprising there: Hurricanes in August are as much a part of life in this town as hangovers on Ash Wednesday.

But the next day the storm gathered steam and drew a bead on the city. As the whirling maelstrom approached the coast, more than a million people evacuated to higher ground. Some 200,000 remained, however—the car-less, the homeless, the aged and infirm, and those die-hard New Orleanians who look for any excuse to throw a party.

The storm hit Breton Sound with the fury of a nuclear warhead, pushing a deadly storm surge into Lake Pontchartrain. The water crept to the top of the massive berm that holds back the lake and then spilled over. Nearly 80 percent of New Orleans lies below sea level—more than eight feet below in places—so the water poured in. A liquid brown wall washed over the brick ranch homes of Gentilly, over the clapboard houses of the Ninth Ward, over the white-columned porches of the Garden District, until it raced through the bars and strip joints on Bourbon Street like the pale rider of the Apocalypse. As it reached 25 feet (eight meters) over parts of the city, people climbed onto roofs to escape it.

Thousands drowned in the murky brew that was soon contaminated by sewage and industrial waste. Thousands more who survived the flood later perished from dehydration and disease as they waited to be rescued. It took two months to pump the city dry, and by then the Big Easy was buried under a blanket of putrid sediment, a million people were homeless, and 50,000 were dead. It was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States.

When did this calamity happen? It hasn't—yet. But the doomsday scenario is not far-fetched. The Federal Emergency Management Agency lists a hurricane strike on New Orleans as one of the most dire threats to the nation, up there with a large earthquake in California or a terrorist attack on New York City. Even the Red Cross no longer opens hurricane shelters in the city, claiming the risk to its workers is too great.

---snip--- The rest at the link.

[V. Kid]

14. Maximizing Disaster - Murray Dobbin

Canadian philosopher Ursula Franklin uses a series of questions to test the worthiness of public policies. One of them is "Does it maximize gain or minimize disaster?" Nothing in recent memory serves to highlight this question as much as the events that unfolded last week in New Orleans. Deregulated coastal development, massive funding cuts to disaster response, and political cronyism allowed for maximum private gain at the price of an unprecedented public disaster.

New Orleans' experience may also explain why religion plays such an enormous role in American politics. When you have cut every public service to the bone you had better pray that nothing out of the ordinary happens.

http://www.thetyee.ca/Views/2005/09/08/OrleansDisaster/