Levee Repair Costs Triple (New Orleans May Lack Full Protection)

[deminks]

By Peter Whoriskey and Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, March 31, 2006; Page A01

The Bush administration said yesterday that the cost of rebuilding New Orleans's levees to federal standards has nearly tripled to $10 billion and that there may not be enough money to fully protect the entire region.

Donald E. Powell, the administration's rebuilding coordinator, said some areas may be left without the protection of levees strong enough to meet requirements of the national flood insurance program. Those areas probably would face enormous obstacles in attracting home buyers and investors willing to build there.

The news represents a shift for the administration; President Bush had pledged in the weeks after Hurricane Katrina to rebuild New Orleans "higher and better." Now, some areas may lose out as they compete for levee protection. Powell's announcement, in a conference call with reporters, prompted denunciations from state and local officials who said the federal government is reneging on promises to rebuild the entire region.

"This monumental miscalculation is an outrage," said Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D). "This means that, just two months before hurricane season, the Corps of Engineers informs us they cannot ensure even the minimum safety of southeastern Louisiana. This is totally unacceptable."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/30/AR2006033001912.html?nav=rss_nation

Land grab.

[journalist3072]

1. Here's the part that gets me....and makes me believe race is a factor

"In Baton Rouge, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco called the nearly tripling of the estimated cost of levee repairs “an outrage.” She demanded that Congress come up with the money. She said the $3.5 billion investment so far has focused primarily on rebuilding the flood protection on the east bank of New Orleans.

Without the additional cash, Blanco said, the Lower Ninth Ward and St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes likely wouldn’t receive the levee repairs needed to give them the protection they had before Katrina.

“Obviously all sections will not be secure,” she said."


My first thought was this:

We all know that the entire city of NOLA has a lot of the "working poor."

But the Lower Ninth War is especially poor, and they were probably the hardest hit by Katrina, correct?

So why are they being neglected regarding the levee re-building?

[hlthe2b]

2. I get that sinking feeling so often, now, I feel like I've already

been buried--- six foot under. I worry that this constant bombardment with more and more shocking scandalous corruption and the helplessness that accompanies it is likely to send someone over the edge. The rsesult will not be pretty.

[pitohui]

3. it looks like they're neglecting areas where people can't yet return

if they are going to repair only a few levees, i suppose they must at least start by repairing the levees in areas where there are people and structures to protect

it is not a contest but i don't see how you can say lower 9 was harder hit than st. bernard or plaquemines, they were all hard hit but lower 9 is part of a city, st. bernard and plaquemines are entire parishes (counties) with entire towns that were completely wiped off the map, i don't see how you get any harder hit than that

every residence in st. bernard sustained total or major damage

as far as i know every -- every -- residence in plaquemines was destroyed, landfall was cat 4 at buras, which was annihilated

as of abt two weeks ago, nola.com ran a story saying that only 1,000 people had returned to plaquemines parish, most construction workers living on a diet of beer and cigarettes thanks to small size of the FEMA trailers provided as living quarters with tiny refrigerators and nearest grocery story a 2 hour trek away -- in st. bernard, where they are still short on groceries and supplies themselves!

plaquemines has been totally destroyed to apparently no one's great concern in the wider world, they are being completely ignored

as for st. bernard, it is only TODAY that people w. residences at the site of the murphy oil refinery spill have been told they can apply to get FEMA trailers, today, 7 months later

so it looks to me like white people are getting messed with just as much as black people

this isn't race, this is pure-dee the gov't screwed up and is too cheap to fix what it didn't do right the first time

[OneBlueSky]

4. Their Levees - Our Levees . . .

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0112-15.htm