The View from the Meadow
Observations of the Passing Scene
Political and Social Commentary by Dave Satre
Government Cutbacks Set-Up New Orleans
Could the disaster in Hurricane Katrina’s path have been prevented? There’s damned little that can stand up to a category 5 hurricane, but the extensive flooding that destroyed New Orleans could have been avoided. The government knew about the dangers facing the city, but did little to prevent it. There were many projects planned to strengthen the levees and control flood waters, but GW Bush curtailed them by cutting their budgets.
Now that the disaster has struck, our government agencies have been notoriously slow in providing aid for Katarina’s victims. Most of the agencies involved have had their budgets cut since Bush entered the White House. During his term GW Bush has systematically reduced the budgets of government agencies that are not directly involved in his War Against Terrorism. The Regime has been squeezing every dollar out of the agencies in order to send a reported $300 billion to rebuild Iraq.
Politicians cannot claim they were unaware of the problem. The New Orleans Times-Picayune published an entire series of articles focusing on the federal funding issue. The Republican-led Congress was warned, but failed to act. This is the same Congress that passed the initial $87 billion funding to rebuild Iraq on a voice vote, with no written record and very little opposition. Now, serious questions are being asked about the lack of preparation at all levels of this government.
The Administration is poor mouthing, wringing their hands and claiming we do not have the equipment or the money to rebuild New Orleans. In May 2005 another $82 billion was approved for Iraq and Afghanistan, pushing the total amount squandered on the senseless battle against terrorism to more than $300 billion. Evidently, all of the money and equipment is in Iraq.
It’s not as though The Regime wasn’t warned about the potential dangers of a hurricane-based disaster in New Orleans. In 2001, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) warned that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely potential disasters in the U.S The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) proposed a project to |
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protectNew Orleans from a catastrophic hurricane, but the Bush administration ordered that the research not be undertaken. The USACE knew of the problems in the area. It had already strengthened and renovated levees and pumping stations under the 1995 Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project. The federal funds for the flood control project were squandered on the Iraq war in 2003.
In 2004, the Bush administration cut USACE funding for a project to improve the levees holding back Lake Pontchartrain by over 80 percent. Funding cuts of 44.2 percent since 2001 resulted in a hiring freeze by the New Orleans district of the Corps. The Senate debated additional funds for fixing New Orleans' levees, but the Republican controlled Congress failed to pass the measure.
The Bush administration's policy of turning over wetlands to developers almost certainly contributed to the enormous level of Katrina’s storm surge. Every two miles of wetlands between Crescent City and the Gulf should reduce such a surge by half a foot. A federal task force began restoring lost wetlands surrounding New Orleans in 1990 through a program launched by Bush’s father's administration and further supported by President Clinton.
Bush promised "no net loss" of wetlands, but the World’s Biggest Waffler changed his mind in 2003 and authorized development of the area, probably in return for large campaign contributions from developers or the usual under-the-table payoffs that are so common in today’s politics.
In 2003 reduced funding forced the Army Corps of Engineers and the EPA to cancel all wetland projects that did not directly relate to interstate commerce. It’s all about the money ---- Big Business profits and military spending are the focus of the day.
In 2004 a study by four environmental groups concluded that without wetlands protection New Orleans could be devastated by an ordinary hurricane, much less something like Katrina. The chairman of the White House's Council on Environmental Quality, James L. Connaughton, attacked the study as "highly questionable," and attempted to discredit the groups’ professional capabilities. Look who’s lookin’ foolish today!
