Levees And Bridges To Nowhere

As the devastation of New Orleans comes into focus, the causes fire debate and the cure remains elusive.

The cause, on the surface, is simple enough: levees broke. But why? It was well known that they were too weak to withstand a hurricane, but the Louisiana delegation was ineffective in getting the money needed -- not just during the Bush years, but during the Clinton years as well.

AP's policial writer, Ron Fournier, lays it out:

Just last year, the Army Corps of Engineers sought $105 million for hurricane and flood programs in New Orleans. The White House slashed the request to about $40 million. Congress finally approved $42.2 million, less than half of the agency's request.

Yet the lawmakers and Bush agreed to a $286.4 billion pork-laden highway bill that included more than 6,000 pet projects for lawmakers. Congress spent money on dust control for Arkansas roads, a warehouse on the Erie Canal and a $231 million bridge to a small, uninhabited Alaskan island.

How could Washington spend $231 million on a bridge to nowhere — and not find $42 million for hurricane and flood projects in New Orleans? It's a matter of power and politics.

Before making too much of the Bush cut to the Corps request, it's important to note that it's utterly without consequence to this disaster. Had the full funding been allocated last year, the project would still not yet have been underway this year. People would just be saying the Corps should have worked faster, not that Congress should have funded more.

It also seems to me that $105 million is not enough to purchase New Orleans' safety. Big civil engineering projects like these cost tens of thousands of dollars a foot to implement.

Pork is the target of much criticism, as it should be, but it's evident that pork or not, there's not enough money in a single budget cycle to rebuild all the infrastructure that needs rebuilding.

Here in Orange County, several densely populated cities are protected by levees that don't meet FEMA standards. Even with our relatively powerful Republican delegation, we did not receive the funds needed to address the issue. Some went to pork, but most went to more deserving problems elsewhere.

That's what led House Speaker Dennis Hastert to utter the words many of us are thinking; words he wishes he could unspeak today:

"It looks like a lot of that place could be bulldozed."

Not to the Left: That's could be bulldozed, not should. And no doubt a lot of New Orleans will be bulldozed. And then rebuilt -- just as the freeways I drive on were rebuilt after the Northwood quake, just as prairie towns in Hastert's Illinois are rebuilt after floods and tornados, just as northern bridges are rebuilt after ravaged by blizzards. It's what we do, it's what we have to do, because nature is tough.

Certainly New Orleans should be rebuilt differently than it was built.

And just as certainly, Ray Nagin, that city's frustrated and increasingly foul-mouthed mayor should stop placing all the blame on Washington. In a radio interview, he cursed, yelled and burst into tears. This is understandable, given what he's wittnessed, given his fatigue and frustration. Here's an excerpt:

"Get off your asses and let's do something. ... Excuse my French — everybody in America — but I am pissed."

But he did not say in the interview that he knew the levees couldn't withstand an earthquake, even though he certainly must have seen the studies. He did not acknowledge that he should have been just as emotional with his constituents before Katrina hit, yelling and crying, "Get out! Get out! We screwed up, and the levees aren't ready for this!"

He didn't try to muster 2,000 buses before the hurricane, with full knowledge of the risk the levees posed to his city.

Honestly, I wouldn't have called up the buses either. Nagin got caught up in our human nature. I've said for years I'd put an emergency kit into the trunk of each of our cars, but the big disaster hasn't hit yet and I haven't done it. Nagin and the Louisiana delegation and the Corps and the Congressional committees knew for years something had to be done about the levees, but the disaster hadn't hit yet, and they didn't take care of it.

Photo credit: Washington Post