We all know that New Orleans is threatened by hurricanes, but less dramatic and less well-known is the fact (as discussed by Time and below) that naturally the Big Muddy would help protect New Orleans by tirelessly constructing wetlands, mud banks, and the like — if only the Army Corps of Engineers didn’t get in the way.
In its latest report card on Hurricane Katrina, a year later, the National Wildlife Federation gives Congress a D+ for failing to reform the Corps while passing a massive bill called the Water Resources Development Act.
Back in March, in an editorial ($) the New York Times made much the same point, and faulted Democrats in the House:
Readers will recall that the Democrats promised to upend the status
quo as soon as they won majority control. But some things, it appears,
are untouchable, among them the Army Corps of Engineers. Presented with
another opportunity to reform the Corps — its weaknesses exposed by
the levee failures in New Orleans and other misjudgments predating
Hurricane Katrina — Democrats on the House transportation committee
took a dive.
The committee approved a huge $40 billion water
resources development bill that is loaded with pork-barrel projects
dear to Congress’s heart but, partly for that reason, is devoid of any
serious reforms to an agency that over the years has inflated the
economic payoffs of its projects while underestimating their potential
damage to the environment. The measure, virtually identical to last
year’s Republican bill, seems assured of passage.
But although Congress did not seriously consider an amendment from Senators Feingold and McCain which would require independent review by experts of any project over $40 million, interestingly the 74th amendment to the bill, proposed by Barbara Boxer and agreed to in the Senate by unanimous consent, does call for a "working group" to be established, including:
(I) independent experts with experience relating to–
(aa) coastal estuaries;
(bb) diversions;
(cc) coastal restoration;
(dd) wetlands protection;
(ee) ecosystem restoration;
(ff) hurricane protection;
(gg) storm damage reduction systems; and
(hh) navigation and ports; and
(II) representatives of–
(aa) the State of Louisiana; and
(bb) local governments in southern Louisiana.
And the National Wildlife Federation does give Congress a B for directing the Corps to find a way to close the notorious Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, or Mr. GO, which experts think substantially worsened the flooding during Katrina. (The Corps disagrees, unsurprisingly.) So although imperfect, there is some reason to think this bill may not be a complete disaster.
What stuns yours truly is the news that this amendment came from Boxer and her frequent sparring partner, Mr. Global-Warming-Is-a-Hoax, James Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma.
Will ask how in the world this happened…now I’m curious.
Kit Stolz 