Subject: FW: Bush Administration cut federal Army Corp funds for Lake Pontchartrain levees Date: Sat, 3 Sep 2005 09:37:13 -0500 Message-ID: <BDD0A3EABE40F04A8C7200805EDE5A6A0219F1F1@PEPSI.uwec.edu> From: "Nowlan, Robert A." <RANOWLAN@uwec.edu>
Greetings, All:
I'm guessing Drew wanted to send this message -- below -- out to a wider
audience. It reiterates what many of us have recognized, and are
thinking and feeling at this time. And certainly whatever people can
possibly afford to donate to help is desperately needed. Andy
(Swanson, my partner) and I have given quite generously to several
organizations, including the Red Cross, as we did earlier this year in
response to the terrorist attacks in London and the tsunami devastation
extending from East Africa to Southeast Asia. Beyond that, the time is
certainly upon us all to call the Bush administration fully to account
for its multifold (ir)responsibility in relation to what has
happened--and not--in dealing with the impact of Hurricane Katrina on
the Gulf Coast from Alabama through Louisiana. Under its leadership the
priority emphases and focuses of what the U.S. government represents at
home and abroad of course runs diametrically opposed to real progressive
values and to the causes of peace and justice.
Bob
-----Original Message-----
From: Drew Niese [mailto:icos@arez.com]
Sent: Saturday, September 03, 2005 1:56 AM
To: Nowlan, Robert A.
Subject: Bush Administration cut federal Army Corp funds for Lake
Pontchartrain levees
As we know now, the levees have breeched and the lake has emptied into
the city putting it 80% underwater. All I can say is what a colossal
clusterfuck of a situation this is turning into. If you are watching the
TV these days you know that our federal government did not adequately
prepare for this disaster and has let down thousands of people still
suffering in New Orleans and the surrounding areas. These folks on the
gulf coast need our thoughts and prayers now more than ever so please
continue to send them, and if you haven't donated to the Red Cross yet
please consider doing so:
https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation-form.asp
A
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_con
tent_id=1001051313
In early 2004, as the cost of the conflict in Iraq soared, President
Bush proposed spending less than 20 percent of what the Army Corps of
Engineers 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.
Local officials are now saying, the article reported, that had
Washington heeded their warnings about the dire need for hurricane
protection, including building up levees and repairing barrier islands,
"the damage might not have been nearly as bad as it turned out to be."
The original article from 2004:
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4200/is_20040216/ai_n1017460
5
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Bush, 9/2/05, Good Morning America : "I don't think anyone anticipated
the breach of the levees."
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N02521178.htm
> Models predicted New Orleans disaster, experts say
> 02 Sep 2005 15:49:00 GMT
> Source: Reuters
> By Alan Elsner WASHINGTON, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Virtually everything
> that has happened in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina struck was
> predicted by experts and in computer models, so emergency management
> specialists wonder why authorities were so unprepared.
> "The scenario of a major hurricane hitting New Orleans was well
> anticipated, predicted and drilled around," said Clare Rubin, an
> emergency management consultant who also teaches at the Institute for
> Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management at George Washington University.
> Computer models developed at Louisiana State University and other
> institutions made detailed projections of what would happen if water
> flowed over the levees protecting the city or if they failed. In July
> 2004, more than 40 federal, state, local and volunteer organizations
> practiced this very scenario in a five-day simulation code-named
> "Hurricane Pam", where they had to deal with an imaginary storm that
> destroyed over half a million buildings in New Orleans and forced the
> evacuation of a million residents.
More recommended reading: "*No One Can Say they Didn't See it Coming"*
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,372455,00.html