--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > In a message dated 9/1/05 6:51:57 A.M. Central Daylight Time, > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > In 2001, FEMA warned that a hurricane striking New > Orleans was one of the three most likely disasters in > the U.S. But the Bush administration cut New Orleans > flood control funding by 44 percent to pay for the > Iraq war. > > Ahem, what kept the city of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana > from shoring up their own levee problem? Was it finances? Or was > it something else. If it was finances, the city or the state could > have easily passed a Hotel and car rental tax to finance such > infrastructure changes and have the tourist pay for it. Lack of > federal funding is a cop out. I've heard there were more > logistical reasons for not building the levees to be able to > withstand more than a category three hurricane. The decisions were > local, not federal.
Your sources are telling you what you want to hear again. The levees are an Army Corps of Engineers project. Saw someone from the Corps interviewed on ABC two nights ago on its disaster special. Asked why the levees weren't built to handle over a category 3, he responded that the Corps had done a careful cost-benefit analysis before making the decision. Asked whether, in light of the disaster and what it is going to cost the U.S. economy, there might have been some flaws in that analysis, he said they were going to have to go back and have another look at it. (Amazingly, before the follow-up question was asked, the guy's tone as he explanated about the cost-benefit analysis was smugly confident, as if he expected that would be all he'd need to say.) According to an article in the April Popular Mechanics, however, the Corps had been considering revamping the whole levee system to make it resistant to a category 5 hurricane, so it looks as though they were already rethinking the earlier decision. http://tinyurl.com/7pa2e ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/JjtolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
