February 2, 2004: Bush Administration 2005 Budget Proposal Falls Short of Army Corps’ Expectations The Bush administration’s proposed fiscal year 2005 budget sets aside $325 million for civil works projects in the US Army Corps of Engineers’ New Orleans district—slightly less than the $337 million approved by Congress the year before. According to Marcia Demma, chief of the Corps’ programs management branch, the Corps will need $425 million for 2005. “We have a backlog of contracts, and it’s just been for the past few years that… we haven’t been funded at our full capability,” Marcia Demma, chief of the Corps’ programs management branch, tells New Orleans CItyBusiness. Of the $325 million proposed in the Bush budget, the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project (SELA) would receive $30 million, far short of the $42 million the Corps says it needs, and $4 million less than fiscal year 2004’s actual budget. According to Stan Green, SELA project manager, the $30 million would probably allow the Corps to continue its current work on 12 projects in Jefferson and Orleans parishes. But if it were fully funded, he says, it could award contracts for an additional 14 projects. [New Orleans CityBusiness, 2/16/2004] (Congress ultimately approves $36.5 million for SELA. [Los Angeles Times, 9/4/2005] ) The administration’s proposed budget includes only $3.9 million for the New Orleans’ East Bank Hurricane Levee Project, a mere fraction of the $27.1 million requested by the Corps. According to Al Naomi, who manages this project, the budgeted allotment would not even cover the $4.5 million required for unpaid fiscal year 2004 work. (The sum ultimately approved by Congress for the east bank project is $5.7 million.) [New Orleans CityBusiness, 2/16/2004; Times-Picayune, 6/8/2004; Knight Ridder, 9/1/2005; Knight Ridder, 9/1/2005; Washington Post, 9/8/2005, pp. A01] Additionally, the president’s budget rejects a draft plan, submitted in October 2003 (see October 2003) by the Army Corp of Engineers, to begin a $14 billion dollar project to restore Louisiana’s coastal wetlands. Instead, the president directs the Corps to refocus its ongoing restoration study to produce a single, prioritized list of projects that can be completed in 10 years. Additionally, the corps is directed to include in its study several other larger restoration projects that are not part of the Louisiana Coastal Area study, and determine whether the mouth of the Mississippi can be altered to let sediment create new areas of wetlands to its east and west quickly, while still allowing shipping to reach port facilities in New Orleans and elsewhere along the river. Eight million dollars is allocated to the effort, only a fraction of the $50 million that was requested by Louisiana’s Governor (see January 2004). In the budget’s narrative, the White House acknowledges for the first time that Louisiana’s disappearing wetlands are partly the result of the US Army Corps of Engineers’ channeling of the Mississippi River for shipping and the construction of flood-control levees along the river to protect New Orleans. It also says that canals built by the oil and gas industry, natural subsidence, and rising sea levels are contributing factors to Louisiana’s net loss of coastal wetlands. [Associated Press, 2/3/2004; Times-Picayune, 2/3/2004; Louisiana Coastal Area Study, 4/2004 ] Entity Tags: Stan Green, Marcia Demma, Louisiana Coastal Area (LCA) Ecosystem Restoration Study, Bush administration, Al Naomi, US Army Corps of Engineers Timeline Tags: Hurricane Katrina
February 2005: 14 New Orleans Flood Control Projects on Hold for Want of Funds US Army Corps of Engineer’s Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project (SELA) has 14 projects planned, worth $114 million, that could be started if funds were available. But because of the drop in federal funding (see 2001-Early 2004) no new contracts have been awarded since early 2004. The 14 projects include widening canals, replacing bridges, and constructing culverts. According to Stan Green, SELA project manager, the projects are “of critical importance in reducing rainfall flooding.… I’d say in the last two or three years, the work that we’ve already done under SELA has made a significant difference. We have a lot of benefits yet to be realized from this work we haven’t built yet.” [New Orleans CityBusiness, 2/7/2005; Los Angeles Times, 9/4/2005] Entity Tags: Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, Stan Green Timeline Tags: Hurricane Katrina On Jan 19, 2:46 pm, VT Sean Lewis <[email protected]> wrote: > George Bush's Legacy is the Failure that was Katrina > This was the anatomy to all of Bush's failures. > > Sean Lewis > January 19, 2009 > > Katrina was a Category 5 hurricane that slowly > moved across the Gulf of Mexico growing in > size and threat. > > Bush was briefed on the threat and warned about > the possible scenarios. > > People were giving warnings about the threat. > > Authorities were requesting help from Washington > specifically from the White House for help to deal > with the threat. > > The world was also aware of the threat. > > Bush was made aware of the threat, made some > public statements and then did no follow through > to actually prepare for the threat. > > The threat became a reality and all that was predicted > and warned about occurred. > > Bush did nothing. Bush did not end his vacation to > do his job, he was AWOL again. > > Americans suffered and died. > > Bush still did nothing. > > The press. the country and the world cried out for > something to be done. Rice went to NYC to buy > shoes. Bush went to a party, and the rest of the > Administration stayed on vacation. > > When Bush was finally shown a tape of what the > world had been watching 24/7 for 3 days, THEN and > only then did he react. > > He started by saying who could have predicted such > a threat and he had no warning. He took no > responsibility and put the blame on everyone > else from the victims to nature but he never saw > himself as being accountable for his failure to > anticipate and be proactive in dealing with this threat. > > This is the anatomy of every Bush failure from > 9/11 to the current economic meltdown. > > Bush denied there was a housing meltdown or a recession for > a year. Imagine if Bush had been proactive a year ago > in dealing with the housing meltdown and the economy? > Instead Bush denied there was a problem because his motives > and loyalty was to his political party and not the American > citizens he had sworn to serve and protect. > > Bush seemed to have risen beyond his pay-scale and was > more interested in mountain biking and playing at being > President than actually having the intellectual acumen to > BE president. > > When Bush was first elected I said the man could not handle > the job of being the President, but I consoled myself by > saying 'how much harm can he do?' > > 8 years later and for years to come in the future the failure > that was Bush, is the Legacy this country will have to contend > with along with the residue of the cascading collaspsing failures > left festering on the American landscape. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
