[StBernard] Chalmette is a Giant Refinery?

[Westley Annis]

Note - This email is strictly editorial in nature, it is NOT fact.

By Sarah Whalen
BayouBuzz.com

What will rebuild coastal Louisiana?

Middle Eastern vision.

Yes. Kingdoms built on sand will save one built on water.

When oil prices ticked up gas pumps late last summer, Americans blamed
Saudis. Saudis demanded new refineries. Persian Gulf nations backed the
Saudis. Americans blew them off.

Then Hurricane Katrina blew in. And the levees blew out. Now U.S.

President Bush wants to rebuild without new taxes, and Congress doesn´t want
to ratchet up the deficit. How to accomplish this?

First, get energy under control. Saudis and their neighbors say America
needs new refineries? How about just one gigantic brand new one?

Call it "Chalmette."

If U.S. Senator Dennis Hastert wants to bulldoze something, he can bulldoze
Chalmette. And we´ll cry when he does, because Chalmette´s special—the
Battle of New Orleans was fought there; plantation ruins dot its landscape;
historic Jackson Avenue Barracks´s still militarily used; Rocky and Carlo´s
macaroni and cheese is unbeatable. And its people are a precious legacy.
Descended from "Islenos"—Spanish Canary

Islanders-- they´ve made Chalmette a close-knit and very patriotic
community. I was in Chalmette on 9/11, and remember how quickly a conference
table filled with glossy, high-powered Italian rifles. One of these and "all
the ammo you can carry" were offered to me for protection, as workers
frantically contacted children in the military and police.

Al Qaeda, don´t come here.

But Chalmette´s also home to Murphy Oil, which reportedly leaked oil and
toxins when the levee broke. Chalmette´s now allegedly unfit for human
habitation.

Which makes it perfect for a gigantic, state-of-the-art refinery.

Hear that screaming? Don´t worry, it´s just environmentalists over-reacting.

Chalmette-as-refinery´s just the ticket to bring oil and gas prices down to
earth again, stabilize America´s economy, bolster Homeland Security, and
save coastal Louisiana.

Here´s how: First, surround Chalmette by high, earth-built levees designed
not to stop the river (impossible) but to contain spills (entirely
possible). Above it will be the present Industrial Canal, port, and
shipyards complex. Few people will actually live there.

But they will work there. And Homeland Security can police it all.

Between new Chalmette and New Orleans will be not the crime-ridden,
drug-infested, poverty-stricken neighborhoods which flooded so horribly, but
an emerald band of restored wetlands. Whither the poor?

Ideally, wherever they can get jobs and not be poor anymore. But everyone,
rich or poor, must move to higher ground as the lower ground´s surrendered
back to the bogs. Let it flood (it will, anyway). Add crabs, fish and
crawfish. Swooping pelicans, majestic herons and egrets, greedy kingfishers,
hungry ducks, and even dainty hummingbirds will come.

Return to what New Orleans originally was—a tiny town surrounded by large
plantations and marsh stretching from river to lake. Two plantations later
became magnificent public parks, and should remain so. Their golf courses,
tennis courts, horse stables and bridle paths—all public—flood regularly in
heavy rains, without much ado.

Golfers pout, but these temporary bogs are merely extensions of the natural
bayous and lagoons that wind through the parks anyway.

Tangles of cypress, pines, and live oaks anchoring these lands should stay.
But the homes surrounding these parks must be re-thought-through.

You can start with my neighborhood, Gentilly, still flooded under 3 feet of
water, down from 8 1/2, and there´s a reason for that—it was once cypress
swamp. Gentilly folks ritually buy piles of dirt, dumped street-side for
$100 or so, and invite friends and relatives to help "spread" it across our
yards. Last year, as I separated out large clumps of Delta clay, neighbors
joyfully tossed them into their yards shouting, "Terra Firma!"

Terra Firma. We need that, but it´s rare in the Delta. Lakefront
universities, airports, and marinas might exist as small islands linked to
New Orleans by causeways and footbridges. Urbanized Slidell and New Orleans
East should return to the picturesque swamp quaintly preserved as a "Nature
Center" beside now-destroyed housing developments.

And our downtown? New Orleans´ main street´s called "Canal" because that´s
what it was. Another ran from Lake Pontchartrain to "Bucktown," a fishing
village. Restore these, and criss-cross with foot and traffic bridges.
Street cars can run alongside, and water taxis can ferry people anywhere the
water goes.

It sounds radical, but it´s not. Think this—the world´s largest, safest, and
cleanest refinery, safely encircled by the highest levees, in turn
surrounded by miles of protected wetlands that can support a unique
ecotourism industry. Above is a small, picturesque city where jazz´s still
played, gumbo´s still cooked, beignets still bubble in fat, and coffee´s
silky aroma draws you close. High-speed, light-rail trains can service it
all, making hurricane evacuations quick and painless.

Chalmette. As a town, it was part of the problem. As a giant refinery, it
can save New Orleans, coast, and country.

And the Saudis, Kuwaitis, Emiratis and other oil producers can pay for a lot
of it. They see the future, and a river runs through it.