[StBernard] Vitter calls on Bush to back levee reform (Updated)

[Westley Annis]

Vitter calls on Bush to back levee reform (Updated)

NEW ORLEANS - Sen. David Vitter and area business leaders called on the
White House to back a detailed plan to immediately repair the levees to
"true Category 3 protection" and fundamentally redesign the system for even
stronger protection in the future. 


The group said that businesses and residents must have faith in the levee
system before they can make a commitment to rebuild. The current system was
supposed to be able to withstand a Category 3 storm, which is what Hurricane
Katrina had weakened to by the time it hit New Orleans. However,
investigations into breaches in the levees have shown that design flaws
likely caused the massive flooding that inundated 80 percent of the city. 

"We did not have true Category 3 protection before Katrina and getting, true
robust Category 3 protection for metropolitan New Orleans will be a major
improvement over where we were," Vitter said. 

Vitter met with area business leaders from across the region this morning
before announcing a four-point plan that the group has given to President
George W. Bush. The letter asks the president to: announce support for
stronger levees that offer up to Category 5 protection "where appropriate"
and federal funding to correct design flaws in the original levee system. It
also calls on the president to create a new oversight panel called the
Louisiana Hurricane and Flood Protection Commission to design an integrated
long-term flood protection system for South Louisiana. 

"We need a new structure, a new model that will get it done and get it done
right," Vitter said. "And that has to involve outside independent experts
not simply the Corps of Engineers." 

The commission would be composed of corps representatives and outside
engineering, environmental, and management experts. It's mission would be
unifying dozens of separate hurricane and flood protection projects into a
master plan. It would also integrate coastal restoration work into its flood
control plan. 

Vitter said that the White House has had a copy of the statement for at
least a month and he has been meeting officials in the Bush administration
to get the president behind it. When asked whether the president has lived
up to his Jackson Square promise to build a better and stronger New Orleans,
Vitter said that "the jury is still out, quite frankly." 

"In my opinion, for him to live up to that Jackson Square speech, his
administration needs to make this sort of firm and precise statement of
commitment," he said. 

Vitter said it would costs $3.5 billion to $4 billion to redesign the levee
system - that's more than half the amount included in the president's latest
budget request. He acknowledged that the Louisiana delegation is fighting an
uphill battle against fiscal conservatives in the House who are trying to
stem deficit spending. He said that support is stronger in the Senate where
Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi heads the appropriations committee. 

Jim Hudson, president of Omni Bank, said that residents need to see that
Congress and the president are willing to support the city's reconstruction
or they will lose hope. . 

"I have customers every day who are getting insurance checks who are not
willing to put the money back in (to the community) yet until we can assure
them that we will have a Category 3 levee protection," he said. 

By Keith Brannon 
The Biz Network 
kbrannon at mcmediallc.com