[StBernard] A united approach

[Westley Annis]

Deborah,
How eloquently that posting was!  Your knowledge has helped this list
tremendously!!
 
Craig, we need to have Mrs. Keller in some type of advisory post to the
government.  
 
Jim York


 

	-----------------------------------------------------
	
	It was great to see the leadership of all Southeast LA parishes
presenting a
	united front to Congress this week regarding the additional $6
million need
	to bring the levees up to current design levels. The last thing we
should
	see, right before we turn out the lights in the N.O. metro area,
would be
	one or more parishes lobbying on the side for their money by saying
another
	parish isn't worthy. 
	Craig is so right that we have to stand
	together as we have the future of our region and our state in the
hands of
	Congress. Without "certified"
	levees for current project hurricane, FEMA is saying there is no
levee
	protection, which cuts us all out of the flood insurance program and
the
	exodus will begin.
	
	A little background here on how we got to this mess. The COE and
various
	levee boards and LADOTD files will show that since the inception of
the Lake
	Pontchartrain and Vicinity Hurricane Protection Project which
started after
	Betsy, the plan was to keep building the levees up higher, monitor
how they
	settle which is unavoidable, and come back for another lift, as the
	engineers call it. 
	It's not like they weren't surveying the levees for the past 30-
something
	years. Many levee lift projects were funded and built in the area,
including
	St. Bernard. But it would be interesting to see in the past 15 years
or so,
	how much money Congress was asked to authorize for this purpose and
how much
	Congress actually appropriated. We know now that it wasn't enough
because
	the necessary lifts over the years weren't done such that some areas
are
	anywhere from a few feet to several feet deficient. However, it was
	acceptable apparently to the Corps, and to all the levee districts,
DOTD,
	etc. that the levee lift projects would go on until
	2013 and maybe never stop if settling
	continued. I guess they hoped that we could hang on until one day
there was
	enough money to do all the levee lifts. That day of reckoning is
here,
	folks.
	
	But, eEveryone needs to realize that lifting levees will never be
finished.
	It's an ongoing project unless you are building on bedrock.
	
	Once we get past this hurdle, and it is a milestone in our region's
history,
	we need to focus on a direct source of continual financing of levee
lifting
	that is an annual appropriation, not a wait until there is a crisis
and beg
	Congress approach. Our elected officials need to convince Congress
that
	giving us our rightful share of the oil and gas revenue from
offshore
	drilling will do that and they are trying that now.
	
	The old saying is give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, but
give him
	a pole and he feeds himself for life. Once we past this crisis, we
need
	Congress to give us the damn pole and we'll protect ourselves, but
don't
	keep making us beg for the fish. That may work for interstate
highway
	projects and other public works projects of the federal govt., but
not
	levee/flood protection because there will always be a higher
priority in
	Congress or more influential Congressmen mustering more votes than
ours can.
	Not getting a piece of interstate highway is not the same as not
getting
	money to keep the levees at the right heights.
	
	Deborah Keller