Why New Orleans is in
Deep Water
by Molly Ivins,
Chicago Tribune from the Web, September 3, 2005
Like many of you who love New
Orleans, I find myself taking short mental walks there today, turning a familiar
corner, glimpsing a favorite scene, square or vista. And worrying about
the beloved friends and the city, and how they are now.
To use a fine Southern word, it's tacky to start playing the blame game before
the dead are even counted. It is not too soon, however, to make a point
that needs to be hammered home again and again, and that is that government
policies have real consequences in people's lives.
This is not "just politics" or blaming for political advantage. This is
about the real consequences of what governments do and do not do about their
responsibilities. And about who winds up paying the price for those
policies.
This is a column for everyone in the path of Hurricane Katrina who ever said,
"I'm sorry, I'm just not interested in politics," or, "There's nothing I can do
about it," or, "Eh, they're all crooks anyway."
Nothing to do with me, nothing to do with my life, nothing I can do about any of
it. Look around you this morning. I suppose the National Rifle
Association would argue, "Government policies don't kill people, hurricanes kill
people." Actually, hurricanes plus government policies kill people.
One of the main reasons New Orleans is so vulnerable to hurricanes is the
gradual disappearance of the wetlands on the Gulf Coast that once stood as a
natural buffer between the city and storms coming in from the water. The
disappearance of those wetlands does not have the name of a political party or a
particular administration attached to it. No one wants to play, "The
Democrats did it," or, "It's all Reagan's fault." Many environmentalists
will tell you more than a century's interference with the natural flow of the
Mississippi is the root cause of the problem, cutting off the movement of
alluvial soil to the river's delta.
But in addition to long-range consequences of long-term policies like letting
the Corps of Engineers try to build a better river than God, there are real
short-term consequences, as well. It is a fact that the Clinton
administration set some tough policies on wetlands, and it is a fact that the
Bush administration repealed those policies -- ordering federal agencies to stop
protecting as many as 20 million acres of wetlands.
Last year, four environmental groups cooperated on a joint report showing the
Bush administration's policies had allowed developers to drain thousands of
acres of wetlands.
Does this mean we should blame President Bush for the fact that New Orleans is
underwater? No, but it means we can blame Bush when a Category 3 or
Category 2 hurricane puts New Orleans under. At this point, it is a matter
of making a bad situation worse, of failing to observe the First Rule of Holes
(when you're in one, stop digging).
Had a storm the size of Katrina just had the grace to hold off for a while, it's
quite likely no one would even remember what the Bush administration did two
months ago. The national press corps has the attention span of a gnat, and
trying to get anyone in Washington to remember longer than a year ago is like
asking them what happened in Iznik, Turkey, in A.D. 325.
Just plain political bad luck that, in June, Bush took his little ax and chopped
$71.2 million from the budget of the New Orleans Corps of Engineers, a 44
percent reduction. As was reported in New Orleans CityBusiness at the
time, that meant "major hurricane and flood projects will not be awarded to
local engineering firms. Also, a study to determine ways to protect the
region from a Category 5 hurricane has been shelved for now."
The commander of the corps' New Orleans district also immediately instituted a
hiring freeze and canceled the annual corps picnic.
Our friends at the Center for American Progress note the Office of Technology
Assessment used to produce forward-thinking plans such as "Floods: A
National Policy Concern" and "A Framework for Flood Hazards Management."
Unfortunately, the office was targeted by Newt Gingrich and the Republican
right, and gutted years ago.
In fact, there is now a governmentwide movement away from basing policy on
science, expertise and professionalism, and in favor of choices based on
ideology. If you're wondering what the ideological position on flood
management might be, look at the pictures of New Orleans -- it seems to consist
of gutting the programs that do anything.
Unfortunately, the war in Iraq is directly related to the devastation left by
the hurricane. About 35 percent of Louisiana's National Guard is now
serving in Iraq, where four out of every 10 soldiers are guardsmen.
Recruiting for the Guard is also down significantly because people are afraid of
being sent to Iraq if they join, leaving the Guard even more short-handed.
The Louisiana National Guard also notes that dozens of its high-water vehicles,
Humvees, refuelers and generators have also been sent abroad. (I hate to
be picky, but why do they need high-water vehicles in Iraq?)
This, in turn, goes back to the original policy decision to go into Iraq without
enough soldiers and the subsequent failure to admit that mistake and to rectify
it by instituting a draft.
The levees of New Orleans, two of which are now broken and flooding the city,
were also victims of Iraq war spending. Walter Maestri, emergency
management chief for Jefferson Parish, said on June 8, 2004, "It appears that
the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security
and the war in Iraq."
This, friends, is why we need to pay attention to government policies, not
political personalities, and to know whereon we vote. It is about our
lives.
Molly Ivins is a syndicated columnist based in Washington
Posted Sept.1, 05
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