Molly Ivins | Why New Orleans Is in Deep Water

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Molly Ivins | Why New Orleans Is in Deep Water

Thu, 01 Sep 2005 16:46:59 -0700

 

 

 

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090105Q.shtml

 

Why New Orleans Is in Deep Water

By Molly Ivins

Creators Syndicate

 

Thursday 01 September 2005

 

Austin, Texas - 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.

 

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