[StBernard] THE $3 BILLION QUESTION

[Westley Annis]

THE $3 BILLION QUESTION
The Army Corps of Engineers says the cost of protecting Plaquemines Parish
nearly equals what it will cost to protect the rest of the metro area. But
Plaquemines officials say the figures just don't add up. 
Saturday, April 01, 2006
By Bruce Alpert and Allen Powell II
Staff writers 

That's how much the Army Corps of Engineers now says it will cost to protect
the 14,795 residents of Plaquemines Parish excluding Belle Chasse against a
flood with a 1 percent chance of occurring in any single year -- the
government standard for protection against a Katrina-like or stronger
hurricane. 

Under the new corps cost projections, an additional $6 billion is needed on
top of the $3.5 billion the Bush administration has already requested for
hurricane protection for the New Orleans area. Of the additional $6 billion,
it will cost nearly as much to upgrade levees in Plaquemines as would be
spent on protecting the entire remaining New Orleans area -- about 1 million
people, or 98.6 percent of the local population. The total would be $9.5
billion for the region, nearly triple what the Bush administration has
requested. 

Even in fast-spending Washington, numbers like that cause double takes --
and major political problems for the state's congressional members. After
being briefed on the new estimates this week, Louisiana members urged
President Bush to immediately request the additional $6 billion the corps
said is needed to enable residents and businesses to rebuild without having
to elevate their homes and businesses 15 feet or more to meet federal flood
insurance standards. 

Of that $6 billion, the corps estimates that $2.9 billion would be needed to
protect Plaquemines. 


Suspicious of numbers 

Parish officials said they are puzzled by the new cost estimates and worried
that their residents could be left out of the next round of levee upgrades
because of the high per capita costs. 

They also express suspicion that the cost estimates are higher than needed
and suggest that wetlands restoration, natural barriers and targeted
projects could substitute for some of the most expensive levee projects.
They also argue that a per capita analysis of flood protection costs ignores
the national significance of the parish's energy and fishing industries. 

"Have you ever known the Army Corps of Engineers to do anything on the
cheap?" asked state Sen. Walter Boasso, R-Arabi, who represents Plaquemines.
He said he believes costs can be reduced significantly. 

But even if the estimates are right on, Boasso said, Congress and the Bush
administration should realize that Plaquemines' flood vulnerabilities are
directly attributable to decades-old navigation projects along the
Mississippi River that badly eroded the area's marshes and wetlands while
helping to bring America cheap oil, fish and other commodities. 

"How much are cheap oil and other commodities flowing through to mid-America
worth? That's what people should look at rather than per capita costs,"
Boasso said. 


Caught off guard 

Corps officials cited a number of factors for their new estimates: the loss
of coastal wetlands and other natural barriers as a result of Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita; new discoveries of deficiencies in the system as the corps
inspected the 169 miles of damaged levees in the seven months since Katrina
struck; and projections of increased likelihood of storms as strong or
stronger than Katrina hitting the Gulf Coast. 

Plaquemines Parish President Benny Rousselle said he, like most parish
officials, was caught off guard with the latest cost estimates. But he said
he believes the levee improvements can be scaled back -- if the federal
government works with state and local officials to combine levee protection
with coastal restoration and the creation of open space for natural
barriers. 

Plaquemines Parish Council Chairman John Barthelemy Jr., a Democrat, said
the corps estimates are "grossly exaggerated" and should be reviewed by
outside experts. 

"But even if the cost estimates turn out to be in the ballpark, we certainly
shouldn't be subject to the kind of cost analysis that looks at it in per
person numbers," Barthelemy said. "We're certainly not doing that in Iraq.
Look at all the money we're spending there, and the loss of all those lives,
and yet when it comes to protecting an area with our wealth of natural
resources, energy and fisheries, the whole nine yards that benefits the
whole nation, we are suddenly cost-conscious." 

Saltwater in their veins 

Some Plaquemines Parish residents say it probably makes sense for the
federal government to balk at spending billions on levees for the parish.
Albert Buras Jr., who rode out Katrina with family members in a boat near
Boothville, said that no matter what the federal government builds, it will
eventually break again. 

However, Buras said, the federal government's plans won't affect his
decision to return. Buras, a crabber and pipe welder, is already renovating
his former home on Louisiana 23 and said he plans to remain there no matter
what. 

"I've been living here all my life. This is where the jobs are," Buras said.


Joshua Castille said the federal government owes it to the people of
Plaquemines Parish to protect their way of life. The parish, he said, is a
major hub for the seafood and sport fishing industry, whose absence would
hurt the nation as a whole. 

"We've lived here all our life, and now someone is just going to throw it
away," he said. 

Castille said he never planned to return to Plaquemines after Hurricane
Katrina destroyed his home and his fishing boat. 

Castille, 19, and his wife, Brittany, 19, had started a new life in Alabama,
where Joshua found work as a diesel mechanic and Brittany got used to
creature comforts like movie theaters. 

But, Castille said no matter how he tried, he couldn't be happy in Alabama
because the saltwater in his veins wouldn't let him be anything other than a
commercial fisher. So on Thursday, the Castilles came back to Empire and the
rubble that used to be their neighborhood. 

While the couple wait for a FEMA trailer, Castille is rebuilding an old
fishing boat so that he can get back to the only way of life that makes him
happy. Peeling boiled crawfish with his wife and 70-year-old aunt, Castille
said he hopes the federal government builds better levees, but admits that
their absence won't make him leave home again. 

"These waters is my home and I know what to do in them," he said. "It would
be great if there was a place a half hour from where I worked as a fisherman
that didn't get hurricanes, but there isn't a place." 


Setting priorities 

Mark Davis, executive director of the Coalition to Restore Coastal
Louisiana, worries that the corps' new projections for levee upgrades, not
only in Plaquemines but throughout the New Orleans area, will take needed
resources away from coastal restoration. 

"I don't think there is any realistic way to provide 100 percent protection
for every community and every house," Davis said. Choices, he said, have to
be made, keeping in mind that the state's flooding vulnerability cannot be
mitigated with "gigantic levees alone" -- that restoration of barriers
islands and wetlands is also vital. 


>From one of Washington's fiscal watchdog groups, the message is that the

government needs to be fiscally responsible as it decides what post-Katrina
flood control projects to finance. 

"We've always said that when it comes to Katrina and other natural disasters
that there are times when you have to make hard decisions as we go forward
-- that we have an obligation to help and protect people but we have to set
priorities and can't simply allow the past, or old decisions, to dictate
what we do now," said Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common
Sense. 

. . . . . . . 


Bruce Alpert can be reached at bruce.alpert at newhouse.com or (202) 383-7861.