[StBernard] THE $3 BILLION QUESTION

[Westley Annis]

That's pretty sad that Plaquemines will be no more. It was very pretty. We
looked at a place in Port Sulpher. Lots of orange orchards on the river.
There was a little town called Happy Jack; guess he's not too happy now. I
will save my Plaquemines Orange Festival throwcup in my Hurricane Box; it
may be worth something someday! 

Mudpie

	----- Original Message -----
	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.