http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/12/15/bush.levees/index.html Lets hope this can somehow get through. Hopefully it will be followed by another 30 billion to improve the coastal erosion problem.
Something tells me this $3B will quickly become $30B and will be spent about as appropriately as their previous casino..err...levie budgets. Glad to see that money is free these days...maybe they can tax New Orleans at a higher rate for the next 25 years to recoup some of this.
Didn't they say it would probably cost around $3.2 billion to build a dike system similar to the one in the Netherlands? Reading up on those studies makes me optimistic that that could be a legitimate solution - protect the city from the storm surge while reinvigorating the ecosystem and marshes in the area.
It's not exactly the same. Holland isn't subsiding at an high rate like the Mississippi delta is, nor are they subject to tropical hurricanes. Also the dikes do fail occasionally and land gets flooded. Mostly they are obtaining new agricultural land, not trying to protect low-lying cities.
Actually, there was a show on the Discovery channel last night about Holland. Their land is sinking at a high rate. About 2/3 of the land is 20 ft below sea level. They don't have hurricanes, but they are more vulnerable to inland flooding from rain and run-off than New Orleans. They do have winter storms which raises the water level significantly much like hurricanes do. And their levees do fail occasionally also. But for the most part, their engineers in charge of regaining lost land and protecting villages from floods, are far more advanced than we are. I think it would be wise to have some of them assist in the planning of our levee system.
How long have you lived in Louisiana that you still remain optimistic about any sort of legislation? :hihi:
