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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The 'hate Bush at all times' will hate you for such
an intelligent post. I don't see it as a smirk I see it as a smile.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>PK</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=dave@davebudge.com href="mailto:dave@davebudge.com">David M.
Budge</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=deco@moscow.com
href="mailto:deco@moscow.com">Art Deco</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Cc:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">Vision 2020</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, September 02, 2005 5:27
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Vision2020] 09-02-05 NY
Times OP/ED: They Saw It Coming</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0>
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<TR>
<TD><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=5><STRONG>Breaks in
the Levee Logic</STRONG></FONT></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD bgColor=#000000 height=1><BR></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD>
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=1>By
Duane D. Freese</FONT></TD>
<TD width=56 bgColor=#d0d0d0><FONT
face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"
size=1> Published </FONT></TD>
<TD width=70 bgColor=#003366><FONT
face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color=#ffffff
size=1> 09/02/2005 </FONT></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><BR><BR>
<DIV class=size1>
<P class=inside-copy style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><FONT face=Arial>The news and opinion spin cycle is
moving faster than the winds of a category 4 hurricane. Barely have we had the
opportunity to feel denial about the terrible tragedy, feel sympathy for
victims and begin lending our support than we've leapt to the stage of
recrimination: Who's to blame?<O:P></O:P></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=inside-copy style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><O:P><FONT face=Arial></FONT></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=inside-copy style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><FONT face=Arial>And the rush to judgment is running
ahead of appropriate investigation and facts. <O:P></O:P></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=inside-copy style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><O:P><FONT face=Arial></FONT></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=inside-copy style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><A
href="http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001051313"><B><FONT
face=Arial color=#339966>Will Bunch</FONT></B></A><FONT face=Arial>, a senior
writer at the <I>Philadelphia Daily News</I>, raised the question "Did the New
Orleans Catastrophe Have to Happen?" He quoted Louisiana officials and the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the New Orleans area in old
<I>Tiimes-Picayune</I>'s stories complaining about cuts by the Bush
administration in federal funding for levees and flood protection,
particularly ACE's Alfred Naomi, stating in June 2004:
<O:P></O:P></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=inside-copy style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><BR><FONT face=Arial>"The system is in great shape, but
the levees are sinking. Everything is sinking, and if we don't get the money
fast enough to raise them, then we can't stay ahead of the
settlement.<SPAN> </SPAN>The problem that we have isn't that the levee
is low, but that the federal funds have dried up so that we can't raise them."
<O:P></O:P></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=inside-copy style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><O:P><FONT face=Arial></FONT></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=inside-copy style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial><I><SPAN
style="COLOR: black">The New York Times,</SPAN></I><SPAN style="COLOR: black">
in its lead editorial Thursday titled "Waiting for a Leader," churlishly went
after President Bush for his first speech which it called terrible. It went on
to pretend it knew what <ST1:CITY w:st="on"><ST1:PLACE w:st="on">New
Orleans</ST1:PLACE></ST1:CITY>' problem was -- a lack of federal funding.
Specifically it called for the House to restore $70 million in funds for the
levees next year.<O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=inside-copy style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><O:P><FONT face=Arial></FONT></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=inside-copy style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial><I><SPAN
style="COLOR: black">The Washington Post</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="COLOR: black">, in an editorial that talked about not casting blame
now, nonetheless couldn't resist casting some, saying the "president's most
recent budgets have actually proposed reducing funding for flood prevention in
the New Orleans area, and the administration has long ignored Louisiana
politicians' request for more help in protecting their fragile
coast."<O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=inside-copy style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><O:P><FONT face=Arial></FONT></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=inside-copy style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial><I><SPAN
style="COLOR: black">USA Today</SPAN></I><SPAN style="COLOR: black"> did a
better job in a pair of edits -- <A
href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2005-08-31-katrina-part-one_x.htm"><B><FONT
color=#339966>one on the disaster response</FONT></B></A> and one on <A
href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2005-08-31-katrina-part-two_x.htm"><B><FONT
color=#339966>the energy supply</FONT></B></A> -- by recognizing that the
state and local government had a roll in building <ST1:STATE
w:st="on"><ST1:PLACE w:st="on">Louisiana</ST1:PLACE></ST1:STATE>'s
infrastructure. On energy, it even went so far as to say some things some
anti-oil groups hate to hear -- how obstructionists to development of new
refineries, offshore and Alaskan energy supplies share the blame for the
nation's reliance on Gulf Coast supplies.<O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=inside-copy style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><O:P><FONT face=Arial></FONT></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=inside-copy style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial><SPAN
style="COLOR: black">But it, too, got caught up in the drumbeat about the
levees, arguing:<SPAN> </SPAN>"[P]</SPAN>eople living along the
<ST1:PLACE w:st="on"><ST1:PLACETYPE w:st="on">Gulf</ST1:PLACETYPE>
<ST1:PLACETYPE w:st="on">Coast</ST1:PLACETYPE></ST1:PLACE> have grown up
hearing about what could happen if the 'big one' hit the region. <I>Yet the
levees weren't raised or strengthened sufficiently to prevent flooding.
</I>Initial plans for evacuating the city and ensuring civil order were
haphazard at best."</FONT></P>
<P class=inside-copy style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><O:P><FONT
face=Arial></FONT></O:P></P>
<P class=inside-copy style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial>Indeed, if
editorial writers had a comment to make it was to say something about the
levees.</FONT></P>
<P class=inside-copy style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><O:P><FONT
face=Arial></FONT></O:P></P>
<P class=inside-copy style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial>And why not?
The levees broke, didn't they? That's what helped mess up the rescue effort,
didn't it? And there were cuts in federal help, weren't there?</FONT></P>
<P class=inside-copy style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><O:P><FONT
face=Arial></FONT></O:P></P>
<P class=inside-copy style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial>The answers
to all these questions are yes. But, the fact is, they miss an important
point, which <I>The New York Times</I> editorialists might have discovered had
they read their </FONT><A
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/01/national/nationalspecial/01levee.html"><B><FONT
face=Arial color=#339966>own news story</FONT></B></A><FONT face=Arial> by
Andrew Revkin and Christopher Drew. The reporters quoted<SPAN> Shea Penland,
director of the Pontchartrain Institute for Environmental Studies at the
<ST1:PLACE w:st="on"><ST1:PLACETYPE w:st="on">University</ST1:PLACETYPE> of
<ST1:PLACENAME w:st="on">New Orleans</ST1:PLACENAME></ST1:PLACE>, about how
surprising it was that the break in the levee was "a section that was just
upgraded."</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=inside-copy style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face=Arial><SPAN><O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=inside-copy style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN><FONT face=Arial>"It
did not have an earthen levee," he told them. "It had a vertical concrete wall
several feet thick."<O:P></O:P></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=inside-copy style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN><O:P><FONT
face=Arial></FONT></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=inside-copy style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial><SPAN>Worse
for the editorial writers were statements by the chief engineer of the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers, Lt. Gen Carl Strock: </SPAN>"I don't see that the
level of funding was really a contributing factor in this case. Had this
project been fully complete, it is my opinion that based on the intensity of
this storm that the flooding of the business district and the French Quarter
would have still taken place."</FONT></P>
<P class=inside-copy style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><O:P><FONT
face=Arial></FONT></O:P></P>
<P class=inside-copy style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial>The reason:
the funding would only have completed an upgrade of the levees to a protect
against a level 3 hurricane. Katrina was a level 4 plus.</FONT></P>
<P class=inside-copy style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><O:P><FONT
face=Arial></FONT></O:P></P>
<P class=inside-copy style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial>And the
reasons for this goes back decades. </FONT></P>
<P class=inside-copy style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><O:P><FONT
face=Arial></FONT></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial>Since the
1930s, when levee building began in earnest, <ST1:STATE
w:st="on">Louisiana</ST1:STATE> has lost a million acres of its coastal
wetlands, and faces the loss of another 640,000 additional acres -- an area
the size of <ST1:STATE w:st="on"><ST1:PLACE w:st="on">Rhode
Island</ST1:PLACE></ST1:STATE> -- by 2050.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><O:P><FONT
face=Arial></FONT></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial>A new study
based on satellite measurement released in May found that the wetlands area
was sinking at a half-inch to two-inches a year as of 1995, or up to more than
a 1.5 feet a decade.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><O:P><FONT
face=Arial></FONT></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial>"If subsidence
continues and/or sea level rises and human action fails to take place, the
entire coast will be inundated," Roy Dokka of the Louisiana Spatial Reference
Center at Louisiana State University and an author of the study </FONT><A
href="http://www.nola.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-3/1121835742282890.xml?nola"><B><FONT
face=Arial color=#339966>noted in July</FONT></B></A><FONT face=Arial>.
</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><O:P><FONT
face=Arial></FONT></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial>And he went on
in a <I>Times-Picayune</I> piece that columnist Bunch apparently failed to
examine:</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><O:P><FONT
face=Arial></FONT></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"><FONT face=Arial>"The
current plans to save the coast are focused on fixing wetlands, which is
incredibly important, but the problem is that subsidence is affecting the
entire coast. We need to combine those plans with regional hurricane levees
and sand shoals. We have to find some way to protect the people and valuable
infrastructure we have on the coast."</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><O:P><FONT
face=Arial></FONT></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial>This echoes a
point that was raised by the White House Office of Management and Budget in a
review of the Corps of Engineers levee and flood work back in 2003. It
</FONT><A
href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2004/pma/flooddamage.pdf"><B><FONT
face=Arial color=#339966>noted</FONT></B></A><FONT face=Arial> that while the
Corps managed projects that reduced flood damage to specific areas, annual
flood damages to the nation were increasing. As such, it wanted the Corps --
though well-managed -- to broaden its approach by coordinating with federal
flood mitigation efforts -- to be "more pro-active in preventing flood risks
rather than reacting to them."</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><O:P><FONT
face=Arial></FONT></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial>The regional
Corps head so often quoted by the media himself said in 2003 that a project to
protect the city from a category 4 or 5 storm would take 30 years to complete,
with the feasibility study alone costing $8 million and taking six years to
complete. At the time he opined, "Hopefully we won't have a major storm before
then."</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><O:P><FONT
face=Arial></FONT></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial>As for the $14
billion plan called Coastal 2050 for wetlands restoration that Louisiana
politicians have been pushing for the last two years for the federal
government to provide a stream of funds -- up to 65% of the cost -- some
experts say it was only a stop-gap. </FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial>"We are not
going to stop marsh loss. Subsidence is too dominant," James Coleman, a
professor of coastal studies at <ST1:PLACE w:st="on"><ST1:PLACENAME
w:st="on">Louisiana</ST1:PLACENAME> <ST1:PLACETYPE
w:st="on">State</ST1:PLACETYPE> <ST1:PLACETYPE
w:st="on">University</ST1:PLACETYPE></ST1:PLACE>, </FONT><A
href="http://www.nola.com/washingaway/costofsurvival_1.html"><B><FONT
face=Arial color=#339966>told the Times Picayune</FONT></B></A><FONT
face=Arial> a few years ago. Coastal restoration "is a temporary fix in terms
of geological time. You will see results of massive coastal restorations in
our lifetime, but in the long run they are also going to go."</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial>Indeed, those
interested in getting a taste of the complexity of New Orleans situation, a
good place to start is to read </FONT><A
href="http://www.pubs.asce.org/ceonline/ceonline03/0603feat.html"><B><FONT
face=Arial color=#339966>"The Creeping Storm"</FONT></B></A><FONT face=Arial>
by Greg Brouer in the June 2003 <I>Civil Engineering Magazine</I>:</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"><FONT face=Arial>"During
the past 40 years, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has spent hundreds of
millions of dollars constructing a barrier around the low-lying city of
<ST1:PLACE w:st="on"><ST1:CITY w:st="on">New Orleans</ST1:CITY></ST1:PLACE> to
protect it from hurricanes. But is the system high enough? And can any defense
ultimately protect a city that is perpetually sinking -- in some areas at a
rate of half an inch (editor's note: Or up to 2 inches) per year?"</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial>We know the
answer to the first question now -- obviously not. The answer to the second
question will require more investigation. It would be nice if some editorial
writers would perform a little more. Snap judgments in this situation are
worse than no judgment at all.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=2><EM><FONT
face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">To see more of the extensive coverage of
Hurricane Katrina from TCS, click <A
href="http://www.techcentralstation.com/katrina.html"
target=_blank_blank>here</A>.</FONT></EM></FONT></P></DIV><BR><BR><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=1>Copyright İ
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2005 Tech Central Station - <A
href="http://www.techcentralstation.com">www.techcentralstation.com</A></FONT><BR><BR><BR>Art
Deco wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite=mid002001c5afe7$f90d1ee0$6401a8c0@opalpeakkiosk
type="cite"><META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2722" name=GENERATOR>
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<DIV><FONT size=4>
<DIV class=byline>
<DIV class=kicker><EM>NY Times</EM></DIV>
<DIV class=kicker> </DIV>
<DIV class=kicker>Op-Ed Contributor</DIV><NYT_HEADLINE type=" "
version="1.0"></NYT_HEADLINE>
<H1>They Saw It Coming</H1></DIV>
<DIV class=byline> </DIV></FONT></DIV><BR></BLOCKQUOTE>
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