Horrible. Unthinkable. But read the article. (I’ve added emphasis to a few lines below.)
When flooding from a massive rainstorm in May 1995
killed six people, Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban
Flood Control Project, or SELA.
Over
the next 10 years, the Army Corps of Engineers, tasked with carrying
out SELA, spent $430 million on shoring up levees and building pumping
stations, with $50 million in local aid. But at least $250 million in
crucial projects remained, even as hurricane activity in the Atlantic
Basin increased dramatically and the levees surrounding New Orleans
continued to subside.
Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward
SELA dropped to a trickle. The [U.S. Army Corps of Engineers] never tried to hide the fact that
the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security
— coming at the same time as federal tax cuts — was the reason for
the strain.
killed six people, Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban
Flood Control Project, or SELA.
the next 10 years, the Army Corps of Engineers, tasked with carrying
out SELA, spent $430 million on shoring up levees and building pumping
stations, with $50 million in local aid. But at least $250 million in
crucial projects remained, even as hurricane activity in the Atlantic
Basin increased dramatically and the levees surrounding New Orleans
continued to subside.
Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward
SELA dropped to a trickle. The [U.S. Army Corps of Engineers] never tried to hide the fact that
the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security
— coming at the same time as federal tax cuts — was the reason for
the strain.
And this was reported at the time. Not as a partisan thing. Just as a public safety issue.
At least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from
2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the
lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars.
2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the
lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars.
In early 2004, as
the cost of the conflict in Iraq soared, President Bush proposed
spending less than 20 percent of what the Corps said was needed for
Lake Pontchartrain, according to a Feb. 16, 2004, article, in New Orleans CityBusiness.
the cost of the conflict in Iraq soared, President Bush proposed
spending less than 20 percent of what the Corps said was needed for
Lake Pontchartrain, according to a Feb. 16, 2004, article, in New Orleans CityBusiness.
On June 8, 2004, Walter Maestri, emergency
management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, told the
Times-Picayune: "It appears that the money has been moved in the
president