I sorry as all get out for the folks in New Orleans. But
New Orleans is a city that should have never been built. I'll disagree with one point, that the government was responsible for all the problems. I believe it's the folks of New Orleans, that started the canals and drainage ditches ( and allowed the city exist to the point that it became an important enough port to cause congress to pass the various act's and laws that accelerated city's sinking to it's present level ), should carry the larger burden of guilt. Since I first learned of the below sea level issues surrounding New Orleans, I have often wondered if the U.S. would be better served by letting go of the present location of the city, and rebuilding in a location better suited for a city. Several times I have tried to tally the total preventive and running maintenance cost of trying to prevent, what has now happened in New Orleans, but, have failed each time. With the millions spent each year, the total must be in the billions by now. And now they have to rebuild virtually the entire city? I always wonder if the city is worth what it would take to move it or ( recalling Popular Science articles ), build a floating city, that would be anchored in place and "float" on top of the swampy soil. http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/technology_watch/1284346.html http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/transportation/1289186.html http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/defense/1281531.html It is not like they couldn't do it so it can let a hurricane blow over ( and under in the case of storm surge ) them, the technology is now available just look at the gulf coast oil platforms. I think it is going to be interesting to see, how many people and companies leave the area, because the cost of rebuilding ( not to mention insurance ) will be to high. How many more hurricanes will it take for New Orleans to wake up to it's problems? Greg H. ----- Original Message ----- From: "TarynToo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <Biofuel@sustainablelists.org> Sent: Tuesday, August 30, 2005 22:08 Subject: [Biofuel] Katrina slams New Orleans. Is There Blame? > I live in South Florida, on high(ish) ground. Katrina came past and > gave my neighborhood a little slap, on her way out to the warm gulf > waters, where she organized into a cat 5 hurricane. Now 1.5 million > people are homeless, jobless, and in shock, just from New Orleans > alone. There's no guessing how many will be dead when all is accounted > for. > > Entrepreneurs and businesses have always gone where the resources are. > Regular folks follow behind because that's where the jobs are. > Government comes along and surrounds a swamp with levees, and calls it > a city. <http://www.pubs.asce.org/ceonline/ceonline03/0603feat.html> > And of course the Army Corps of Engineers comes along and turns 2000 > miles of winding bottomland river into a 1000 mile ditch, contained > (theoretically) by 14 meter levees. Homes, factories, and farms fill > the bottomland right up to the levies. > > In a free society, you can't prevent people from trying to turn a swamp > into a suburb, unless you buy the land and turn it into park or > preserve. Ever since agriculture started on the Nile, we've known that > flood plains are great places to grow crops, so you don't really want > to take them out of production. Of course if you dam off the river, the > plain is no longer renewed, topsoil leaches away, and the land starts > to sink even lower. Then there are lots of places in this country > where the ONLY justification for building homes is gorgeous location, > like Miami Beach and all the other sandbars on our Atlantic coast, or > the muddy, fire prone hills above Los Angeles. > > People have to find work, they have to live where they work. New > Orleans grew where it did because it was a handy place for a port that > served the Mississippi, there was rich fishing in the gulf, it was > marginally drier than much of the wetland around it. > But, like Venice, it's been sinking since it was built, > <http://www.pubs.asce.org/ceonline/ceonline03/0603feat.html> and just > like the proverbial frog in a slowly heating kettle, few have ever > decided it was time to get out. > > But you can't expect to live below sea level next to a sea, or on a > flood plain, or a sand bar, or a muddy hillside, or a dry pine forest, > and be safe. Should governments issue building permits in swamps? > Should insurance companies write fire policies on wooden houses in pine > forests? Flood policies on swamps and flood plains? Should governments > try to control mighty rivers from headwaters to delta, destroying > wetlands and the buffering swamp? Should governments dredge millions > of tons of sand back onto the beaches of Miami every time a hurricane > scours them out? Do citizens have a right to settle in the path of > disaster? Does government have an obligation to make extraordinary > efforts to save them from that disaster? > > Whether we ever get New Orleans dry again, or not, perhaps it should be > condemned as unfit for human habitation. Made partly into a memorial > (To stubborn denial in the face of the obvious?) and the rest back to > wetland. We certainly need the wetlands, and I'd bet that if the > Mississippi was allowed to set her own course, in only a decade or two > the entire bowl of New Orleans would become fine breeding grounds, once > again filling the gulf with life. > > I'm not sure I even know my own position on all this, but I've lived in > the path of hurricanes for many years. I can't help but stroll the > beaches of our barrier islands, looking at houses and condos, built on > SAND BARS, and ask, "Are these people nuts? How can they live here and > expect sympathy and support when a storm sweeps the land right out from > under them? What lunatic zoning board said it was alright to sell > condos on sand bars?" The buildings do sit on pilings driven a dozen > meters or more into our very soft bedrock, but that only means they > might not wash away immediately, instead perching on stilts in the > Atlantic ocean, when the storm moves the barrier island out from under > them. And it will, sooner or later. > > Taryn > ornae.com > > > _______________________________________________ > Biofuel mailing list > Biofuel@sustainablelists.org > http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): > http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ > > _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
