Abandon New Orleans Permanently?

The question has been raised more than once in the last few days: How moral or practical is it to rebuild a city that very possibly will suffer the same kind of catastrophic flooding in the not-too-distant future, especially if global warming is real?

For that matter, is it really worth building causeways to islands to encourage commercial development, even though these islands are likely to be flattened every 20 or so years by hurricanes?

U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert recently weighed into this contentious issue. Rebuilding New Orleans, he believes “doesn’t make sense.”

While supporting a bailout, Hastert nonetheless is concerned about a long-term rebuilding effort --- and as the most powerful person in the GOP-controlled House, he can block any legislation he opposes.

Hastert questions the wisdom of rebuilding a city 7 feet below seal level that will continue to be vulnerable to the same type of destruction visited upon the city earlier this week.

"You know we build Los Angeles and San Francisco on top of earthquake fissures and they rebuild, too. Stubbornness," he said.

"It looks like a lot of that place could be bulldozed," the Illinois Republican said in an interview about New Orleans Wednesday with the Daily Herald of Arlington Heights, Ill.

Hastert, however, later issued a statement saying he was not "advocating that the city be abandoned or relocated."

"My comments about rebuilding the city were intended to reflect my sincere concern with how the city is rebuilt to ensure the future protection of its citizens and not to suggest that this great and historic city should not be rebuilt," the statement said.

Still, Hastert isn’t the only one raising this issue. The Waterbury, Conn., Republican-American newspaper questions why anyone should be surprised over what happened in New Orleans.

“For decades, New Orleans has been a catastrophe in waiting. Geologists have predicted it would be destroyed by the tidal surge from a powerful hurricane sometime this century. The city sits below sea level, below massive Lake Pontchartrain and below the Mississippi River. Since 1930, more than 700,000 acres of Mississippi Delta south of the city have disappeared into the Gulf of Mexico, the victim of the same natural forces that one day will consume New Orleans. The city sinks further every year as the silt beneath it compacts; so do the bayous and the barrier islands that shield the city from hurricanes and strong storms.”

The newspaper concludes that if government does help rebuild homes and business in New Orleans and the rest of the ravaged Gulf Coast, it “stipulate that the next time a hurricane blows through, it will be up to the people living there to make themselves whole.”

Posted by Jim Langcuster at September 2, 2005 09:15 AM | TrackBack