Do
not blame others for New Orleans challenges
Lee Underwood
The Senate committee on Environment and Public Works met recently with members
of the EPA, the Federal Highway Administration and the Army Corps of Engineers
to discuss various aspects of rebuilding New Orleans post-Hurricane Katrina.
On the surface, the purpose of this committee meeting was clear — to answer
a looming question: what do these organizations need to do in order to get the
city back on sturdy, albeit soggy, feet again? The purpose was clear, that is,
until the meeting shifted — into a game of “blame and shame.”
The chairman of the committee, Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., began the meeting
in a stoic tone and urged a prudent spending strategy.
“
I know the state is very involved in this issue, but as long as we are spending
federal dollars, we should be certain that the money is spent both wisely and
in a manner that does not create future problems,” Inhofe said.
But it was obvious his mind was elsewhere. The failed levee system became the
topic of his diatribe, and in a predictable move Inhofe immediately blamed environmental
protection groups for the catastrophic flooding of New Orleans.
“
We all know that in 1977, lawsuits by environmental groups not only delayed
the flood control solution for New Orleans, but forced the Corps to abandon
its preferred solution.”
The lawsuits in question were brought about by both environmental groups and
fishermen. The litigation that followed prevented the Corps from destroying wetlands,
which are natural barriers from storm surges, and blocked the healthy flow of
water in and out of Lake Pontchartrain. Although environmental groups did not
object to fortifying existing levees, Corps officials abandoned the project altogether.
Inhofe’s intentions for castigating environmental groups and blaming them
for the world’s ills should be scrutinized. Behind a veil of public policy
is a vendetta that Inhofe is playing out in the senate chambers.
It was, in fact,
the Committee on Environmental and Public Works that sent out an e-mail to the
U.S. Department of Justice which in turn sent the e-mail to various U.S. attorney’s
offices asking, “Has your district defended any cases on behalf of the
[U.S.] Army Corps of Engineers against claims brought by environmental groups
seeking to block or otherwise impede the Corps work on levees protecting New
Orleans?”
This e-mail, printed in the Mississippi Clarion-Ledger newspaper on Sept. 16,
exemplifies Inhofe’s intentions to deflect blame away from the Bush administration
and onto groups that impede his progress toward wasteful industry-backed projects.
The 1977 levee project would have devastated New Orleans wetlands and wildlife,
and, the article reports, the proposed levee would have only stood up to a weak
category 3 hurricane, not a category 4 like Katrina.
If Inhofe wishes to blame someone or some organization for the flooding of New
Orleans, he should look first to the blank faces of his cronies in the White
House. According to the Clarion-Ledger article, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., “has
said the White House cut $400 million from Corps’ requests for flood control
money in the area.”
At the time, the fortification of the levee system
was not the top priority despite the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s
warning in 2001 that a hurricane striking New Orleans would be one of the top
three catastrophic events the nation could face.
Inhofe should not be responsible for molding environmental policy. He believes
wholeheartedly global warming is a “hoax” and “even if humans
were causing global warming — and we are not — but even if we were,
Kyoto would do nothing to avert it.”
His ideology is flawed and his most
recent actions are the final violent twitches of a dying animal.
Lee Underwood is in the English education credential program.
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