An Exercise in Slow-Motion Urgency

Last post on this subject this week, I promise.  The Times-Picayune's Mark Schliefstein reports on the visit of the White House Council on Environmental Quality's chairperson, Nancy Sutley, to New Orleans (a visit paired alongside the President's own).  We are ten months into the administration, the facts about the degradation of Louisiana's coastal wetlands and the construction and design flaws in the levee "system" that disastrously failed in 2005 have all been well known and on the public record for some time, and here's what Chair Sutley said yesterday:

"For me, this is the start of a dialogue, the start of a partnership for the Obama administration," Sutley said, adding that there's "a real commitment on the part of the administration to see these processes through, to understand the science, to understand the priorities, and as I heard this morning, certainly the message of urgency is one I will take back with me to Washington."

Never too late to start up.  There is, in line with this spirit of urgency, a "new" White House working group on issues of coastal restoration in Mississippi and Louisiana.  Warp speed, baby.  Whiplash time.  But okay, let's start the stopwatch on this message of urgency...

Follow Harry Shearer on Twitter: www.twitter.com/letwits

Comments

[CrescentCityRay]

If you are curious about the 10/15 Rally for Wetland & Coastal Restoration and a Reliable Storm Surge Protection System just before the president’s visit, it was a success. About 5 reporters, 4 of which were from national press, interviewed 75% of rally participants and no one got a parking ticket. Unfortunately, we attracted more reporters than rally participants. Ces't la vie.

Forgive me, but I need to dropout of our scene. Honestly, my health has suffered from the emotions I feel when even thinking of or hearing mention of our most pressing issues. My family's current financial problems are because of my overly obsessive behavior trying to right the wrongs for our city.

I've been obsessed with trying to help my city and people recover from the federal levee failures since September 12, 2005 after my second return home. I feel like I might have helped some people and neighborhoods in-re housing, in correcting myths, and a little bit at having our city treated fairly when it comes to wetland restoration and storm surge protection.

Many of you can juggle and multitask at the same time. I cannot even chew gum when riding a bike.

I'll never lose my passion for our city and its recovery. To those who continue working for the life and death important issues for New Orleanians, you have my very best regards and I wish you all the luck in the world. I have to try to stop, for now at least.
-crescentCityRay.

[Harry Shearer - Huffpost Blogger]

Thanks. You've been great.

[RepugsOut08]

I've enjoyed reading your posts, Ray. Posts from NO citizens like yourself, have been invaluable in aiding my understanding of the challeges NO faces from my distant area of the country.
Take good care of yourself and your family, and thanks for helping me get a feel for what a great city NO is and will continue be.

[luziannagirl]

I second Repugsie's comments, CCR. Take a break, get some comfort food. Wish you could share some of my home-made, home-caught Frank Davis Crab & Corn Not-Quite-­Maque-Chou­x Soup tonight.

After all, it is starting to be "gumbo party" season.

'Das a quote, y'all!

[DonVitoCorleone]

It isn't the hurricane. Heck, the hurricane hit east of the big easy. Its the storm surge and all those wonderful straight line ship canals that caused the most of the problems. Thanks, Corps of Engineers.

Now __ __ __ __. or get off the pot. The problem ain't going away.

[luziannagirl]

And thousands of straight-line oilfield canals, Don, an important point minimized by the glitzy IMAX film "Hurricane on the Bayou".

[LMPE]

My parents just got back from the Netherlands and Denmark. The Dutch have always maintained their levee system. Know why? Because no part of Europe (and probably no other part of the world) is populated by yahoos who, every time that there's an opportunity to engage in one of these projects, start shouting "The government's taking my money!"

If we as a society intend to protect New Orleans, then we have to put up the money. That means no borrowing from other countries. We can do this if we don't let ignoramuses impede progress.

[LizM]

That's a tall order. :)

[Polichick66]

Agreed. And the same for medical coverage for all our citizens.

[maxfax]

A little off topic, but relevant to lack of government attention relative to flood protection, upriver, there's another storm a-brewing.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/editorialcommentary/story/E147A10B075B9B01862576490080E14D?OpenDocument

[maxfax]

An earlier article on levees, costs, and the COE, put this writer in some hot water of his own.

"After flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans,,,"

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/illinoisnews/story/4AA72F4B0D7FBABF862576460009AA72?OpenDocument

If the Congressional delegations of Missouri, Illinois, and Louisiana were to join forces, along with the Governors, to lobby for a massive change in this government agency, would we all have a chance to correct their errors, and save property and lives in the future?

[snoopjohnny]

I think Obama could make a great example of wetlands recovery, flood protection, etc.. Why not create jobs while solving problems dealing with levees and acting (not just discussing) to replace the long-warned-of protective lands lost on the coast? No doubt It's hard for some to understand the geology of this beautiful land where earth transitions to sea like nowhere else. But it would mean so much to the country, the world and the gulf coast to rise above the shameful negligence that cost us so dearly. How can we spend so much money in Afghanistan and Iraq, while doing so little in New Orleans, four years after proof positive of the deadly risk of another storm?

Even if I didn't have many friends and loved ones on both side of the Ponchartrain, I'd still be asking.....Are we really so disconnected from the value (and safety) of our people, land and history to stand idle another year?

[mizerello]

The problems in LA and NO have reached the stage where, with nothing done for so many years by a Republican administration and congress, the needs have grown beyond what the American people will be willing to accommodate. Unfortunately, we're sheep in this country. No one in the Tea Party movement joined the anti war movement when Bush was lowering taxes and sticking us into two wars. Few on the Hill--Republicans and Democrats alike, complained about the billions being spent on two ill conceived wars--when they knew it was a fraud. Virtually no one in the media even allowed dissenters to appear on their networks or in their pages to express their doubts about the Bush wars. Everyone went along. While NO drowned and while the rest of America's infrastructure declined. Why is it that when money is needed for people in this country, the right says it's irresponsible and just an illustration of the "tax and spend" mentality of the Democrats? Why is it that it's okay for hundreds of thousands of people to die each year in this country because of a broken health care system but we don't care? Sorry Harry. Getting snarkey with Obama isn't going to get anything done for you. Maybe you should talk to your congressional and state government...lost cause I know...Frankly, I'd move if I were you.

[Harry Shearer - Huffpost Blogger]

Can't move on. I live in, and love, New Orleans.

[maxfax]

The media spent more time on the "missing boy balloon hoax" than they did on covering President Obama and his visit to New Orleans. Bet Rahm Emanuel went "Whew"!

[doctorj2u]

This topic (Balloon boy overtakes the Prez speech) was a front page story in New Orleans the next day. We can't win for trying with this country.

[maxfax]

Doc I have Friday's paper, the President is front and center and 3/4 of the frontpage, under the sub-title of "Obama makes his first visit to New Orleans as president" with the title quote "Together, we will rebuild this region, and we will build it stronger than before."

Good heavens, I almost fell out of the chair with the above stated quote, so "Jackson Square"-ish, if you know what I mean.

Not a balloon story anywhere on the frontpage. However, the "cables" went balloon crazy before the President left the ground, robbing New Orleans and the region of the much needed attention deserved and required.

[smower]

How much of the massive stimulus money went towards coastal restoration and infrastructure improvement in New Orleans? I suspect the amount was grossly insufficient. Projects such as those are far more important and much more politically palatable than repaving already well-paved highways and handing out checks to community activist organizations. The former stimulate long term economic growth whereas the latter only provide short term relief if any relief at all. I hope Congress can change course and redirect the unspent stimulus money towards meaningful infrastructure and environmental enhancement projects such as Everglades restoration, Cheseapeake Bay erosion control, wastewater treatment plant upgrades, and etc.

[Polichick66]

You should be able to track the stimulus spending per state. I know my local senator just sent out a newsletter that linked to where the stimulus money was being spent on transportation issues.

[urfree2speak]

Hi ,
Mattie, please let me say that not everyone is against a persons opinion....simply because you are not afraid to "call out the obvious" yes Mattie some people may "believe that they own President Obama" some people may try to downplay real "opinions". Soon their will be other "blogs" (political) that will be available for ALL people to "express their "views " of what is and what is not. some of us feel that we were "betrayed"
But I can assure you that the time is coming when politicians will have to "earn" their vote and these votes not be taken for granted.We may be slow learners but we are learning non the less....
As for all you so called "experts" y'all can "check my spelling.........

[polishlogician]

Harry presented his case (and everyone else living in New Orleans) to Joe Mathieu on the POTUS "Press Pool". (Anyone else out there get SIRI/XM, you can hear some of the best interviews and live events without breakaway to balloon stories.)

[mattie wallace]

You know what? I am SICK and Tired of YOU people trying to order the President around!!! Yes I said it!

Who do you people think you are? you go from one THING to the NEXT!!!! you people are NOT running this country?

We have the Gay Right's Movement! who is keeping them from doing what they want to do? not the President! he has too much on his Plate!!! do you people see Black Folk's in Washington Marching around1 NO!!! and their is plenty we can MARCH about!!!! but No! we have to sit back and watch how the WHITE REP/CON, DEM, LIB, PROG, are TRYING to BRING the PRESIDENT DOWN!!!! you people are all over the place COMPLAINING!!!!

What a SELFISH GROUP of American's! from the moment the President was Inaugurated, White Folk's wanted their Pound of Flesh!!!! the PEOPLE for him and against him!!!!

Where were YOU people when BUSH was in office? you people allowed this man to leave office SCOTT FREE!!! and know you want the President to be SUPER MAN!!!

I would suggest that YOU people get some place and REGROUP!!!

[Javani]

"Who do you people think you are?"

People who listened to his promises.

[wonketteRAWKS]

He wasn't ready on day one and he still isn't.

[GeorgeKaplan]

So its all about "white people" - great thanks for raising the level of the discussion.

[RepugsOut08]

What a load of hogwash! I want serious health care reform, and all the other progressive promises Obama made on the campaign trail to become reality. That's why I voted for Obama.
Do you seriously think that I, or any other person who voted for Obama, want him to fail? Because he's black?
This idea that white people voted for a black candidate so they could enjoy attacking him, is ludicrous beyond comprehension.
Obama seems to be able to accept, understand and handle the inevitable criticism EVERY president gets from both sides.
Apparently it is YOU, mattie, who wasn't ready for a black president.

[CrescentCityRay]

mattie,

Go back and you can easily discover, we were just as critical about Bush ignoring desperate needs in New Orleans. We deserved help from the previous administration and we deserve help from the present administration. The previous guy made promisses that turned out to be B.S.. This administration used our deaths, losses and suffering to help get elected and made a lot of promisses in our regard during his campaign. We need someone, anyone to live up to their word and right at least some of the wrongs done to our people by our federal government.

Understand that our situation is truly desperate, a federal responsibility and we were in line to have needs met long before most of the other causes attempting to get attention from this President. The failed rescue of our family and neighbors, at this point is more or less water under the bridge as far as most of us are concerned.

We truly need and deserve reliable reconstruction of our hurricane storm surge protection system, now, not next year or just before reelection. We have turned in our local cost share to the feds and the feds, by law, are the only ones who can do the levee reconstruction work. The same goes for our wetland restoration we need and deserve to get real serious attention to that problem ASAP because that is really the most important part of the equation to keep our very man made disaster from happening again.

[LizM]

It's easy to be a cynic when it comes to the commitment of the federal government to restoring the wetlands and barrier islands of coastal Louisiana. This is especially true when government officials - from the President on down - make public declarations which tend to imply, as President Obama did on his recent visit to New Orleans, that they do not understand the crux of the problem.

It's also easy for many, apparently, to be cavalier about this issue and call for patience while the government studies the merit of individual projects and sets its priorities, all the while glossing over the comprehensive and urgent nature of the problem.

I was kind of hoping that President Obama would have made an announcement in New Orleans that he was appointing yet another czar in the person of one Dr. Ivor van Heerden. Now THAT would have impressed me!

But, I’m with you Harry...let’s put a stopwatch on the Obama-Biden administration’s message of urgency and see how long it takes to produce a comprehensive and viable plan for action to save a great American city from being devoured by the Gulf of Mexico, literally!

And, let’s hope they understand that time is the enemy.

[CherokeeGirl]

there's only one problem with your blog, Harry. The part where you promise this is the last one this week.

Love ya Harry!

[Thermodynamics]

Channelization.
Nobody in the upper 47 states understands what has happened to the Mississippi basin since 1900.

To control seasonal flooding they have walled in the M river from Illinois to the Gulf. It sounds good, but the downside is that topsoil that used to be left along the river now ends up in the deep water of the Gulf.

This is an especially bad problem in S Louisiana. Salt water essentially melts the coastal marshes. so without annual replenishment by river mud they disappear. Salt water melts marsh mud because the salt ions make clay particles float away. We need those marshes if we want to eat fish and shrimp because that is where the juveniles develop.

When i was in the eighth grade they took us to see the Corps of Engineers model of the Mississippi River, in a long building at Vicksburg, MS. I think the Corps has replaced it with computers, but back then they had a working simulation of flood control projects from Cairo, Il, to the Gulf. They tested flood control projects by spraying water on the model -- very analog.

[TOOO]

It seems pretty obvious to me that the President was neither briefed or prepared for his trip to NOLA. I'd like to know why.

[Javani]

Why do you think he cares? He said,

"I wish I could just write a check," he said. "You say, why not? There's this whole thing about the Constitution." He added that in Washington, "everyone will attack you for spending money, unless you are spending it on them."

This is eerily like his comments, twice, about his grandmother. "I would have paid out of pocket for that hip replacement just because she's my grandmother" he said once, during a discussion about Medicare reductions, implying maybe Medicare should not have paid. In New Orleans, his comment about the check is also governmental, he cannot just "write a check" on a government account. Of course he is empowered to direct funds to NO, but I believe he, and his circles, think of NO as, Grandma. She was a dear old gal, time for her to meet granpa in heaven, no?

[CrescentCityRay]

I think you might be right. I did a little scratch on the surface investigating and it seems almost all of his appointed advisors were reared way way up North and I did kind of feel like he thought he was talking to a bunch of idiots when addressing the Town Hall.

[davidly]

I dunno. I'm skeptical that an administration that has placed the meaning of words above those of even the Clinton administration, and which has, as recently as yesterday, failed to explicitly admit the exclusive culpability of a substandard levee system in word, is prepared to implicitly admit the same in deed. There's always hope, I guess.

[CrescentCityRay]

I hear you. I can see calling what happened in Plaqumines a natural disaster, for the most part. I can almost see calling what happened in St. Bernard and New Orleans East partially a man made disaster, but that is a stretch. But Geez! There was absolutely nothing natural about what happened west of the Inner Harbor Navigational Canal. I really need to hear him admit that and admit that the right thing to do would be to do what they say they are going to do and even try to make up for how severely bad those deaths and losses were because of the government's role and how unjust the feds have been to us since and a firm straight talking real commitment to immediately take massive action to fix us up with great levees and replenish our wetlands as fast as possible. - none of this politician slang, talking around the issue B.S.

Aw, man! I think my blood pressure is elevated again. I'm going to go chill at Lafayette Park tomorrow. I hope I can sleep tonight.