New Article on Levee Plan

[jasons2k]

Graphics, etc. with the article: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/200 ... plan_x.htm

La. levee plan leaves some helpless
By Brad Heath, USA TODAY
VENICE, La. — State and federal plans for a massive hurricane protection bulwark for Louisiana would sacrifice dozens of coastal communities, some with thousands of residents, to the next Katrina-sized hurricane. The reason: Protecting them would cost too much.
"We believe that it's probably not possible to provide adequate protection that people should be living down there," says Randy Hanchey of the state's Department of Natural Resources, which drafted one of the plans. Even so, the state has not encouraged residents to move from those areas.

GRAPHIC: Louisiana land loss

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, ordered by Congress last year to design its own set of storm defenses, reached a similar conclusion, project manager Tim Axtman says. "The reality is, the cost of protection doesn't equate to what's there," he says.

If state and federal recommendations are adopted, places such as Venice, a riverbank town of about 2,000 people south of New Orleans, will be left with hurricane protections comparable to the levees they had before Hurricane Katrina swamped them. Venice was devastated by Katrina, a Category 3 storm that came ashore with winds of 127 mph. In most places, existing barriers could not defend against a similar strike today, says Andrew MacInnes, who manages coastal issues in Plaquemines Parish.

The state and federal plans are due to be turned over to lawmakers this year. Together, they will recommend stringing hundreds of miles of fortified levees across the Louisiana coast and restoring or protecting vast stretches of fast-disappearing coastal wetlands, creating defenses around New Orleans and other populated areas that could withstand a storm more powerful than Katrina.

Final costs haven't been tallied, but Hanchey and Axtman each say the work will easily top $30 billion.

Most of the places that would be outside the new barriers are rural towns slung along the few remaining patches of high ground near the receding coast. A draft of the state's plan released this month shows new levees would exclude areas that were home to more than 20,000 people before hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit.

"We know they need to draw a line somewhere," MacInnes says. "But here?"

Efforts to rebuild those areas will be undermined if the government can't deliver better defenses against the next storm, says Lynda Banta, a councilwoman in coastal Plaquemines Parish. The area is still dotted with government-issued travel trailers. "People feel like they've been pushed under the rug — like the government doesn't want us to go back," she says.

Axtman says engineers are concerned that defending small coastal towns would siphon resources from bigger cities where more people are at risk. He says building bigger levees closer to the coast could increase the power with which storms can hit places such as New Orleans.

[Aquawind]

With the already disappearing coastal wetlands they are combining 2 seperate issues. I mean if they think they are going to restore the wetlands that were shrinking before the canes and provide better protection from storm surge of course the bill will be massive. Wetlands projects are expensive projects. The everglades revamping alone is into the billions as well. Unfortunately some will have little more protection than before Katrina. I took 2.5 years for the Charlie trailers to clear out so I would not be surprised if it took a few more years before they are gone..

[wxman57]

You can't have it both ways. It's the levees that are causing the destruction of the wetlands in lower Plaquemines Parish. The levees prevent silt from the Mississippi from spreading out across the LA delta. To restore the wetlands, the levees south of New Orleans need to be removed. That would mean that prople living in towns like Venice or Buras would need to find somewhere else to live.

[MGC]

I think the levees south of say Belle Chase should be cut in places to allow river water and silt to flow into the GOM. This would help rebuild the land. Seems every hurricane since Georges has washed away more and more land.....MGC

[Tripleb]

Thats easy for you guys to say. Lets just forget about the people who have called Lower Plaquemines home. Remove the river levees. You don't actually think those levees were in place to protect the people. Those levees are in place to tame the river, after all billions of dollars in goods go up and down that river every year. Also, the Federal Gov has earned billions of dollars in oil royalties that have come from that area of marsh that used to help protect lower plaquemines. Some have said that up to 30% of erosion and subsidance can be attributed to the Oil and Gas industry. Some families in lower plaquemines have been there for hundreds of years, I guess they should just up and leave. If it were only that easy, they have no place to go.

[Derek Ortt]

It has been demonstrated that the levees are the main cause for the reduction in wetlands.

It may come down to sacrificing one area for the greater good. Seems like a throwback to the days of interstate highway construction

[MGC]

The levees need not be removed. Just some cuts in them that would allow river water to feed silt into the marsh. Bridges across the cuts would allow traffic on La-23 to reach Venice. The levees on the east side of the river below Bohemia should be removed to allow the river to flood Brenton Sound and build up land. I never suggested that the west bank of Plaquemines Parish should be abandoned........MGC

[CajunMama]

It has been demonstrated that the levees are the main cause for the reduction in wetlands.

It may come down to sacrificing one area for the greater good. Seems like a throwback to the days of interstate highway construction

I can't find it but weren't Venice and other towns there before the levees? Why sacrifice what was there before? Seems plaquemines parish has already been sacrificed because of the levees.

[Derek Ortt]

They may have been. The levees may have been built to stop the annual flooding from the MS, but this may have had disasterous hurricane impacts. I am not 100 percent certain; however