Army Corps proposes easing Gulf wetlands rule (post-Katrina BS)

[intheflow]

Army Corps proposes easing Gulf wetlands rule
Anger greets plan to let developers skip permits to speed Katrina recovery
By Mike Stuckey

Federal wetlands regulators have dropped a bombshell on environmentalists with a little-publicized proposal to relax restrictions on filling in certain wetlands along the entire Mississippi Gulf Coast to speed recovery from Hurricane Katrina.

“It’s unethical, illegal, immoral, unsustainable and they’re simply doing it to make the fat cats richer faster,” said Derrick Evans, executive director of a Gulfport, Miss., community group that plans to fight the proposal by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

(snip)

Evans said his group’s chief concern when it comes to filling in wetlands is the potential for flooding. “People died unnecessarily in my watershed because of the Corps’ previous willingness to develop housing in places where housing does not belong," he said. “Floodwaters that instead would have been dispersed ended up in my mother’s living room, 4 miles from the beach.”

(snip)

Chubb said he was surprised he had not heard of the plan because he deals frequently with Corps officials and prides himself on staying abreast of all such issues. Reed also was surprised to first learn of the proposal from MSNBC.com, especially since she sits on an environmental advisory board to the Corps. Her fellow board member, Kenneth Babcock of Ducks Unlimited, also had not seen the Corps proposal until it was e-mailed to him, but he said the panel has a national focus and the Mississippi proposal appeared to be “more regional in nature” and appeared to adequately balance environmental concerns with economic ones.

(snip)

Much, much more at link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15305378/

I know Derrick Evans, and his organization Turkey Creek Community Initiatives, very well. Derrick is also respected as a leader in the national environmental movement. For example, he just had Bobby Kennedy, Jr. down to tour the area two weeks ago.

Derrick is working on a community plan with the North Gulfport Community Land Trust that would look at infill housing--that is, identify vacant lots that didn't flood, buy them at fair market prices and build homes there. This plan is viable, there are many, many empty lots, some large enough for small housing complexes.

But having been caught with their pants down a year after the storm with no plans for affordable housing, the Army Corps wants to do something just to show they're doing something. This rush to fill in wetlands is just more of the shit we're putting up with in South Mississippi post-Katrina!
:banghead:

[RaleighNCDUer]

1. Hey, why not rebuild the levees three feet shorter while you're at

it?

This is exactly what led to NOLA not surviving a Cat 3 in the first place. They should be expanding the wetlands, not filling them in.

[intheflow]

2. Well, the Army Corps of Eng. were the folks who brought us those levees.

It's the same reasoning, too. It's the poor, mostly black neighborhoods that will suffer, so who cares? :grr:

[ramapo]

3. The big buck revolving door

This is a no-lose policy in terms of being a big money-maker.

Construction companies will make a lot of money rebuilding. Jobs will be generated, which goes a long way toward quieting opposition.

Real estate companies will make a lot of money selling what was rebuilt. They're a powerful lobby.

People will be happy to buy because everybody likes to live near the ocean. Coastal property only increases in value so buyers feel they're making a good investment, better odds than the stock market.

Eventually, sooner perhaps later, there'll be another catastrophic storm. The properties will be wiped out, perhaps some people will die if they didn't or weren't able to evacuate in time.

The bet is that it'll be decades before the next big storm, time enough for making a lot of money. Then the cycle can repeat. For good measure, maybe the property owners can get federally-backed flood insurance so we can all have a piece of paying for this folly.

This kind of thing happens time and time again. Here in NJ, there will come the day when a storm devastates our barrier islands, which are now completely built up with pricey real estate.

Barrier islands are temporary structures as far as Nature is concerned but for everybody else, it is a chance to make a lot of money in the interim. There is no question that barring the complete disappearance of the island, that there will be a similar rebuilding.

[YankeyMCC]

4. The short sighted stupidity is just astounding n/t