Rebuild or retreat: US debates evacuation of Gulf coastline

[unhappycamper]

Rebuild or retreat: US debates evacuation of Gulf coastline
Ewen MacAskill in Washington
Thursday October 11, 2007
The Guardian

The United States is working on a multi-billion-dollar plan to depopulate vast swaths of coastline along the Gulf of Mexico in a move which it is hoped would help re-establish a natural barrier against the catastrophic flooding caused by the likes of Hurricane Katrina.

In the first sign that the federal government is favouring a retreat from the coast rather than rebuilding, the Army Corps of Engineers is to present to Congress a radical plan which includes rebuilding the wetlands that have been disappearing at an ever-accelerating rate in recent years.

The Corps, the engineers responsible for protecting the coastline, has been working on the plan since Katrina struck in August 2005. President George Bush promised after the floods to rebuild New Orleans and other Gulf communities.

But federal agencies and environmentalists have concluded that climate change has increased the threat of further devastation and continued rebuilding makes no sense. To be included in the overall plan is $40bn (£20bn) to be spent on the Mississippi coast. Part of this would be for a voluntary buyout of 17,000 houses in Mississippi, particularly in Bay St Louis, east of New Orleans. The corps is likely to extend the plan to New Orleans and Louisiana.

Susan Rees, project director, said: "The whole concept of trying to remove people and properties from the coast is very, very challenging. The desire to live by the water is strong."

The plan has had a mixed reception. While some have welcomed the chance to leave the area rather than face further storms, others have rebuilt their homes and are reluctant to leave. Local politicians said the plan would destroy communities because they could not be sustained if many people opted to take the money. Fishing and tourist villages on the coast were already fragile after Katrina, with many families opting against return.


Rest of article at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2188227,00.html

[renie408]

1. "Lower that drawbridge!!"..."Raise it! Raise it!"

Does anybody remember that Loony Toons cartoon with Yosemite Sam? He gallops up to the castle and demands that the drawbridge be lowered. Bugs Bunny drops the drawbridge on him and flattens him.

"Develop that coastline!! Develop that coastline!!"...."Abandon it! Abandon it!"

[fasttense]

2. The government is buying up the land to sell, at bargain basement prices,

to the uber rich. Nothing like a few big fat Casinos, hotels and condos to act as natural barriers against the catastrophic flooding. Sounds like just another scam on the American people.

[dkofos]

3. In 100 years that area will be under water.

[Captain Hilts]

4. Rustbelt taxpayers, etc. should not have to pay to build below a floodplain...nt

[pinto]

5. National Geographic (Aug, '07) has a great series of pieces on NOLA.

http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0708/feature1/

Rebuilding the wetlands buffer, bringing the levees up to the standards originally set and actually closing some of the canals, including the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, are some of the options being discussed - as well as the certainty of another hurricane in NOLA's future.