Your Father Always Told You To Do The Job Right In The First Place

Levee Repair Costs Triple: New Orleans May Lack Full Protection

Generations of the men in my family lived by a mantra of doing a job right to prevent additional work, expense and hardship down the line. Like the matter of quality in manufacturing, construction and service, we seem to have lost this lesson in terms of our own infrastructure. Along comes Katrina and Rita to rip our infrastructure down... and we knew for decades that the job was never done quite right. Now that we are faced with being forced to do the job that we should have done, and we lost lives because we failed to do the job right, we find the costs are triple what we expected.

But then we are getting used to being fleeced in the process of providing relief to those in need... we see it in welfare programs, tax breaks for big business and every time we turn a corner and have to deal with FEMA, DHS or any other governmental project.

By the way, the next hurricane season is almost upon us and we are openly admitting that we will be forced to make decisions that will put lives, property and communities at risk... again. Didn't we hear our president say that the federal government was going to commit the full weight of its resources to provide relief and prevent future catastrophes? Lying and/or incompetence seems to be a standard from this administration.

The Bush administration said yesterday that the cost of rebuilding New Orleans's levees to federal standards has nearly tripled to $10 billion and that there may not be enough money to fully protect the entire region.

Donald E. Powell, the administration's rebuilding coordinator, said some areas may be left without the protection of levees strong enough to meet requirements of the national flood insurance program. Those areas probably would face enormous obstacles in attracting home buyers and investors willing to build there.

The news represents a shift for the administration; President Bush had pledged in the weeks after Hurricane Katrina to rebuild New Orleans "higher and better." Now, some areas may lose out as they compete for levee protection. Powell's announcement, in a conference call with reporters, prompted denunciations from state and local officials who said the federal government is reneging on promises to rebuild the entire region.

"This monumental miscalculation is an outrage," said Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D). "This means that, just two months before hurricane season, the Corps of Engineers informs us they cannot ensure even the minimum safety of southeastern Louisiana. This is totally unacceptable."

The change followed a surprise announcement from the Army Corps of Engineers that the levee reconstruction project, most recently estimated at $3.5 billion, would now cost $9.5 billion if insurance-certified levees were extended throughout the region.

Powell had said in December when the administration announced a $3.1 billion levee plan that Bush's commitment to rebuild the Gulf Coast "would be satisfied as it relates to the safety and security of the people." In February, after Congress approved $2 billion for the project, Bush said an additional $1.5 billion would be needed. The Senate will consider the request next week.

Yesterday, Powell acknowledged that now "we are faced with some new and tough policy decisions."