Re: OT: Katrina's Wrath -- SELA Urban Flood Control Project budget cuts in 2003-2004

> In the case of New Orleans, to upgrade the dike system from a fast Cat-3
> hurricane capability to a slow-moving Cat-5 storm would take many billions
> of dollars and decades of work. Let's assume $10 billion.

There was a flood control project underway to upgrade up the levees and
pumps in New Orleans.
It wasn't a $10 billion effort.

Congress started the SELA project about ten years ago. Funding began in the
FY 1996 budget and the Army Corp of Engineers had already spent more than
$400 million.
The project wasn't finished but the funding was cut in 2003.

Last year the Corp of Engineers requested $65 million and the administration
cut that to $10.4 million.

March 2005 US Army Corp of Engineers SELA Project Fact Sheet
http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/pd/Fu.../CGSELAFY06.pdf