H2ONCoast

As I said in the “About” section, you should expect to find news from areas outside of the North Coast. Well, here is your first dose of it: as reported August 1, in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Southern Louisianna’s levee systems is again the fair game for a game of political football. The full details can be found here: http://blog.nola.com/times-picayune/2007/08/white_house_threatens_to_veto.html

Oregonians may feel blessed that hurricanes typically don’t reach our North Coast but we should be well aware that if other water-related disasters strike which deserve national attention (i.e., a tsunami), the aftermath can be painfully drawn out by politics. The stark lesson just below the surface: all water projects, no matter what the cost and the scope, usually have a healthy dose of politics behind them. And when large sums are involved in water-related public works, the politics can be fiercely fought. Gulf State residents who are still recovering from Katrina must feel pretty disheartened to find the debate extended.

On the other hand, before committing large sums to more levee work, there is plenty to be said about restoring other functions in the Mississippi Delta rather than creating more works to prevent normal river processes to return to the area. For more on this fractious debate, check out Michael Campana’s WaterWired, June 12 and 13th postings.