Those of you that follow such things may remember that last year, the Corps of Engineers tried to shift $1.3 billion around in its work in the New Orleans area rather than just asking for the extra funds. It had the effect of pitting one area against another, and was a craven move to save dollars at the expense of protection.
People at all levels were outraged, and the extra $1.3 billion was eventually appropriated. Senator Landrieu said at the time, "Casting aside the lessons learned from years of underfunded levee protection to devastating results, the administration seeks now to shuffle $1.3 billion from one set of projects to another rather than pay the bill for each."
Believe it or not, they are unapologetically trying the same maneuver again.
Last time around, the $1.3 billion came out of a few pots. Page 28 of a Corps Powerpoint presentation from February 2007 shows the breakdown for that 2007 reallocation. The entire presentation is here:
http://www.ltrc.lsu.edu/...
Two of the pots they targeted last time were the $530 million for the permanent pump stations and $1.584 billion for floodwall improvements. They wanted to pull $420 million and $313 million out of those two accounts respectively.
Those two pots are once again under assault. Last time it was to plug holes in their work on the west bank of the Mississippi. Now, it's to fund their project for protection from surge through the Industrial canal on the eastern edge of New Orleans.
They are trying to pull $430 million and $370 million out of those same two accounts, and then are asking Congress to refill them (along with a bit more for construction escalation costs). The exact impact onthe floodwalls account is unknown, but taking over 80% of the funds out of the permanent pump stations account (even with the Corps saying they don't need them done until 2012), and then betting on Congress restoring and augmenting that funding raises real questions as to their commitment to building the things at all.
All this is in the Corps' budget justification, found here:
http://www.usace.army.mil/...
On pages 224 and 225, you'll see the breakdown for the federal portion of the entire $7.3 billion emergency request for Louisiana ($1.6 billion of which is supposed to come from the state of Louisiana, so the Corps is asking for $5.7 billion from Congress).
They're asking for $704 million for the pump stations and $412 million for the floodwalls. But notice the double asterisk on those items.
The double asterisk note says, "Note: These new budget cost reflects the net impact of the pending reallocation of ($800,000,000) to the IHNC improvements from Outfall Canals and Installation of Pump Stations and Closures ($430,000,000) and from Floodwall Reinforcement or replacement ($370,000,000)."
That is, they're - once again - robbing Peter to pay Paul. They never learn.
I know that the Corps has not pointed out this nearly billion dollar shuffle to staffers at the relevant Congressional committees.
Last year, there was outrage all around, and the Times-Picayune did articles for days. Eventually, Congress appropriated the extra $1.3 billion.
This time around, the reaction has been a Stockholm Syndrome-like active burying of the story. I put all the facts together just before a public Corps meeting on Tuesday night, at which there was a reporter for the Times-Picayune. I had a friend ask the right question, and get the right answer. That T-P reporter put up a brief article on the nola.com website the next morning:
http://www.nola.com/...
In a very unusual move, none of that article made it into the print edition on Thursday, nor on Friday. This despite the Corps confirming the whole thing in front of the Jefferson Parish Council and the camera for three local TV stations and the same newspaper reporter on Wednesday. Its like the story just disappeared, just like the $800 million.
I don't know where the outrage is this time around.
The upshot of all this is that nearly a billion dollars of previously appropriated and guaranteed hurricane protection money is now thrown back into the election-year budget process, where it is subject to the whims of Congressional appropriators. Imagine you went to bed one night with 530 dollars in your wallet, and then woke up the next morning and found someone had stolen 430 dollars, but left an IOU. You probably wouldn't take the IOU at face value. That is what the Corps has done with the money for the permanent pumping stations and floodwalls.
I'm pushing this from my end, but anything anyone else can do is most appreciated.