BottleBob wrote:

After reading literally hundreds of posts on the New Orleans
situation that have mostly been limited to essentially acrimonious
finger pointing of one sort or another and not worth the time to
respond to...

Maybe this will help:

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=00060286-CB58-1315-8B5883414B7F0000&sc=I100322

Read this article in Sciam earlier this year, eerie to read the
predictions of disaster now that is has come to pass.

Most interesting, in light of those trying to blame the Bush
administration, is the observation that the roots of the problem go back
to 1879 when work first began to line the Mississippi to minimize or
eliminate flooding along the banks. This has deprived the delta and
marshes much of the sediment needed for replenishment. Much of What
sediment does make it to the delta dumps right off the continental
shelf. Also to blame are the many dams along tributaries that feed the
Mississippi, all of which trap sediment.

It's been a long time coming. The area wasn't healthy the day Clinton
left office and suddenly started to decline the next day. There's a
whole lot of people that have their hands in this pie. It began before
we understood our actions could have negative long term environmental
impacts. Inertia and human nature has kept things going.

There are some solid ideas on how to address the problem too, if anyone
cares to learn something. Write your legislators if you really care, and
insist the Coast 2050 plan be funded as a condition of rebuilding the
region. The 14 billion or so this plan called for has suddenly become
very affordable. While New Orleans has it's own peculiarities, the
overall problem isn't unique to NO, and learning to restore this region
can be applied elsewhere throughout the US and the world.


Jon