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October 19, 2006

Not Just "NO"

...but "HELL NO", "F@CK NO", "NO WAY" and "NO HOW".

Army Corps proposes easing Gulf wetlands rule
Anger greets plan to let developers skip permits to speed Katrina recovery

Federal wetlands regulators have dropped a bombshell on environmentalists with a little-publicized proposal to relax restrictions on filling in certain wetlands along the entire Mississippi Gulf Coast to speed recovery from Hurricane Katrina.

“It’s unethical, illegal, immoral, unsustainable and they’re simply doing it to make the fat cats richer faster,” said Derrick Evans, executive director of a Gulfport, Miss., community group that plans to fight the proposal by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The Corps’ proposal would allow property owners and developers to skirt the conventional "regional general permit" process for any projects that fill up to 5 acres of “low-quality” wetlands in the six southernmost Mississippi counties. Especially galling to environmentalists: The new process would also eliminate the requirement for public notice of such projects.


Oh, please. 'Speed recovery'? How about "speeding significant bucks to undeserving pockets"? Perhaps everyone's forgotten what they were fixing to FIX prior to Katrina and why?

The Corps recommendations for projects to restore some wetlands and slow wetland losses in November 2004 is the most recent of numerous sets of proposals offered over the past four decades since a rapid rate of coastal wetlands loss was first documented. It is now estimated that more than 1.2 million acres of wetlands, an area approximatelythesize of Delaware, has been converted to open water since the 1930s. The remaining wetlands cover about 3.5 million acres, an area slightly larger than Connecticut. .... If the Corps’ program is implemented, it estimates that net wetland losses would be reduced to 170,000 acres by 2050. These estimates do not appear to account for major hurricane events. These losses have been caused by a combination of human activities and natural factors that have been frequently documented in many studies by the Corps and others. Proposals to respond to these losses have centered on rebuilding the region’s coastal wetlands in ways that could reduce the ecological, economic, and social costs. One cost receiving far more attention in the wake of the hurricanes is the diminished role that the remaining wetlands can play in reducing the impact of hurricanes by absorbing storm surges and thereby decreasing flood elevations and wave energy.
Or...?
General Robert Flowers, the head of the Corps of Engineers until last year, is concerned by the loss of a 'natural storm protection', along Louisiana's coast. 'With that loss of wetlands ... we had to build hurricane protection. I think a longer-term solution that replenishes Louisiana's wetlands will better serve us.'
There's a lovely map here of the Biloxi Basin which illustrates the point made here about tidal surges.

Now, I'm sure the Corps is receiving some sincere pressure from all things dollar related and sure as hell wouldn't want to be the generalissimo in charge. But let me make one thing PERfectly clear, because it's going to be presented 'as if'.


There ISN'T going to be any 'rebuilding' of the quaint little seaside villages/gorgeous Ante-Bellum Biloxi's we knew and loved. That's over and those are gone for good.


Biloxi, Gulfport and the other coastal cities/burgs from here west are bought up by condo and gaming developers. Not 'going to be' ~ ARE. You should see all the prospectii for 'Villa Gulfo Magnificos' type speculators on the web, travel and real esate magizines.

The Corps isn't getting pushed to do this so Granny Beauregarde Gautier can get her 1800's house rebuilt on the slab or pilings that's left of it. Oh no.

This is so the wheeler dealers of the world can take their share of the waterfront at firesale prices and build it just as cheap as pie because no one's going to be allowed to watch. And then sell it back to folks in Michigan for whatever the market will bear. You'll be sitting on Beach Boulevard in Biloxi ~ once rightly famous for it's stunning view (above) ~ and not even know there's a drop of water on the other side of that tower in front of you.

Less mind have a place right smack in town where you can get your toes sandy.

Posted by tree hugging sister at October 19, 2006 03:25 PM

Comments

From the first article:

Evans said his group’s chief concern when it comes to filling in wetlands is the potential for flooding. “People died unnecessarily in my watershed because of the Corps’ previous willingness to develop housing in places where housing does not belong," he said. “Floodwaters that instead would have been dispersed ended up in my mother’s living room, 4 miles from the beach.”

I call bulls**t on this part. Development in any part of the country is in fact controlled at the city and county level. The Corps has almost NO say in this. At the very most, all they can do is require mitigation (of sorts) for construction in flood plains. I have personal and professional experience in this matter. Building permits and developments plans are approved at the local level. Regulatory enforcement of wetlands by the Corps influences that process, but it does not control it. Those unnecessary deaths are a shared responsibility, Mr. Evans.

I don't disagree with you, THS. This is a stupid idea. I fully expect that the people who actually do the work in the Corps will not be surprised (and possibly grateful) if this proposal dies on the vine.

But the simple fact is that if you want to vent your anger, you need to include elected officials along the Gulf Coast in your aim.

I also want to point that Flowers retired as Chief of Engineers on 1 July 2004. This does not detract from the point you make, but you did emphasize his retirement date, and that last article is over a year old.

And I am not impressed with his comments. Do you think he did not know about this problem while he was the Chief? I'm almost certain that he did, as that part of the infrastructure that the Corps maintains has been a problem child for years. He had four years to do something. A year after he retires, and he bellyaches about it? I'm sorry, but Flowers is not a good source for this, even if he does make a valid point.

(Disclaimer: I was quite relieved when he retired.)

Posted by: The_Real_JeffS at October 19, 2006 09:57 PM

I'm sick of it. Whenever anybody says "unsustainable" they should have their pee-pee whacked.

Posted by: DirtCrashr at October 20, 2006 01:59 PM