Panel debates strategy for rebuilding New Orleans

A top Army Corps of Engineers officer testified Wednesday that it would cost $1.6 billion to restore New Orleans flood protection capabilities to pre-Katrina levels and another $3 billion to $3.5 billion to shield against another Katrina-force hurricane.

Still, both Corps Chief of Engineers Lt. Gen. Carl Strock and House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman David Hobson, R-Ohio, said it is not up to the federal government to say where people can rebuild.

Hobson said his panel "would probably have to support" a request, if made, for the lower figure to protect against a Category 3 hurricane. But echoing reservations of both Democrats and Republicans on his panel, Hobson told reporters after the hearing, "I am concerned about rebuilding in the flood plain the way they did before."

Strock said the Corps could return New Orleans to pre-Katrina flood-protection levels by June 1, in time for the next hurricane season.

Reps. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, and Ed Pastor, D-Ariz., questioned whether parts of New Orleans should be rebuilt, as they were in the flood plain, but Strock declined to offer an opinion. Simpson noted that large parts of Grand Forks, North Dakota, moved to higher ground after being flooded by the Red River in the 1990s.

Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works John Paul Woodley, Jr., when asked whether such restrictions were appropriate in New Orleans, said: "It is within the range of options that ought to be considered in this context."

The anticipated supplementary appropriation for dredging, removing silt and rebuilding levies to bring New Orleans to pre-Katrina flood-protection levels would be in addition to funds already appropriated or reprogrammed. The Federal Emergency Management Authority is sending the Corps $3 billion to remove debris, build temporary roofs and other cleanup.

Also, the supplementary appropriation already passed contained $400 million for the Corps and another $64 million was reprogrammed from other projects to help with cleanup.

Several members peppered Strock and Woodley with questions about why the levees and other flood-control measures "failed." Replying to a question from Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas, as to why the levees were breached, Strock said, "I hate to use the 'failure' word," explaining that the walls were designed to protect against a Category 3 hurricane and not a more intense one.