Rebuild or retreat: US debates evacuation of Gulf coastline

Source: The Guardian/UK

The United States is working on a multi-billion-dollar plan to depopulate vast swaths of coastline along the Gulf of Mexico in a move which it is hoped would help re-establish a natural barrier against the catastrophic flooding caused by the likes of Hurricane Katrina.

In the first sign that the federal government is favouring a retreat from the coast rather than rebuilding, the Army Corps of Engineers is to present to Congress a radical plan which includes rebuilding the wetlands that have been disappearing at an ever-accelerating rate in recent years.

. . .

The Corps, the engineers responsible for protecting the coastline, has been working on the plan since Katrina struck in August 2005. President George Bush promised after the floods to rebuild New Orleans and other Gulf communities.

But federal agencies and environmentalists have concluded that climate change has increased the threat of further devastation and continued rebuilding makes no sense. To be included in the overall plan is $40bn (£20bn) to be spent on the Mississippi coast. Part of this would be for a voluntary buyout of 17,000 houses in Mississippi, particularly in Bay St Louis, east of New Orleans. The corps is likely to extend the plan to New Orleans and Louisiana.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2188227,00.html

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What a bunch of CUT and RUN cowards. We can't let the ocean beat us, if we don't fight it there it will follow us home!

without bothering to look for the owners. :grr:

BTW, this will never happen. Mississippi gets a good chunk of its state revenue from Coastal tourism, casinos and man-made beaches. If it all went back to nature, how could Jackson possibly make up that revenue shortfall?

Also, if the Army Corps of Engineers is involved, they'll be putting it back to nature by paving it. x(

But federal agencies and environmentalists have concluded that climate change has increased the threat of further devastation and continued rebuilding makes no sense. To be included in the overall plan is $40bn (£20bn) to be spent on the Mississippi coast. Part of this would be for a voluntary buyout of 17,000 houses in Mississippi, particularly in Bay St Louis, east of New Orleans. The corps is likely to extend the plan to New Orleans and Louisiana.

No timetable is, of course, given for this "likely" extension. Besides, even more so than Mississippians, most New Orleanians would rather rebuild than be bought out: where would they go?

It's like having a losing position in a chess mid-game, when your opponent has set up a bunch of revealed checks and combination captures and your whole strategy is starting to fall apart at the seams.

Nope, can't move that pawn, it leaves the king in check. Can't move that knight either. The bishop can move, but leads to losing the queen in two turns if it does. And so on.

The number of viable options diminishes as the game proceeds, while the number of bad choices goes through the roof, and even the best possible moves put you at a disadvantage. Eventually retreat and defend become the tactics keeping you in the game, and at that point, you've already lost whether or not you choose to admit it. As your opponent consolidates advantages, moves his rooks unchallenged onto the open files, forces sacrifices and unfavorable trades, slowly the awful truth begins to seep in...

round.

But you would have to reverse the channelization of the Mississippi. I am not sure people living in flood zones would go for that but it is the only thing that will work. Stop dredging channels through wetlands for oil tankers and the like.

And then stop developing vulnerable areas, like barrier islands which protect areas from the worst effects of hurricanes. I can imagine how the developers would scream if that happens. They are busy here destroying every last vestige of natural barrier island and the city is all for it. I hate real estate developers.

regions need to evacuate before more disasters

its the Official Wake up call
Mother Nature is taking back New Orleans

for the second year in a row.


Erosion of the delta is man made and catching the silt needs to be the top priority.

You only have to look at what the Egyptians have done to their delta to relize Denile is eroding the delta in Egypt also

ITA with you about the delta and moving away from the lowlands and wetlands. I am tired of the govt spending money on rebuilding manmade beaches too. We are better off in the long run moving away from these areas.

The flooding that Al Gore showed in his movie is now almost inevitable. We're gonna hafta de-populate these areas whether we like it or not.

Rebuilding the wetlands is ultimately the best thing to do. move the people off the immediate coast, re-establish the wetlands. You get a huge increase in vital habitat and protection against catastrophic hurricanes. Of course, with sea levels rising, you'd need to factor that into how much land you need to convert back to wetland, since if you build a wetland only to have it underwater in a few decades, what's the point?

Someone follow the money. This is too sensible to be correct.

(edit for spelling)

the EPA has charts on rising sea levels

it would be a waste of money

we have to conserve and drop CO2 levels

They know what's going on.