Hundreds of homes fronting the Forty Arpent Canal in Meraux were destroyed or washed away after Hurricane Katrina. (Times-Picayune)
A federal judge has ruled that the U-S Army Corp of Engineers is to blame for the massive flooding in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
U-S District Judge Stanwood Duval sided with five residents and a business owner who said the corps failed to maintain the city's navigation channel, which led to flooding.
The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that the decision "could result in the federal government paying $700,000 in damages to three people and a business in those areas, but also sets the stage for judgments against the government for damages by as many as 100,000 other residents, businesses and local governments in those areas who filed claims with the corps after Katrina."
This is a huge win for the plaintiffs and a huge win for the city of New Orleans, which has contended all along that it was dereliction on the part of the U-S Army Corps of Engineers in not maintaining things like the levees and this navigation canal.
But I didn't bring this up to talk about that. Instead, I brought it up to raise a different issue: If the Army Corps of Engineers failed to keep the navigation channel open, then why not, Mr. President, start a national public works program such as that started by Franklin Delano Roosevelt to do some of these infrastructure projects? Ain't got no money? Here's an idea: Let's take some of that money we're wasting in Iraq and Afghanistan and spend it here. How's that for an idea?
This was a warning that wasn't needed about our infrastructure. Whether it's the roads we drive on, the pipes carrying our water, or the power lines humming with the electricity that lights our homes, America's physical networks are falling apart.
Like the Minneapolis bridge collapse in 2007, this navigation canal is one of those maddening incidents in which we knew our infrastructure was not only in deplorable and deteriorating condition, but dangerously so. It is astonishing that it takes a tragedy like a bridge collapse or a neglected canal to acknowledge what we already know: We have not spent the money necessary to keep the nation's infrastructure up to par and we have once again paid a terrible price for it because of our penny wise, pound foolish attitude.
A Revenue Source
We passed in this country, something called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. We said we would invest up to $787 billion in recovery and reinvestment in this country to stimulate the economy --this is in addition to the TARP money.
We have spent $216 billion of those dollars. I do not understand why the Obama Administration does not develop an infrastructure investment program similar to that used by 
Franklin Roosevelt in the Great Depression with the old Civilian Conservation Corps to provide people with jobs.
Franklin Roosevelt in the Great Depression with the old Civilian Conservation Corps to provide people with jobs. We know that our infrastructure is crumbling. We know that it desperately needs to be fixed, replaced and brought up to date.
Why don't we take some of those several billions of dollars and begin a national infrastructure investment program providing jobs for people who need them, job training for people who don't have skills, getting money into the economy and fixing the American framework?
Grading the System
How large a challenge the country is facing can be seen in the quadrennial reports by the American Society of Civil Engineers, grading the nation's infrastructure. In 2005, they assigned a cumulative grade of D, down from D+ four years earlier. Near-failing grades of D- applied to drinking water, sewage treatment and navigable waterways. The highest grade, C+, went for landfills and the recycling of solid waste. This year's report shows little difference:
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(Getty)
(Getty)
Aviation, D
Bridges, C
Dams, D
Drinking Water, D-
Energy, D+
Hazardous Waste, D
Inland Waterways, D-
Levees, D-
Public Parks and Recreation, C-
Rail, C-
Roads, D-
Schools D,
Solid Waste, C+
Transit, D
Wastewater, D-
Overall grade: D
Estimated 5 Year Investment Need: $2.2 Trillion
By the Numbers
In 2002 the U-S Department of Transportation did a "needs assessment" to determine the maintenance requirements of the nation's transportation systems and they came out with $375 billion required for use between 2005-2010. Congress presented that in a bill and the administration threatened to veto that amount and told Congress to drop it down to $294 billion, which was approved in 2005. That's just one example of the short-sheeted funding that has occurred across the nation's transportation systems for years.
We appropriate money for the repair of our infrastructure and then find any number of reasons to take it for something else, leaving the infrastructure to linger for another year without attention.
Some 27 percent of the nation's bridges --160,570 bridges-- are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. You understand what that means? One out of every four bridges in this country is structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. Think about that. There are upwards of 750 bridges in this country that are either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.
In 2009, 60 years after it's old trolley system was shut down, Phoenix joined the growing list of American cities investing in rail-based mass transit. At a cost of $1.4 billion to taxpayers, officials believe the new 20 mile stretch is still cheaper than expanding a chocking highway system, all while helping to reduce auto emissions in the valley. (Arizona Republic)
Investing in America
Working on the American infrastructure provides for several very important things: It will stimulate the American economy through the creation of jobs. And we will benefit our country for decades to come, doing projects like this navigation canal, highways, bridges, tunnels, high-speed rail, parks, electrical, dams and water systems.
It's amazing to me that we can find money we don't have to go to war in Iraq when we don't need to; we can find money to fight a war in Afghanistan which we've been fighting now for eight years and not achieving what we set out to do. But suggest that we find money to fix bridges, highways and rail systems and people's eyes glaze over. We ignore it and only complain when something breaks. And rather than act, our lawmakers react accordingly. They approach the underpinnings of our nation’s future like school nurses, applying the equivalent of Band-Aids and aspirin.
Unfortunately, what ails Uncle Sam's body is much more than nicks and bruises and there are no short-term remedies, much less miracle elixirs. It takes years to lay a comprehensive network of fiber-optic cable or dig a tunnel through bedrock. By the time we notice how bad things have gotten, the cost of doing business in this country may have grown prohibitively high.
But by fixing the nation's skeletal backbone, America will continue to stand at the forefront of both productivity and innovative applications for new technologies. We need to approach these fundamental underpinnings not as chores, like mowing the lawn or painting the house on a national scale, but as the capital investments for a dynamic 21st Century America, Inc.
I don't know who you take this up with, the Secretary of Labor? The Secretary of Transportation? Who? But someone in the administration surely understands what Franklin Roosevelt did with the CCC. They virtually built our national parks (which are in a disastrous state of disrepair) and there's probably not a city in the country where roads haven't turned into corduroy pavement.
Franklin Roosevelt wrote the script; just sing this song in modern cadence and we'll work a miracle. What is the problem?
Comments
It is shocking no one blamed George W. Bush for all of this. After all, the mantra of the modern liberal is to wrap the ills of society around our 43rd president.
Finally, you could have the best infrastructure mankind could ever make, but if you cannot keep the Muslim extremists from attacking our nation, the infrastructure is a monumental waste of money.
Excellent article Bruce!
Michael: People constantly politicize things, even when you make a perfectly plausible observation about someone in politics. They say if you have to resort to cheap insults to make your point, you have no point, or no ability to make one. I'd say that's true, but that it's companion is the person who politicizes everything. When people politicize every issue, it's probably a sign that they don't understand the issue, and don't want to. --B
The weather guy is as accurate about the weather as he is about politics.
I never thought it was in question that the problem lay with the Army Corps of Engineers. If you follow the chain of command I do believe former President George W Bush was in charge of the Army Corps of Engineers at the time. He was the one responsible for slashing their funding so that they could not maintain the levees.
He and other top Republicans also made some decisions that affected the land around the area as well, destroying a protective barrier.
This year in Nashville we have had 2 major leaks (underground pipe leaks). One closed an intersection for a full day and one cleared out downtown for 2 days.
Neither were caused by Muslim extremists (or evangelical extremists, we have more of them), they were caused by lack of attention to infrastructure.
Tracy: I hear you on those pipes. Happens daily. Frustrating!
I can't speak for the Nashville gentleman's politics but if there's one larger issue, it's in this partisan reflex to blame a particular politician because of political affiliation. It's low hanging fruit, which means you don't have to think very hard about complex issues. The irony is that people whining that everyone's blaming Bush for everything are the same ones who blamed Clinton for everything. And everyone who resented blaming Clinton for everything are now blaming Bush for everything. Yes, a generalization, but you get the point.
As for infrastructure, it's not a sexy issue, so politicians gloss over it. Should Bush get blame for a crumbling infrastructure? Absolutely, but so should most presidents before him, governors, mayors and any other civic leader who doesn't give it priority, and if we don't make it a priority under the current president, Obama will share in the blame as well.
Thanks for reading. --B
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