Buy it, read it and remember. Then read some more.
Update: Matt McBride comments on the article over at Oyster’s. It seems that the Army Corps of Engineers wasn’t thrashed enough and for the right reasons.
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Oopsies!
Time mis-labeled the River as MR.GO in their graphics section.
Otherwise, all of it is a good read.
Great, the whole nation is now going to think the river should be closed and the Sliver be returned to marshes
So, what is the general impression of the essay from Ed Blakely? What is this obsession with being a bio-research hub? What the hell are we ever going to do with biomedical research buildings when our schools and hospitals don’t work?
Heh. DeBerry’s (my new favorite person in the world) blurb about the insurance bastards was pretty good.
I think you already know what I think of Blakely.
I think TIME did an excellent job discussing the problems and the challenges past, present and future. My only gripe is that once again there is this reverential talk about how swamps used to protect New Orleans and how new wetlands are necessary to protect us in the future… with no scientific explanation, proof or calculation. Didn’t New Orleans and St. Bernard flood from Hurricane Betsy? That was 40 years ago when there was lots more marsh out there. Why didn’t the marsh protect us back then? I’m going to say it for the umpteenth time: you cannot stop a storm surge by planting grass. Perhaps if you could build 30 or more miles of solid marsh you’d have a fighting chance, but that would mean filling Lake Borgne–not at all a practical proposition.
I’ve only read the online edition, so perhaps there’s a little more detail in the printed magazine? I certainly hope so. We need to proceed using science and rational methods.
Peace,
Tim
Ed adds nothing to the discussion..
Tim, New Orleans and St. Bernard flooded from Hurricane Betsy after the MR-GO construction started and had already killed off thousands of acres of swampland. Even back then, there was no marsh to protect us. You yourself will agree that the MR-GO is a dangerous conduit.
The real tragedy is the re-population of the flooded areas 10 feet or more below sea level.