Seen in Insurance Journal:
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it wants to build a $50 million earthen dam to plug a New Orleans-area ship channel blamed for much of the flooding from Hurricane Katrina.[...]
Closing the channel with a dam, however, presents a problem for the maritime industry. Several businesses that rely on the MRGO in eastern New Orleans are asking to be relocated, and Congress would have to approve tens of millions of dollars for that to happen.
The industry is pushing for a set of $764 million locks to be built between the Mississippi River and eastern New Orleans waterways.
Given the investment that is allegedly going into restoring New Orleans, it’s good to see that some additional steps are being taken to prevent repeats of Katrina-style flooding.
That the MRGO has also been cited as causing significant aggravation to Louisiana’s problems with salt water intrusion and delta erosion, adding a bit of gravy to news of the canal’s proposed closing.
Whether or not the plan will survive industry pressure, remains to be seen.
It’s a shame that the political nature of the debate would make it difficult to get an unbiased cost-benefit analysis, looking into the threat of future flooding and continued erosion, versus the impact to business and the fallout on jobs in an area that is struggling with recovering from economic disaster.