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After the Storm

September 6, 2005

We knew it was coming.

We knew New Orleans was a flood disaster waiting to happen. An article published in the October 2001 edition of Scientific American laid out the scenario in prescient detail. Yet after the storm, spinning politicians and butt-covering bureaucrats made absurd statements that the levee breaches could not have been foreseen.

We knew that Louisiana’s coastal wetlands were disappearing at a frightening rate. A wetland is nature’s flood control system. Every four miles of marsh can shave one foot off an incoming storm surge. Yet it’s been slow going to fund an ambitious plan to restore Louisiana’s nationally significant coastal wetlands.

We knew the dangers of our overdependence on oil. We knew that any disturbance in a global oil market stretched tight by global demand would send prices flying upward. A hurricane is only one of many ways the brittle oil market can be roiled. Yet Congress passed and President Bush signed status quo energy legislation that complacently ties our nation’s future to oil.

We knew that sea levels are rising. We know that as the climate warms, sea levels are likely to rise more, heightening the dangers of destructive storm surges. We know that more heat energy in the oceans may intensify the power of hurricanes. Yet action in Washington to adopt a national climate policy has been stalled by a poisonous combination of scientific illiteracy, partisan posturing, and obtuse disregard for the public interest in the service of special interests. Follow the money.

So now what do we do? First, we must build defenses against future storms by working with nature, not against it. The Scientific American article that foresaw the New Orleans disaster laid out a plan to restore Louisiana’s coastal wetlands and barrier islands.

Other hurricane-prone areas on the Gulf Coast and Atlantic Ocean should pay close attention and take steps to safeguard their remaining marshes, restore lost wetlands, and protect barrier islands. Outside of hurricane country, communities and states should think twice about sacrificing the free flood control benefits provided by wetlands and undeveloped floodplains.

Second, if Katrina didn’t bring home the dangers of overdependence on oil, nothing will. Certain politicians, such as House Energy Committee Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas, pointed to the heavy concentration of damaged oil production facilities on the Gulf Coast and called for expanded oil drilling off other coasts and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Barton doesn’t get it. Oil is a commodity traded in a stretched global market where there is no margin for error or room for the unexpected. The problem is not that we depend too much on oil from the hurricane-prone Gulf Coast. The problem is that we depend too much on oil, period. Alcoholics can’t solve their problem by looking for more saloons.

Like conservative stock investors, we need more diversity – in liquid fuel types, electricity sources, and energy production areas. First and foremost, we need more energy efficiency. Congress and the Bush administration must end their stubborn resistance to stronger motor vehicle fuel economy standards. Raising standards to a modest 34 miles per gallon would save more than twice as much oil as pumping the Arctic Refuge would produce – and unlike a finite oil field, the savings would persist, year after year.

Third, Washington’s inaction on climate change is foolish and dangerous. Citizens, scientists, and business leaders are calling for action to cap and reduce emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases. Sensible measures to diversify our energy portfolio will also have climate benefits, as well as stimulate the growth of profitable new energy industries. It’s time for Congress and President Bush to face up and do something sensible like enact the McCain-Lieberman climate legislation into law.

Another Category 4 storm like Katrina will strike the U.S. mainland, sooner or later. It’s up to us to set sensible priorities and lower the odds that the next storm will spread human misery and ruin another great American city.