Duncan overseeing some Gulf recovery

RICHARD POWELSON

KNOXVILLE NEWS SENTINEL

OCTOBER 16, 2005

A Tennessee company complained that federal agencies were paying $4,000 too much for every pre-manufactured house being moved to the hurricane-devastated Gulf Coast.

It is one of multiple tips of wasteful spending that U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr. of Knoxville is hearing about as he plans three days of subcommittee hearings on the best approaches for billions of dollars in federal investment in the region.

Duncan, chairman of the water resources subcommittee, is in a key position to review planning for preventing massive future flooding in New Orleans.

Congressional hearings that he and his staff are planning begin Tuesday and are to continue Oct. 20 and 27.

One hearing will explore whether the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana envision rebuilding the city much differently in light of massive flooding and levee breaks after Hurricane Katrina. It also will seek input on the vision from community and business leaders of New Orleans, the energy and port industries and environmentalists.

Many already have said it does not make sense to rebuild in some of the lowest areas that received the worst flooding.

One hearing will examine how the Army Corps of Engineers and the federal Environmental Protection Agency expect to lower the threat of flooding in southern Louisiana where large areas are below sea level. Holland designed a system to protect areas below sea level, but it was very expensive.

Duncan's subcommittee has jurisdiction to review federal water projects, navigation and flood control. So he also will explore other potential problem areas of the country where hurricanes or excessive rainfall could damage a wide area with large populations.

But he has said he wants the review to be forward looking and not dissect who was to blame for poor emergency planning and ill-advised development over decades.

Early this month, Duncan led a House delegation of about a dozen members to storm-torn areas of New Orleans, Mississippi and Alabama. The purpose of the trip was to check on recovery work, unmet needs and get a close-up view of the extent of destruction.

Duncan returned with the impression that it was the biggest mess he had ever visited.

But he also is worried that federal officials are drawing down too quickly on the $62 billion approved by Congress for Gulf recovery work. He said he was told on the trip that about $14.5 billion already had been spent.

About the same time, he received a tip from a Tennessee company - which asked him not to identify it in public - that a contractor was selling federal agencies pre-manufactured houses for more than $31,000 each when the usual price was $27,000 each. Price gougers need more deterrents.

The large increase in gasoline prices after Hurricane Katrina damaged many oil rigs and refineries in the Gulf and prompted Duncan to suggest expanding energy development to other portions of the country. But that approach would have to get past objections of some state governments and many environmental organizations.

Will $3-a-gallon gasoline lessen the opposition to drilling and refineries in others parts of the country or will prices have to go much higher? Will federal officials now approve transportation policies to better reward makers and buyers of the most fuel-efficient motor vehicles?

Duncan can do his share of oversight, but his subcommittee has no jurisdiction over huge parts of the government aiding the Gulf recovery, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Many other congressional leaders should make it a very high priority to monitor regularly whether emergency federal funds are being invested in the best approaches to protect other areas from the worst natural disasters.