Chairmen Duncan & Shuster's Opening Statements At Today's Hearing On Rebuilding New Orleans

Chairmen Duncan & Shuster's Opening Statements At Today's Hearing On Rebuilding New Orleans

Washington, D.C. - The following are the opening statements from U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan, Jr.'s (R-TN) and U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA) from today's joint hearing on "A Vision and Strategy for Rebuilding News Orleans".

Duncan is the chairman of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Water Resources and the Environment, and Shuster is the chairman of the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management.

Testimony from witnesses who participated in the hearing can be accessed on the Committee website at:
www.house.gov/transportation

Chairman John J. Duncan, Jr.'s Statement

I would like to welcome everyone to our hearing on "A Vision and Strategy for Rebuilding New Orleans." We are joined today by our colleagues from the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management.

The flooding of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina was one of the worst disasters in the nation's history.

On October 4, 2005, I led a delegation of 11 members to the Gulf Coast. We saw first hand the devastating impacts of the flooding, wind damage and storm surges caused by the hurricane. In fact, the worst damage was along the coast of Mississippi.

Hurricane Katrina has taught us a lesson on the importance of infrastructure - when infrastructure fails, the impacts can be devastating. We don't notice it when everything is working - only when it is gone.

Flood control projects are often debated by anti-development groups and others who call them pork projects - but as Katrina showed, these projects are critical investments for our nation's security. In fact, in 1965 Congress authorized a barrier project that might have kept the city of New Orleans from being inundated with flood waters. This project was halted in 1977 by an environmental lawsuit.

The federal government, together with states and local communities, must continue to invest in flood protection. No one knows where the next hurricane will hit, or which river valley will receive torrential rainfalls; so we must invest on a national scale.

This nationwide effort will continue. New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast will be rebuilt, it's just a question of how it will be rebuilt.

As a steward of the taxpayer dollars, the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure must ensure that appropriate projects are authorized to provide an adequate level of protection for New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, appropriate cost-sharing responsibilities for local project sponsors, and integration of navigation, flood control, and ecosystem restoration. We can't allow federal dollars to be wasted, or spent on unnecessary projects.

We live in a country with thousands of miles of coastline, so we also must keep in mind that whatever decisions we make regarding New Orleans, Southern Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama will have implications for flood control policy everywhere in the United States.

The federal government will work in partnership with the City of New Orleans and other affected cities, as well as the States of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, to return the Gulf Coast to prosperity. But, to make decisions about federal hurricane protection projects for New Orleans, we need to know how the city will be rebuilt.

Today we will hear from elected officials from the State of Louisiana and the city of New Orleans about their vision for rebuilding New Orleans, the process they will use to make rebuilding decisions, and how the federal government can help.

Our hearing today also provides the communities and industries that give New Orleans its vital culture and vital economy an opportunity to provide their views on rebuilding.

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