http://www.findarticles.com/p/articl...6/ai_n14657367

New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers faces cuts
June 6th, 2005

Deon Roberts

In fiscal year 2006, the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers is bracing for a record $71.2 million reduction in federal
funding.

It would be the largest single-year funding loss ever for the New
Orleans district, Corps officials said.

I've been here over 30 years and I've never seen this level of
reduction, said Al Naomi, project manager for the New Orleans district.
I think part of the problem is it's not so much the reduction, it's the
drastic reduction in one fiscal year. It's the immediacy of the
reduction that I think is the hardest thing to adapt to.

There is an economic ripple effect, too. The cuts mean major hurricane
and flood protection projects will not be awarded to local engineering
firms. Also, a study to determine ways to protect the region from a
Category 5 hurricane has been shelved for now.

Money is so tight the New Orleans district, which employs 1,300 people,
instituted a hiring freeze last month on all positions. The freeze is
the first of its kind in about 10 years, said Marcia Demma, chief of
the Corps' Programs Management Branch.

Stephen Jeselink, interim commander of the New Orleans Corps district,
told employees in an internal e-mail dated May 25 that the district is
experiencing financial challenges. Execution of our available funds
must be dealt with through prudent districtwide management decisions.
In addition to a hiring freeze, Jeselink canceled the annual Corps
picnic held every June.

Congress is setting the Corps budget.

The House of Representatives wants to cut the New Orleans district
budget 21 percent to $272.4 million in 2006, down from $343.5 million
in 2005. The House figure is about $20 million lower than the
president's suggested $290.7 million budget.

It's now up to the Senate. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-New Orleans, is making
no promises.

It's going to be very tough, Landrieu said. The House was not able to
add back this money ... but hopefully we can rally in the Senate and
get some of this money back.

Landrieu said the Bush administration is not making Corps of Engineers
funding a priority.

I think it's extremely shortsighted, Landrieu said. When the Corps of
Engineers' budget is cut, Louisiana bleeds. These projects are
literally life-and-death projects to the people of south Louisiana and
they are (of) vital economic interest to the entire nation.

The Corps' budget could still be beefed up, as it is every year,
through congressional additions. Last year, Congress added $20 million
to the overall budget of the New Orleans district but a similar
increase this year would still leave a $50 million shortfall.

One of the hardest-hit areas of the New Orleans district's budget is
the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, which was created
after the May 1995 flood to improve drainage in Jefferson, Orleans and
St. Tammany parishes. SELA's budget is being drained from $36.5 million
awarded in 2005 to $10.4 million suggested for 2006 by the House of
Representatives and the president.

The project manager said there would be no contracts awarded with this
$10.4 million, Demma said.

The construction portion of the Corps' budget would suffer if Congress
doesn't add money. In 2005, the district received $94.3 million in
federal dollars dedicated to construction. In 2006, the proposal is for
$56 million.

It would be critical to this city if we had a $50 million construction
budget compared with the past years, Demma said. It would be horrible
for the city, it would be horrible for contractors and for flood
protection if this were the final number compared to recent years and
what the city needs.

Construction generally has been on the decline for several years and
focus has been on other projects in the Corps.

The district has identified $35 million in projects to build and
improve levees, floodwalls and pumping stations in St. Bernard,
Orleans, Jefferson and St. Charles parishes. Those projects are
included in a Corps line item called Lake Pontchartrain, where funding
is scheduled to be cut from $5.7 million this year to $2.9 million in
2006. Naomi said it's enough to pay salaries but little else.

We'll do some design work. We'll design the contracts and get them
ready to go if we get the money. But we don't have the money to put the
work in the field, and that's the problem, Naomi said.

The Appropriations Committee in Congress will ultimately decide how
much the New Orleans district will receive, he said.

Obviously, the decisions are being made up there that are not
beneficial to the state, in my opinion, Naomi said. Let's put it this
way: When (former Rep.) Bob Livingston (R-Metairie) was chairman of the
Appropriations Committee, we didn't have a monetary problem. Our
problem was how do we spend all the money we were getting.
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