NEW ORLEANS, La.--Environmental destruction that had led to greater impact on the Gulf Coast five years ago during Hurricane Katrina has also led to significant problems with the BP oil spill, according to a university professor and author.
Dr. Walter Brasch, an award-winning journalist who had covered the Katrina crisis, notes that extensive oil drilling in the Gulf Coast had reduced or destroyed the natural barrier islands. Barrier islands often serve as a protection of coastal areas against hurricanes.
Had there not been that destruction, says Brasch, the effects of Katrina would have been significantly less. Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, Aug. 30. Had the Bush-Cheney Administration properly funded the Corps of Engineers to improve security of the levees, and had not authorized and encouraged oil companies to drill in the wetlands, says Brasch, a Category 3 hurricane would not have had the impact of a Category 5 hurricane. Numerous other problems that allowed significant destruction included political decisions that:
● substantially reduced federal funding for natural disaster protection;
● downgraded the efficiency and response of both the Federal; Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Environmental Protection Agency;
● allowed a willful neglect of certain populations; and
● permitted massive government corruption.
Government "learned a lot from Katrina," says Brasch, "but obviously not enough." Almost five years later, with fewer barriers, oil washed onto the shore when BP's Deep Water Horizon exploded, killing 11 workers. The barrier islands would have mitigated some of the destruction of the spill, says Brasch, "but even with reduced damage because of the barrier islands, the five million gallons that spilled into the ocean would still have had the disastrous effect of destroying sea life, the fishing and shrimping industries, and tourism."
'Unacceptable': The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina, published three months after the first disaster, was the first major book to analyze the causes and effects of the hurricane. The prestigious Midwest Book Review called 'Unacceptable' "an informative and critical analysis [that] should be given high praise for its candor," and gave it a "very strong recommendation." BookArts called it "A valuable historical document that belongs in every library."
