For too long now Louisiana has served as a sort of testing ground for the rest of the nation. Fitting for an area that began as a bit of an experiment itself, with no one really knowing if a settlement could survive the harsh elements Mother Nature presented.
But survive and thrive that settlement did and continues to
do despite everything that is thrown at the region by both Mother Nature and misguided officials.
When Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, had yet to deal with a domestic disaster of that magnitude. To say the relief effort was bungled would be a major understatement. U.S. citizens were left to suffer in unbearable heat for days with no services, no food and no water for days as the nation watched in horror.
That incident left an indelible mark not only on the region but on the national conscience, and the years since, FEMA’s operations have been revised to ensure such an incident never happens again. And those affected by Hurricane Sandy last year benefitted from those lessons as relief efforts in the Northeast were much more efficient and timely than those experienced in Louisiana seven years prior.
Now once again Louisiana finds itself at the forefront of government action that threatens to destroy entire communities.
All three parish presidents from the River Parishes visited Washington, D.C., this week to voice opposition to the Biggert-Waters Act, which could raise flood insurance premiums to outrageous levels for many residents of the region. But what astonished the local officials most was not the audacity of the government in supporting the act, but the lack of knowledge those in Washington had about the effects of the legislation on the real world.
It seems once again the residents of Louisiana have been
used as guinea pigs as the government fumbles its way to clarity. The kinks will likely be worked out, but by then it may be too
late.
The citizens of South Louisiana can no longer afford to sit idly by as closed door deals infringe upon their very way of life. Now is the time to act.