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WE all know that laws are passed by Congress but, as an example: The famous BP Gulf oil spill of a few years ago. It's amazing to see hundreds of agencies from local Louisiana parishes to the State and Federal Government along with lawyers possibly numbering in the hundreds filing anything from personal to class action lawsuits. Many were thrown out of court simply because they didn't have any merit. And, of course, a lot of people have and are being arrested for fraudulent claims of being harmed in some way because of the spill. Many new expensive motor homes were bought to use as "command centers" along with fleets of new 4 four wheelers, boats. etc. In short, the BP tragedy became the biggest economic boom in recent years for southern La, MS and SE Texas, especially for government agencies.
I just want to say after reading the first four pages of this thread, my adult Attention Deficit Disorder has been well satisfied.
https://gearheadgrrrl.com/2016/08/18/is-the-epa-protectionist/Compared to VW Group, HOG(NYSE) got off easy!
So we talk about VW HD and Toyota cheating, and you conclude the government is crooked? Go back to sleep.
Is that actually true? I was under the perhaps mistaken impression some government agencies, like the EPA are handed the responsibility of creating the standards they are enforcing, so they're a step removed from Congress.Don't get me wrong, I'm a bit of hippie/greenie from a "let's all do our part standpoint" but I think in same breath that the EPA regularly oversteps their bounds with no checks or balance.
How about Toyota? The government couldn't even prove their case against them. Toyota paid the fine so the could end the conflict quickly and move on. I guess that they're accustomed to dealing with crooked governments...
Did they live in a condo in Pass Christian?My mom lost her place there to Katrina.
No, they had a big 1860 plantation house (on the Register of Historic Places) that they were running as a bed and breakfast - you can still find references to Harbour Oaks Inn in Pass Christian. It was three and a half stories tall, and was on the ridge just up from the beach and across US-90 - about 100 yards from the water, and the ground was maybe 15 feet above sea level.The storm surge was marked on the live oaks next to where the building had been, 53 feet up. Afterwards, the highest thing left was the concrete platform the front steps had been on.Government agencies could have been more helpful, certainly - but at least they tried. The insurance companies ran like dogs.
How in the world did that house survive Camille in '69? When Camille hit Pass Christian, the winds were coming onshore at 200 MPH and the storm surge wave were breaking over the electric lines a quarter of a mile inland .... ?
Camille came ashore with the eye about 1/4 - 1/2 mile to the east of our place - so the winds to the west of the eye came from onshore, not from the water. To the east of the eye, the winds come from the water and are stronger. Back then, the stuff between downtown Pass Christian and Biloxi got the big surge, with the stretch from downtown Pass to Gulfport hit the hardest.With Katrina, the eye came just about dead center up through the entry to the waters of Bay St Louis, between the town of that name and Pass Christian, west of my family's place. This time, the house was on the east side of the eye and took the brunt - as the part of the Pass further to the east had done during Camille. Once again, the surge carried inland - this time all the way to the railway tracks and beyond. In some areas it reached I-10, although by then it was much diminished, down to a 5-10 foot wave.
I just wonder if cheap disposable housing is the way to go. Evacuate and rebuild?
In southwest Florida's Collier County Hurricane Donna in 1960 pushed water 40 miles inland as far as Imokalee, 30 feet above sea level. Only a couple thousand people lived there then, today 400,000 people live there. The developers are throwing up townhouses and condos like there's no tomorrow that barely meet building code. The county's new Emergency Operations Center is a literal "brick sh-thouse" several miles inland, everything essential is on the 3rd floor or above, and the windows are narrow slits with steel storm covers.
Quite frankly, the Federal Government should stop backing flood insurance policy's for new construction as they are no longer a financially sane program. Let the private sector write those policy's and watch this insanity with building on barrier islands, etc. end.
Interesting idea. What about on existing property? Pay off, but not allow rebuild? What happens to ownership and maintenance of the empty land, in your plan?
Poor old landlocked Oklahoma is looking better all the time ... Dusty
