"Rod & Betty Jo" wrote in
Not gonna happen nor should it......Historically the area was hit by
hurricanes, Barrier islands or otherwise......slightly less or more does
not outweigh the cost or loss of function.....Rod

Apparently, you have not been following the many discussions about the
ecology of Southern Louisiana following the hurricane. ALL (not some) of
geologists, meteorologists, environmental engineers, and biologists agree
that a vast acreage of wetlands mitigates the effects of ALL hurricanes,
including category 5's. Some have estimated that every 20 miles of healthy
wetlands reduces storm surge by as much as 5-10 feet. That's pretty
significant when you see that most of the flooding in NOLA was about that
depth - and NOLA is 75-100 miles inland from the furthest extents of the
wetlands. Probably less than 20 miles of those wetlands are still healthy -
the rest have become marsh, ponds, or are simply lost to the encroaching
gulf of Mexico. (I suspect that you don't know what wetlands are - they are
meadows of grass and other plants that are under water for a period of time
every year - from a few days to a few months - in spite of the name, they
are NOT permanent bodies of water) The cost of deserting southern Louisiana
parishes is negligible if we're talking about Plaquemines, and other coastal
parishes. Their populations are quite small. The oil refineries and so forth
are a different matter, in terms of cost of moving to new sites. But the
cost of constantly rebuilding or shoring up infrastructure eventually will
exceed the value contributed by proximity to the off shore rigs.
Furthermore, thousands of miles of pipelines crisscrossing the wetlands of
Louisiana were once buried in the soil and muck and now are exposed to the
air and to sea water. Corrosion, rust and eventual complete decomposition
are inevitable under such conditions. That means oil spills galore - and
with oil becoming an ever more precious commodity, a stupid waste.
In regards to NOLA itself, it's a hard call. There's already talk of moving
the main port to Baton Rouge, which is less susceptible to the problems NOLA
has experienced. That would leave the decision about whether or not to leave
the higher portions of the city, particularly the French Quarter, more or
less intact, as a tourist destination, and let other, lower parts of the
city be abandoned, or whether to try to rebuild the entire thing, perhaps
with some new kind of building codes - houses on stilts, etc.