A note on who owns the New Orleans levee system: It's the Army Corps of Engineers. See this Washington Post article (you have to subscribe, but it's free). The article provides some very interesting insights into cooperative federalism (you remember, the marble cake type): FEMA, by law, has to pay 75 percent of Louisiana's reconstruction costs (or at least the amount that's not insured). The amount is negotiable, though, and may well be higher: NYC got 100 percent of reconstruction after Sept 11.
Another interesting tidbit: The Army Corps of Engineers has to rebuild the levees and flood walls only as they were before the catastrophe. Now, we know that they have to be stronger than that...
Keywords: American National Politics; Federalism.
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