President Barack Obama has extended the federal office of Gulf Coast rebuilding, calling it a “first step of a sustained commitment by my administration to rebuild now, stronger than ever.”
Obama also announced plans to send his Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan to tour the region in early March.
“The residents of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, who are helping rebuild, are heroes who believe in their communities, and they are succeeding despite the fact that they have not always received the support they deserve from the federal government,” Obama said in a statement.
The federal office of Gulf Coast rebuilding, established by former President George W. Bush after the 2005 hurricanes, was set to expire at month’s end. The executive order, signed by Obama and released by the White House Feb.20, extends the office through September.
Bush’s hurricane recovery chief, retired Maj. Gen. Doug O’Dell, left office last month. Acting coordinator Paul Conway will remain in the post until Obama names a replacement. The White House did not immediately say whether the office’s work would in any way be tweaked.
O’Dell was among those who had urged the work of the office continue in some fashion, perhaps into 2011, citing, among other things, ongoing federal interest in projects including the rebuilding of the New Orleans area flood protection system and former public housing sites in the city.
State and local officials also complain about bureaucratic snags in rebuilding infrastructure damaged by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, with the appeals process for funding levels from the Federal Emergency Management Agency high on that list.
O’Dell, after he took office last year, began holding sit-downs with federal, state and local officials to try to figure out what the holdups were and get past them. He reported progress but also frustrations, particularly in an inability to resolve some long-standing rebuilding disputes between FEMA and the city of New Orleans.
Louisiana’s congressional delegation sought an extension of at least two years, and the state’s hurricane recovery chief, Paul Rainwater, said the sufficiency of the seven-month extension will depend on what the office does. Rainwater gave O’Dell credit, but said he had no final, binding decision-making abilities.
Both Louisiana senators, Democrat Mary Landrieu and Republican David Vitter, see a need for changes – including giving the federal recovery chief power to effectively coordinate policies and actions of federal agencies involved in the rebuilding effort.
While welcoming the extension, Landrieu also said the delegation would work to push it past September.
Topics Hurricane
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