The 'no action' alternative, by default

Big Easy Quagmire.

...it would be folly to rebuild on the lowest ground in New Orleans. Blacks lived in those marginal locations because old residential patterns were established during the era of segregation. What sort of affirmation would it be to put that population in harm's way again? And protection is simply infeasible. The Mississippi Delta is shrinking for want of fresh sediment from a much-dammed river system. In the future, sea levels may rise as well.

The task of making safe the low-lying parts of New Orleans so as to permit safe redevelopment is simply beyond our political capability.