Larrry e-mails to ask us to imagine a scenario:
A private, for-profit power utility builds a nuclear reactor near a major metropolitan area, in a known tornado alley, in the middle of a Midwestern prairie. Say, for example, at Monticello, Minnesota.
Now, let's say that the containment building, which surrounds the nuclear reactor, was designed to withstand a category 3 tornado (but would be expected to fail if hit by a category 4 or 5 twister). The engineering data is known, clear, precise, and accurate. The decision to build only to the 'category 3' level is a consious decision.
Now, let's say that a (predictable) Midwestern thunderstorm spawned a category 4 tornado, and that it hit the nuclear reactor containment building, which (predictably) failed, causing it to collapse on the nuclear reactor, with a consequent release of radioactive particles, making portions of the greater Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area uninhabitable for months, with clean-up costs of $250 billion or more. A few hundred people die. A million refugees wander aimlessly. Looting takes place. The governor declares martial law. Some scenario.
Would the private engineers and utility company (who decided to build to the 'category 3' tornado standard) be held accountable? I suspect that to assign blame and punish the guilty, there would be an inquisition, criminal charges, and long prison sentences for the engineers and executives who failed to protect the public. Left-leaning political activists would shout themselves hoarse decrying the evils of corporations, nuclear power, etc. Trial lawyers would have a field day, signing-up clients, suing for billions in civil damages.
Minnesota residents can rest easy. The Xcel Energy nuclear containment system at Monticello is designed to withstand a category 5 tornado, and then some.
In reality, however, everyone knew New Orleans was a disaster in the making. Federal and state officials long ago decided to protect the city from a Category 3 hurricane, choosing to let nature takes its course in the event of Category 4 or 5 storm. The term for this is "moral hazard." Implicitly, they knew they couldn't justify spending billions of U.S. taxpayer money to subsidize Louisianans to build in ill-advised places. They also knew, in the wake of the inevitable disaster, unlimited federal money would likely be available to rebuild in all the same spots.
The words are by Holman W. Jenkins Jr., writing for the Wall Street Journal's Political Diary on August 31st. I added the boldface emphasis.
In my opinion, the failure of the New Orleans levees, some hours after hurricane Katrina passed by to the east, is a man-made disaster. Will heads roll? Don't hold your breath.
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