Chertoff Vows to Help Calif. With Levees

[DoYouEverWonder]

March 17, 2006, 9:26 PM EST

SAN FRANCISCO -- Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff pledged Friday that the government would help California patch its fragile levee system, but stopped short of promising the pre-emptive federal disaster declaration that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger seeks.

"We obviously do want to stand with the state in terms of getting engineering assistance and the money to help the state do what it has to do," Chertoff said. "And we want to make sure we can cut through red tape in terms of getting it done."

Bush administration officials said privately that such an extraordinary disaster declaration -- before any levees failed -- was unlikely. But they said the federal government was exploring other ways to help, including assembling response plans and possibly tearing down bureaucratic rules that some believe are hampering the repairs.

"If tomorrow we have a levee break, we need to have a plan in place," Chertoff said at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. "We're doing that as we speak."

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-schwarzenegger-chertoff,0,4635160.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines

Ah excuse me, Mr. Chertoff, but you still haven't fixed the levees in Louisiana?