Word: houck
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...worth of the wetlands that once provided natural hurricane protection. The lesson of Gustav, in other words, is that the lessons of Katrina still apply. "Coastal restoration is one of those things politicians say, like 'I owe it all to my lovely wife,'" says Tulane law professor Oliver Houck, who has been warning about land losses for decades. "Meanwhile, we keep building up the coast, no matter how many times we get hit in the chin. At some point the American public is going to stop paying for chin surgery...
...Scientists have said the project would make the area even less safe by ravaging natural storm buffers, amplifying storm surges and encouraging a false sense of security. First proposed in 1992, the project was finally authorized by Congress last year. "It's just insane," says Tulane law professor Oliver Houck, who has been warning about the vanishing coast for decades. "The politicians get tears in their eyes when they talk about restoring wetlands, but at the same time they push this mega-levee system to destroy our natural protections...
...rebuild barrier islands. But those projects are moving much, much slower than the levee projects, and scientists have estimated that real restoration could cost $20 billion or more. "Coastal restoration is just one of those things that politicians say, like 'I owe it all to my lovely wife,'" Houck says. "Meanwhile, we keep building up the coast, no matter how many times we get hit on the chin. At some point the American public is going to stop paying for chin surgery...
When doctors first ordered a CT scan for Jen Houck's six-month-old daughter in 2003, the new mom was more worried about the risks of anesthesia (used to keep children from squirming in the machine) than of radiation exposure. In 2006 and 2007, her daughter, now 5, had two additional CT scans, 6 months apart, for what doctors initially thought was a growth abnormality. They've since determined the child was perfectly healthy. "All that, just to find out her head is bigger than normal," says the 27-year-old mother of two in Boone, North Carolina...
...Houck knows how much a group like this can mean to someone. After he decided on Dec. 12, 1934, that he would never drink alcohol again, he made restitution with his wife and others he had harmed. "I started telling my wife what kind of a fellow I was," he says. "I did this for three nights to get all of the garbage out. I wanted to be honest about everything in my life." He says his wife was grateful for the talk and then understood his behavior. "Now we could start our family and raise the children with...