Arguing that the future of their community is threatened by federal inaction after Hurricane Katrina, hundreds of Plaquemines Parish residents, officials and business owners plan to rally today on the steps of the State Capitol to push for more progress in the rebuilding efforts.

More than 600 people are expected to travel by chartered bus and caravan to the rally, which is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. Not only will residents give personal accounts of their lives since the storm, participants will call upon federal officials to quickly finish their study of levees in the parish’s east and south and to repair levees and extend protection to the entire parish, according to organizers.

It is an issue that has left the vulnerable coastal parish up in arms since the Army Corps of Engineers estimated earlier this year that it would take at least $3 billion to protect the 14,795 residents outside of Belle Chasse. Residents say they fear that the high per-capita costs may make it easier for the federal government to eliminate the parish from financing.

Wills Point resident Ann Day, who is credited as the rally’s lead organizer, said that residents need to present a united front and demand protection for all. More importantly, delays in providing federal aid could result in the disappearance of many communities, she said.

“As long as I live here and most of us live here, we’re going to fight for rights… We deserve the same protection as St. Bernard, Orleans and Jefferson,” Day said. “It’s not just our lives, it’s our livelihoods.”

Parish President Benny Rousselle said he is disturbed that some federal officials have balked at the cost of levees for the east and south because of the sparse population.

“In the past we’ve never had population as a criteria for building levees… Obviously we have been important in the past and we don’t want to (be) shoved aside as unimportant in the future,” said Rousselle, who believes that coastal and wetland restoration would protect the parish better than levees. “What we are trying to do is make sure that Plaquemines Parish is not forgotten. We were the first hit and the worst hit and we need help.”

Rousselle said the rally also will serve to educate the public of Plaquemines’ importance to the state and nation, as one of Louisiana’s major sources of oil, chemicals and seafood.

The rally has drawn the support of several businesses, which have paid for the buses that will take residents to Baton Rouge today. Business owners cannot decide whether to invest in rebuilding their operations in the parish until the federal government decides whether to improve and certify the levees, said Dan Cousins, the general manager of Stolthaven New Orleans, a liquid storage facility in Braithwaite.

“We have a big investment in the area… It’s difficult for us to make decisions when the levee is still not repaired,” Cousins said. “We’re involved because we are a part of the community. We have the same concerns as people who live in the houses.”

Without federal action, residents will not know which standards are necessary to rebuild their homes and businesses and cannot obtain reasonably priced flood and homeowners’ insurance, they say.

Parish Councilman Steve Vaughn and businessman Billy Nungesser, who are running for parish president next year, are also sponsors of the event. Both said that federal officials seem unaware that protecting Plaquemines also would aid in protecting the rest of the region.

“One of government’s fundamental roles is to protect our people and that’s what we’re going to impress on Congress,” Vaughn said.

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