Similarly, loss of wetlands threatened New Orleans’ levees, which were built on the assumption that they would have 40 to 50 miles of protective swamp as buffer between the city and the Gulf of Mexico. Despite every major study showing that a massive coastal restoration program and higher levees were needed to protect New Orleans, the administration permitted federal agencies to stop protecting 20 million acres of wetlands, allowed developers to drain thousands of acres and in 2004 cut funding for holding back the waters of Lake Pontchartrain by more than 80%.
与此相似，湿地的丧失也威胁到了新奥尔良的大坝，因为建坝的基础是认定城市和墨西哥湾之间存在着40到50英里保护性沼泽的水面缓冲。尽管所有的重要研究都显示保护新奥尔良需要推行大规模海岸恢复计划和加高防洪堤坝，政府却还是允许联邦机构停止保护面积达2000万英亩的湿地，允许开发者抽干成千上万英亩湿地中蓄积的水份，并在2004年将用于彭恰尔特恩湖水土保护的资金削减了超过80%。