Neglect threatens infrastructure - US security chief

By Randall Mikkelsen

WASHINGTON, Sept 5 (Reuters) - The United States has increased security to protect its levees, dams and power grids from terrorists, but neglect of ordinary upkeep exposes such critical infrastructure to dangerous decay, the U.S. homeland security chief said on Friday.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff accused political leaders of playing a game of "musical chairs" by ignoring maintenance and needed upgrades and hoping facilities can avoid disaster until after they leave office.

"It's kind of like playing Russian roulette with our citizens' safety," Chertoff said in a speech at the Brookings Institution think tank. Private companies have shown a similar short-term attitude over infrastructure maintenance, he said.

"We've made a lot of progress in terms of these common goods, publicly owned and privately owned, when it comes to protecting them against terrorist attacks," Chertoff said.

"When it comes to making long-term investments simply to maintain things we rely upon ... we have failed time and again," he said.

A 2005 study by the American Society of Civil Engineers estimated it would cost $1.6 trillion over five years to bring U.S. physical infrastructure to acceptable levels. Other studies have also recommended spending more on maintenance.

But in a sign of the times, the Bush administration asked Congress on Friday for an immediate $8 billion to reimburse states for highway projects funded with federal gasoline taxes, which have slumped as American motorists drive less.

Chertoff encouraged states to follow the example of the federal anti-terrorism program and inventory infrastructure projects vulnerable to natural disasters. Strategies could then be drawn up for maintaining, reinforcing and protecting them.

Long-term maintenance costs must also be considered in evaluating projects that might be to expensive to maintain.

"It's really about putting the common good first," he said.

Chertoff spoke during a week in which Hurricane Gustav's strike on New Orleans recalled the devastation of that city three years ago when Hurricane Katrina caused a main canal levee to break.

President George W. Bush's administration was heavily criticized for the slow Katrina relief efforts.

Chertoff said that during a visit to see New Orleans storm preparations last week, he viewed a huge steel gate installed after Katrina to protect the canal from rising waters on Lake Pontchartrain.

A proposal a decade earlier to install such a gate, when it could have preserved the city from Katrina, was scrapped due to local political opposition, he said.

Similarly, he said, vital Sacramento, California, levees remained at risk of "catastrophic failure," as opposition by local development officials and businesses concerned over the economic impact, delays upgrades to the flood-control system.

Chertoff also expressed frustration over difficulties getting oil companies to equip gasoline stations with emergency generators so they can keep operating in a widespread power outage -- a problem after Katrina that federal officials said recurred after Gustav. (Editing by Peter Cooney)