NationStates Jolt Archive

The Roman Free Press

City of New Rome Planned

After the successful annexation of Northern California today, the Roman Empire announced plans to build an extensive new capital at the juncture of the north-south and Gulf Coast trade routes in its territory along the entire West Coast of North America. The site will be on the former city of Calexico, and will be designed to accommodate a city of approximately 6 million people, with suburbs extending the metropolitan area to 20 million. It will rival Los Angeles in size and will be part of a newer program designed to "people the desert".

Re-organization of the Roman Union

In addition to this, Rome shall be re-organizing its territories. The provinces of California, Nevada, Arizona, Baja California and Baja California Sur, Idaho and SE British Columbia (from Nelson east to the Alberta border and north to Yellowhead Pass) will be grouped together with Provence and Latium to form the new metropolitan area of the Roman Empire. The rest of the Roman territories shall continue to be Dominions grouped together in the Union.

Development of Alternate Fuel Source Announced

Rome also announced that scientists at the University of Rome are working on a plan to create an alternate fuel source to replace oil. While Roman reserves leave enough available for at least 50 years of service, Rome does not wish to be caught flat-footed once fuel does run out. The new fuel source, according to the University, will be based on an unexpected source- garbage. The idea is to compress waste into a liquid form where it can be harnessed in the same manner as steam engines were in the 19th century, though obviously in much more compact circumstances so that it can be used in automobiles, buses, tanks and any other vehicle or craft. There are also plans to research the possibility of designing ships that use the water they float on to move them forward in the same manner that oil does today.

New Orleans to be Moved

Rome also announced today that it is starting a project to move the City of New Orleans southward so that it is on the bank of the Mississippi River and not inside it, which is where it is currently. The current city will also see a massive reworking and rebuilding of its levee system so that it can withstand the strongest hurricanes possible.

-Compiled from Press Releases from the Office of Caesar.

OOC: This is completely insane, but do you think Bush is secretly responsible for Katrina? Obviously, he invented a hurricane generator and used it to destroy all our oil facilities. This will cause an energy crisis, and Bush will soon blame it on terrorists, then reap the profits of a war by stealing all their oil?

ooc: just curious, with the RL city of Los Angeles (albeit in conjunction with the rest of California, Arizona, New Mexico, et cetera) already straining water supplies in western America. How does Rome plan to provide adequate water supplies to another 20 million people? The plan to "people the desert" seems to be nothing more than a Soviet-esque plan to "people Siberia" if I may borrow your phrase. The problem, at least apparent to me and a few others I've talked to, is that there is not sufficient quantities of accessible natural resources to make the urban areas economically viable without heavy subsidization, which obviously affects the amount of capital any government has to invest in other projects.

Wouldn't it be more logical to leave the desert as just that? Desert. I could be wrong, but trying to build cities in the desert seems unsustainable in the long-term.

This isn't necessarily to criticise the move - as all NS countries have the problem of unbounded population growth. But expansion into a desert... well, if you wouldn't mind, I'd honestly love to hear the reason behind that choice, and why not say a more temperate climate with more abundant water supplies.

Well, desalinzation plants can work, but you need lots of energy and money. I suppose tax revenue from the new city could pay for some of it, but at least in the beginning it wouldn't be able to pay for it by itself.

OOC: I meant to do this press-conference style, but from here on in assume that it is a press conference.

Also, Kreynoria, Bush has nothing to do with what I'm doing with New Orleans. I've known well before Katrina struck that it was in the wrong place- now I'm forcing the issue.

IC:

Consul Gneaus Valerius Maderia answered the questions posed from the assembled media.

"With regards to the City of New Rome, we plan on using imported water from the start and then eventually start a desalinization process. The plan doesn't call for an immediate peopling of the city just yet, and while the construction will put a strain on resources, we figure it won't be damaging (OOC: Roman revenues top $800 billion a year) and we feel it's important enough to spend the time and energy to complete. As far as why we picked the desert- for one, Phoenix itself is growing fast, and for another we feel that putting a city overtop of agricultural land is a waste of that resource. Our provinces have more than enough to support the city so we are not worried about the long-term implications for the project.

Any other questions?"