More on disaster profiteering

Lobbyists representing transportation, energy and other special interests dominated panels that advised Louisiana's U.S. senators crafting legislation to rebuild the storm-damaged Gulf Coast, records and interviews show.

The Louisiana Katrina Reconstruction Act -- introduced last month by Louisiana Sens. Mary L. Landrieu, a Democrat, and David Vitter, a Republican -- included billions of dollars' worth of business for clients of those lobbyists and a total price tag estimated as high as $250 billion.