Master plan for Louisiana Coast public meeting today at UNO

Monday, January 23rd, 2012

Red indicates predicted land change along the Louisiana coast over the next 50 years if we do nothing. Photo/CPRA

The Master Plan for the future of the Louisiana coast produced by the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) is on view today at UNO from 1-7:30p.

Lindy Boggs Conference Center Auditorium
2045 Lakeshore Drive, New Orleans, LA
1-5:30 Tour Master Plan
5:30 – 7:30 Public Hearings

Everyone should review the draft blueprint. Stop by between 1:00-5:30pm to explore the exhibits in the open house and learn about project selection, flooding risks, how Louisiana’s landscape is changing, and more. You can tell them your thoughts about the draft plan any time during the day or stay for the public hearing starting at 5:30p.

The final version of the plan will be submitted to the Louisiana legislature on March 26, 2012 for vote.

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The Urban Legends of Katrina

Friday, January 20th, 2012

Sad mementos at base of Historic Plaque at 17th Street Canal breach site. Photo/Roy Arrigo

There is a persistent popular urban legend that prior to Katrina, the Army Corps of Engineers had wanted to build peripheral barriers around the city of New Orleans, but local agencies blocked the corps and forced it to build what it considered ‘inferior flood protection.’

This misinformation, promulgated by senior corps officials, and printed in major media from 2005 – 2007 was unsupported by data (e.g. memos, circulars, legal briefs, letters, articles, meeting minutes, etc).

Levees.org has looked for five years for the supporting data and has not found it. At the date of this printing, the Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans District, the folks with the most to gain from location of this data, also has been unable to locate it.

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Despite thumbs down from academic review board, levee breach sites may get historic designation

Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012

Site of the 17th Street Canal breach before repair crews arrived. Photo credit unknown

A professional academic board in Louisiana recently voted against placing the sites of two catastrophic levee breaches in New Orleans during Katrina on the National Register of Historic Places.

Two-thirds of the 9-member board voted down the flood protection group Levees.org’s quest to list the breach of the 17th Street Canal and the east side north breach site of the Industrial Canal to the prestigious Register.

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