The Facts

Fact 1
The flooding of New Orleans and nearby St. Bernard parish was a civil engineering disaster, not a weather event. According to a 2007 study by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the majority of the damage from the flooding is due to the levees failing (page 39). “The failure of the levees was the worst engineering disaster in the world since Chernobyl” says Dr. Ray Seed, Geotechnical Engineering, University of California Berkeley.

Fact 2
Responsibility for the design and construction of the flood protection in metro New Orleans belongs solely to the US Army Corps of Engineers as mandated in the Flood Control of 1965.

Fact 3
To look to Congress and the Army Corps to fix what it broke does not reflect on the last administration. The failure of the federally engineered levees was 40 years in the making. The Army Corps squandered hundreds of millions of dollars on a levee system they knew by their own calculations was inadequate.

Fact 4
More than 98% (ninety-eight percent) of the US Army Corps of Engineers are civilian employees. Thus to look to the Army Corps and Congress to fix what it broke does not disparage our young soldiers fighting in foreign wars.

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Radio show caller confirms New Orleans pumps probably won’t work in high water event

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

H.J. Bosworth Jr. lead researcher for Levees.org

Yesterday, an unidentified caller phoned in while Kaare Johnson of WIST Radio was interviewing Levees.org’s lead researcher H.J. Bosworth Jr.

What the caller added was bone-chilling.

Bosworth was explaining why the Corps of Engineers’ expensive pumps installed at the mouths of the 17th Street, Orleans and London Avenue Canals might not work if needed. Mr. Bosworth was explaining testimony from a Corps whistleblower featured in Harry Shearer’s new documentary, The Big Uneasy.

The caller added some first hand testimony. Here is a short excerpt from Karre’s interview with ‘Dave.’

DAVE: I was involved with another company trying to sell these pumps to the Army Corps of Engineers. In doing some research, the gentleman is correct (H.J. Bosworth Jr.). The specs were not met. No way, no how, no shape, no form. They (the pumps) were supposed to be witness tested. The pumps themselves are great pumps, they do work. But not under the conditions that they ran in the canals right now. There’s not enough water in the canals to be able to run those pumps properly. They’re hydraulicly driven, which means there’s fluid in these motors, and fluid gets hot and the seals break.

KAARE: Well that’s the key, Dave. How long has the Corps run these? How long can they run?

DAVE: They really haven’t done a lot of testing on them.

Click here for the entire interview. Begin at approximately the mid point.
http://www.webwiseforradio.com/site_files/244/File/KJ_083110_H2.mp3

Debut of Harry Shearer’s ‘The Big Uneasy’ got long standing ovation

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Producer director Harry Shearer extended an invitation to H.J. Bosworth Jr, lead researcher for Levees.org, and I, to the debut of his new documentary, The Big Uneasy, last night at the Prytania theater.

Also in the theater, that I could see, was Garland Robinette, Garret Graves and Ivor van Heerden, all of whom were featured in the film.

As Mr. Shearer has said before, his goal in creating The Big Uneasy was to present the findings of experts – in a accessible format – on exactly why metro New Orleans flooded five years ago.

Judging by the sold out shows, standing ovations and extended movie-house showings this week, we believe Mr. Shearer has succeeded greatly.

H.J and I were both also pleased when Mr. Shearer gave us a special shout out. If it were not for the yard signs, he said, that Levees.org had placed in the ground all over New Orleans and St. Bernard Parish that said “hold the corps accountable,” he may never have seriously looked into the issues nor made the documentary.

Sandy Rosenthal
Founder, Levees.org
www.levees.org

Click here for movie showings.

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