A great day for Levees.Org
July 22, 2006
The majority of our U.S. Senate recognized the mistakes of the Corps of Engineers in the New Orleans Flooding and accepted their responsibility by voting for true Corps Reform. This marks a significant accomplishment in the mission of Levees.Org.
Due in part to the Levees.Org Call-In, the US Senate voted for true Corps Reform this week by putting controls on how water projects are completed by the Corps of Engineers.
The Feingold-McCain amendment to the Water Resources Development Act passed 54-46 and creates an independent panel of scientific and economic experts with the authority to make recommendations on water projects considered by the Corps. A decision to ignore the panel’s advice could be used against the Corps in legal proceedings.
A second Feingold-McCain amendment, intended to create an interagency panel to recommend priorities among competing projects, failed by a vote of 19 to 80.
Nonetheless, the new requirements for independent review as a first step in true reform. Levees.Org has reason to celebrate not just because of the voting but because Senators Feingold, McCain and other proponents of the legislation repeatedly cited the experience of New Orleans, where corps-designed levees and waterways failed to protect the city from a Cat 3 hurricane.
Links to see how our US Senators voted on Corps Reform:
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