Levees.org discovered in a FOIA request that the majority of the nation’s population, 54.83% (156,615,630 people) lives in counties protected by levees.
This figure is much higher than the percentage reported last year (43%) in a June 2008 briefing to Congress.
Manmade levees, like navigational channels, highways and dams are alterations to a region’s hydrological character and [...]
Monthly Archives: September 2009
New data sheds light on Georgia flooding
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 – 5:10 pm
Pentagon only partly investigated Senator Landrieu’s concerns
Tuesday, September 29, 2009 – 11:26 am
In a stunning show of apparent bureaucratic ineptitude, or perhaps tacit collusion, the Inspector General of the Department of Defense (DOD) ignored US Senator Mary Landrieu’s call for a federal investigation into alleged wrongdoing by the US Army Corps of Engineers and instead focused on Levees.org, one of the whistleblowers.
The Pentagon concluded that [...]
Pentagon says “no further action needed” on Corps Internet Scandal in New Orleans
Monday, September 28, 2009 – 5:43 pm
The Pentagon’s Inspector General office has issued a response to Senator Mary Landrieu’s recent request for a federal investigation. In August, Senator Landrieu asked that the Army look into allegations by the founder and former editor in chief of NOLA.com of an organized campaign by the Corps of Engineers to undercut its critics.
In a [...]
Levees.org goes Big Apple!
Monday, September 21, 2009 – 3:02 pm
Levee failure and flooding is not a New Orleans problem, nor a “sea-level” problem. That’s why Levees.org has satellite chapters in four states besides Louisiana including FL, CA, IL and OR.
And this month, Levees.org launched its sixth chapter: New York.
Its director is Brian Schaffer (New York City) with over 10 years of corporate communications [...]
Bloomberg News using lazy inaccurate Katrina Shorthand to depict New Orleans flooding
Friday, September 18, 2009 – 10:49 am
The Bloomberg wire service, regarded as a premier site for news, ought to hold its writers to a high standard of accuracy and clarity. This applies as well when talking about what caused the damage to the city of New Orleans in 2005 because Bloomberg has so much influence over what the country understands [...]
New York Times issues correction to reporter’s description of New Orleans’ flooding
Tuesday, September 15, 2009 – 10:00 am
The New York Times has issued a correction to one of its reporters’ rendition of what happened in metro New Orleans on August 29, 2005.
This is important because a prominent news source like the New York Times has much influence over what America understands about New Orleans.
It seems that on August 13, reporter Timothy Egan [...]
ASCE’s disaster manual could have been…but wasn’t
Wednesday, September 9, 2009 – 11:50 am
Another shout out to Mark Schleifstein.
Time after time, he demonstrates what journalism is supposed to be. His latest, an article in the Times Picayune on the American Society of Civil Engineers’ new disaster manual, was no exception:
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/washington/index.ssf?/base/news-3/1252473671168910.xml&coll=1
No, Ms. Liberto…it’s not OK to use Katrina shorthand
Saturday, September 5, 2009 – 5:15 pm
Last month, noted author John McQuaid chastized a reporter for the New York Times for lazy journalism, that is, describing the flooding of New Orleans as “caused” by Katrina.
It was civil engineering failure that caused the flooding, not a weather event. Such lazy journalism or “Katrina shorthand” is harmful to metro New Orleans’ recovery. [...]
Video on Dutch Flood Protection rockets to top of YouTube charts
Wednesday, September 2, 2009 – 7:41 am
In just 24 hours, our latest video uploaded to YouTube garnered 19 honors including #1 most viewed and #9 most discussed.
The 6-minute documentary was created with footage captured by an Amsterdam-based film crew commissioned by Levees.org while H.J. Bosworth Jr. and Sandy Rosenthal were in Holland with US Senator Mary Landrieu’s Second Congressional Delegation (CoDel) [...]