Yesterday, Congressman Charlie Melancon D-LA released this statement of his support for the 8/29 Investigation.

“I am and always have been a strong supporter of an 8/29 Investigation into the levee failures that caused massive devastation in New Orleans, St. Bernard, and surrounding communities. In Congress, I have worked with Sen. Mary Landrieu to push legislation creating a commission to lead this investigation, modeled after the 9/11 Commission, so we can get a complete and unbiased expert opinion on what went wrong and what we can do to make sure those mistakes never happen again.

The flooding in New Orleans and St. Bernard after Katrina was a man-made disaster, one that we have the power to prevent from ever happening again. But to do so, we must authorize outside experts who don’t have a personal interest in the outcome to conduct an independent investigation into the levee failures. An 8/29 Investigation would do just that, and I will continue working to convince my colleagues in Congress of the serious need for this independent analysis.”

With the third anniversary of the worst engineering disaster in America almost here, we at Levees.Org are pleased by the Congressman’s strongly worded support. Earlier this week, a staffer with Rep Melancon’s office alerted me that the Congressman had filed a House version of the 8/29 Investigation on July 18 that did not differ in any significant way from the Senate version filed on April 7, 2008 by Senator Mary Landrieu D-LA.

As the AP reported yesterday, the Corps of Engineers has cited deficiencies with 122 levees in a federal rehabilitation program with three (3) of the levees in Washington, including the Potomac Park levee near the Reflecting Pool. With 43% of the American public living in areas protected by levees, the 8/29 Investigation is clearly in the nation’s best interest.