June 1, 2007

Donald Powell, recovery czar for the Gulf Coast and one of the President’s men, didn’t retract his statement last week that the federal government has a duty to help metro New Orleans due to the failure of the federally built levees.

Today, the Washington Post reports this statement by Mr. Powell in a recent conversation standing atop one of the city’s Mississippi River levees.

“In my view, you should be able to trust the United States. People thought they were protected, and the levees breached. We need to bridge that trust gap. That’s what these levees are about.”

It’s becoming conventional wisdom that New Orleans was destroyed by federal engineering failures, not a hurricane.

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

Click here for the Wash Post story.