A panel led by retired U.S. Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-NY has dealt a harsh blow to the credibility of the Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force (IPET) convened in New Orleans after Katrina by the Army Corps of Engineers.
Rep. Boehlert’s panel looked at the way the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) takes part in post disaster engineering investigations and peer reviews including the IPET.
The Boehlert Report recommends that from now on, the funding for peer reviews over $1 million come from a separate source, that the ASCE Headquarters should facilitate but not control the assessment teams, and that dissemination of information to the public and press not be under extreme controls.
What does it mean for American citizens?
It means Congressman Sherwood Boehlert has done everyone in America a favor. It means anyone in America who depends on any engineered structure can sleep better, be it a building, bridge or levee.
And it means that the need for the 8/29 Investigation is now as clear as glass. Because all of the things the task force soundly criticized were abundantly evident in the ASCE’s peer review of the corps-sponsored IPET.
Click here for the Times Picayune article.
Leave a Reply