Coastal scientist Ivor van Heerden recently spoke before an international group of stakeholders and scholars at the Tulane University’s 4th Annual Disaster Management Workshop on The Use of Computer Models to Understand the Man Made Katrina Catastrophe. We enjoyed the brush-up on important details about the New Orleans Flood.

We also heard some new interesting details on the status of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO) Lawsuit during the Q&A portion of the talk. We had not heard anything really since November of 2009 when the U.S. District Court found the Army Corps of Engineers guilty and liable for negligent maintenance of the MRGO, a little used shipping channel which caused the destruction of natural coastal barriers to storm surge that would have helped greatly reduce the tidal surge and destruction to the New Orleans metro area.

Dr. van Heerden revealed in his talk that the federal government must come up with billions to compensate the people of the region for the disaster it created. We asked Dr. van Heerden — a consultant in the case — about the status of the lawsuit and he replied that the Army Corps had appealed the decision in February of 2010.

“The lawsuit awarded plaintiffs in the Lower Ninth Ward and St. Bernard Parish, but the MRGO affected all the people in Orleans Parish,” said van Heerden. “Why should they not be compensated? There is no question about the science. The Army Corps has been found guilty in federal court and right now they are wrangling over legal details. I believe the U.S. District Court’s decision will hold.”

The Huffington Post has published this information.