Clearly Judge Stanwood Duval is frustrated in his January 30, 2008 decision regarding the plight of the victims of the federal levee breaks in metro New Orleans. This excerpt comes from his statement from the Katrina Canal Breaches Consolidated Litigation.
“…While the United States government is immune for legal liability for the defalcations alleged herein, it is not free, nor should it be, from posterity’s judgment concerning its failure to accomplish what was its task. The citizens of each and every city in this great nation have come to depend on their government and its agencies to perform certain tasks which have been assigned to federal agencies by laws passed by Congress and overseen by the Executive Branch. It should not be unreasonable for those citizens to rely on their agents, whom they pay through their taxes, to perform the tasks assigned in a timely and competent way. However, because of § 702c, there is neither incentive, nor punishment to insure that our own government performs these tasks correctly….”
It’s true that federal law states that the US Army Corps of Engineers is immune should its flood protection structures fail. However, federal law also clearly states – in the Flood Control Act of 1965 – that the Corps is responsible for the design and construction of metro New Orleans flood protection. This means that responsibility for the levee failures on August 29, 2005 in New Orleans rests squarely on the US Army Corps of Engineers and on Congress.
Judge Duval in the final page of his statement says:
“…It is not within this Court’s power to address the wrongs committed. It is hopefully within the citizens of the United States’ power to address the failures of our laws and agencies. If not, it is certain that another tragedy such as this will occur again…”
It is my hope that the citizens of the United States call on Congress to pass the 8/29 Investigation Act, a truly complete and truly independent analysis of the flood protection failures.
We need to think outside the box for our protection in LA. We need legislation that allows LA to use federal funds appropriated for levee protection to be used as a voucher to hire private engineering firms, rather than the USACE, to build us the best designed levee protection system that can be built. We should have the right to privatize the entire situation in order to get the best results. That is the only way to circumvent the Corps of Engineers. Everyone knows that only second tier engineers and below are the type of people who work for the government. The best and the brightest work for the best engineering firms in the country with the best salaries. Our tax dollars should be used to purchase the very best this country has to offer in sound flood protection!