Our new video, “Corps of Engineers caught harassing citizens on Internet” has made it to the Top Ten Top Rated (Today) in News & Politics!
If you haven’t yet, please view and comment on our video! You can see it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDwuMBOPrrQ
Please do this by 9pm EST on Wed Dec 17, 2008.
This video illustrates why we need the 8/29 Investigation Act, a truly independent evaluation of the levee failures in New Orleans!
Sandy Rosenthal
Founder, Levees.org
www.levees.org
http://www.swbno.org/history_drainage.asp
FOR Our Future Record –
WHO built the FLOOD CONTROL Dam & Lock at St. Bernard Ave. and Beauregard Street
(this is a statement of FACT FINDING)
WHY didn’t the City which paid for it’s Construction and Permitting have the COMMON SENSE and money to build an exact replica at mouth of 17 St. Canal ?
Go Figure.
SELA PROJECTS dates to 1997 – 1998 Hurricane Season.
How about accepting New Orleans City Hall Administration and O.L.D. and
state LA. Legislature and NOLA S&WB for all being complacent and willfully Obstructing USACE reports and findings, albeit sometimes faulty.
We also know who saved the Crescent City’s EXISTENCE in 2008 during Gustav.
now, don’t we all feel smarter.
Mr. Leakeriver, let’s not repeat unsubstantiated myths.
The City cannot and does not build its flood protection. Responsibility for the design and construction of the Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity Hurricane Protection Project (LPV) has belonged solely to the USACE since 1965. This is federal law.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_Control_Act_of_1965
Saw your vid. linked on Infowars.com…. Oh please. If the citizens of N.O. had actually used the money that had been alocated over the last 30 years for levee building and flood control, instead of lining the pockets of their corrupt politicians, they would have had a world class levee system. Instead, they used it to grease the wheels of their own corrupt system. The people of N.O. got exactly what they deserved for their lack of foresight. Oh ya, thats right, I forgot… Bush attacked N.O. with Katrina & Rita lol. “Never attribute to malace what can be attributed to stupidity.
Dear Infowars Reader,
Please lets not repeat myths unfounded myths. The citizens of New Orleans cannot line the pockets of their politicians with federal levee money. That’s because the entity controlling federal levee money belongs exclusively, via the Flood Control of 1965 to the US Army Corps of Engineers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_Control_Act_of_1965
Sandy, you need to read the reference which you provide, under Basic Provisions, it is no myth, “Any such project was subject to local cost sharing…” For levees to be built correctly, Congress needs to make all levees Federal so that what ever costs it takes to construct what the Corps’ civilian engineers that reside behind the levee protection design, can then be built.
I believe what the other posters are referring to is the fact that the Corps’ engineers designed flood protection that would have avoided the catastrophe of Katrina. However, being constrained by the Flood Control Act, the local government could not match the costs required to build what was needed. In addition, property owners adjacent to the canals complained to their representatives when they found out they would have to sell part of their property to construct the flood control system with an adequate footprint. The represenative/s petitioned Congress and disallowed the corps to design the required protection that the engineers proposed.
I do not know about lining pockets, but I do know that locals held the Corps hostage in requiring the Corps to use inferior pump equipment and machinery available from companies connected to local politians; if the corps did not buy the machinery, they would with hold their cost share portion.
The goal of Levees.org to demand safe levees and the protection of citizens is a much needed organization. However, if they rest their hat on everything being the Corps’ fault and ignoring the fact that while the Flood Control Act requires local cost sharing, the designs required will be hard to make it to construction. In essence, in putting all of its eggs in the Corps basket, it is severely handicapping itself in uncovering the full truths and helping develop an actual solution.
Dear Two Sides:
Prior to Hurricane Betsy, the local government in south Louisiana designed and built their own flood protection. That all changed with the Flood Control Act of 1965.
Please provide the evidence that the local governments “disallowed the corps to design the required protection that the engineers proposed.” Levees.org has been looking for that evidence for a year, have not found it, and don’t believe it exists. We welcome you to show it to us.
Please provide evidence that “locals held the Corps hostage in requiring the Corps to use inferior pump equipment and machinery..”
In closing, yes, the Flood Control Act requires cost sharing. That’s the way it is for all Corps of Engineers flood protection projects in all states. That is the way Congress wants it. That is law.
I am definitely with Infowars and Leakeriver on this Sandy. Having been born and raised in New Orleans and lived my entire life in Gentilly, I must say that, while I fault the Corps for the faulty levees, I have to place just as much if not more blame on the OLD, etc for not maintaining the levee system that was built for the City. Additionally, the 17th street canal was never a levee, it was nothing more than the dredge material that came from when the canal was originally built.
Lastly, has anyone ever been to the public meetings the Corps holds? My mother and I went for out Lakeview/Gentilly homes and the number of people out there threatening the corps with lawsuits if they did not do what they were told by the citizens was enormous. It is amazing they can get anything done.
Dear MJ,
Please let’s not repeat myths. There is no evidence that any levees failed during Katrina due to lack of maintenance by the Orleans Levee District (OLD). Zero, zip, nada.
Further, the OLD can maintain only levees that are certified as complete. When Katrina struck, 60-90% of the levee system was still incomplete and not slated for completion until 2015.
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d051050t.pdf
Ironically, the three outfall canals walls were complete, and the USACE has since taken full responsibility for bad design of those canal walls.
http://eng.auburn.edu/admin/marketing/seminars/2007/l-roth.html
Actually Sandy, you should read the investigation performed by Dr. Shea Penland of the University of New Orleans after the flood. The levees were indeed suffering from maintenance issues. Since the LOCAL sponsor is supposed to take care of the sections of the levee after the section is complete, I think you really need to reexamine your facts. While the levees were not slated for full completion until 2015, it was STILL the responsibility of the local sponsor to take care of that which was complete.
Now, after the storm, there were several trucks along the levee that were not there for repair. They were there to test the levee stability and they found that settlement and lack of maintenance meant that those levees needed to be repaired before they failed.
As fir the links you provided, thank you, but they say nothing. I do not trust the “findings” of out of town “universities” that have never set foot in this state and have no clue what a barrier island is. Look into Shea Penland’s research if you want real facts.
Perhaps you will trust Dan Hitchings, Task Force Guardian of the US Army Corps of Engineers. Below is text from a conversation that took place at USACE headquarters in Feb 2006, printed with his permission.
Levees.org: There is confusion about who is responsible for what regarding our flood protection in Greater New Orleans.
Dan Hitchings: It’s very simple. We are accountable to Congress and to the American people for the final product.
Levees.org: What did the Levee Board do wrong?
Dan Hitchings: There are many investigations on going at this time, and the findings are not complete. But, I am not aware that they did anything wrong that was significant.
Three studies, the ILIT, Team Louisiana and the IPET all concurred.
—
Regarding Dr. Penland’s research, please provide a link to the text where Dr. Penland proves that lack of levee maintenance caused catastrophic flooding. We would love to see it.
Sorry Sandy, but you are sitting here telling us NOT to trust the Corps and now you are saying that we should trust something that they are saying. I don’t get it. How do we know that they are not just taking the high road? You are telling me to trust this guy from Task Force Hope, but the comments you posted really say nothing and the quotes are from almost 3 years ago. C’mon! What is one supposed to believe here? The Corps is telling the truth only when they take full blame for something? Do we only trust them when they take the full blame? Not a very good way to get to the bottom of something.
As for Dr. Penland, I studied with him at UNO and was one of the fortunate ones to do so before he passed away. For 30 years he led the alarm on coastal land loss and he introduced many of us to the Pontchartrain Institute for Environmental Science. You can find a lot of his research there.
Dear MJ,
Our mission is education, and our goal is the 8/29 Investigation Act.
You mentioned you didn’t trust the work of University personnel if they are not from Louisiana. So I provided other testimony. And I was transparent about the date.
Please show us the text in Dr. Penland’s research that proves that lack of levee maintenance by the OLD led to catastrophic flooding in New Orleans. We would like to see it.
A correction, please!
The levees on the eastbank of Plaquemines Parish DID FAIL because of lack of
maintenance. This has come out in litigation filed three years ago against the Plaquemines Parish Government. Unfortunately very few have heard about the suit because it appears the Tipsy don’t care about the matter and local politicians *((understandably) want it hush-hush.
Note from Founder to Aurora Green:
When Levees.org states that no levee failures were due to maintenance, we are referring to levees that failed on August 29, 2005 in the Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity area.