Emails Reveal Early Plan by LSU to Muzzle Corps Critic

Monday, February 18th, 2013

Photo-shopped image of Ivor van Heerden wearing a cowboy hat.

There is a remarkable story in the Sunday edition of the Baton Rouge Advocate about emails traded between members of the Louisiana Governor’s office and LSU officials three weeks after Katrina.

The emails reveal an apparent early plan to muzzle Dr. Ivor van Heerden because he – rightly – blamed the Army Corps of Engineers for most of the flooding during Katrina. These emails were prompted by an email from van Heerden to U.S. Senators David Vitter and Mary Landrieu and others.

In the email, van Heerden said he had done an aerial assessment of levees in New Orleans’ London Avenue and 17th Street areas.

The coastal researcher concluded those levees suffered “catastrophic structural failure due to pressure bursts.” He said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wrongly reported the levees had been overtopped by surging water.

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Ivor van Heerden Trial Starts Feb 19 in Baton Rouge Federal Court

Wednesday, February 6th, 2013

Credit: Fred Mulhearn, Baton Rouge Advocate

On February 19, Ivor Van Heerden’s trial before a jury in Baton Rouge Federal Court will begin. Federal Judge James Brady will preside.

Dr. van Heerden claims he was fired because his criticism of the Army Corps of Engineers – after its levees failed during Katrina – put LSU’s chances of getting federal funding in jeopardy. LSU receives large federal grants from the Corps.

As observed by the American Association of University Professors in its 30-page report, LSU had a ‘prevailing position’ on the cause of the flooding and Dr. van Heerden’s research and public stance ran contrary to that position. In November 2005, LSU Vice Chancellor Michael Ruffner wrote,

“…LSU will engage in helping with [the] recovery of Louisiana, not in pointing blame. The chancellor has begun initiatives toward this goal, and it would not be useful to have the university associated, intentionally or not, with efforts aimed at causation.”

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Word of Faulty Levees Leaks Out

Thursday, January 17th, 2013

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Seven months ago, we contacted Cain Burdeau at the AP, and offered evidence that the Army Corps of Engineers had identified over 50 locations nationwide where I-walls needed repair, but the Corps had not revealed where they are.

That was May 31, the eve of Hurricane Season 2011. Since then, Burdeau filed a request for the 50+ locations under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), but was denied the information on the grounds that its revelation “could heighten risks of terrorism and sabotage.”

The citizens of the United States have a right to know if levees protecting them are deficient. Nothing makes that more obvious than the events that transpired in August 2005 when Hurricane Katrina exposed shoddy levee engineering.

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