Blog | Levees.Org - Part 137Levees.Org | Your source for information on levee and flood protection nationwide.

Obama ordered Oil Spill Commission 32 days later, not 84 days, or 5 years later

Thursday, March 31st, 2011

Mary Burns shakes a sign May 31, 2008 demanding the 8/29 Investigation Act.

For 8 months, I have been going around saying over and over that President Obama signed an executive order 84 days after the BP oil spill establishing a bipartisan national commission.

No one pointed out that I was wrong. The fact is, the President signed the executive order just 32 days later. The commission – tasked with providing recommendations on how we can prevent and mitigate the impact of any future spills that result from offshore drilling – was signed a mere 32 days after the oil disaster.

I have been comparing the quick speed of the President’s executive order to investigate the oil spill with the non-existence of a Presidential executive order to investigate the federal flood protection failures during Katrina.

It has been more than five years since the horrific levee failures and flooding drowned New Orleans and killed over 1,500 and still no POTUS has ordered a commission like the one ordered for the BP disaster, the twin tower collapses and the Challenger explosion.

We continue to propose that we need the 8/29 Investigation Act, written in 2006 by Levees.org with the bipartisan assistance of US Senators David Vitter R-LA and Mary Landrieu D-LA.

Click here for Presidential executive order for BP oil disaster investigation.

Click here to demand the 8/29 Investigation Act.

Katrina: The Tap That’s a Kick in the Crotch

Wednesday, March 30th, 2011

Harry Shearer. Photo/Pat Garin

The message below was just sent to me from Harry Shearer’s Team dedicated to Phase Two of the Release of The Big Uneasy documentary.

———–

THE BIG UNEASY – WHAT THIS FILM IS “NOT”

Media coverage of tragedies can become so pervasive that we no longer remember the tragedy anymore, we only remember the coverage. So if I say “New Orleans” and then say “flood,” you immediately think, “Katrina.” As in Hurricane. This is not your fault: it’s a reflex now, like your leg kicking upwards when the doctor taps it. Only that tap is causing you to kick me, and my fellow New Orleanians, squarely in the crotch.

The reason I made the film is because the hurricane did NOT cause the flood, despite what you may have heard on the news. However, poor science and even poorer management did.

So this film is NOT:

‐ A “Katrina documentary.”
‐ A documentary about the preparation or after‐effects of Katrina.
‐ An examination of the Bob Dylan song “Hurricane,” nor the boxer who inspired it.

Unfortunately, the looming myths and buzzwords that sprang from the tragic flooding of New Orleans have provided a rather large windmill to tilt against. But I thank you, New Orleans thanks you, Bob Dylan thanks you, and Derek Smalls is simply confused.

‐Harry Shearer

New Details Emerge in Lawsuit Against Army Corps for New Orleans Flooding

Saturday, March 26th, 2011

Ivor van Heerden speaks at Tulane's 4th Annual Disaster Management Workshop, Feb 21, 2011. Photo/Sandy Rosenthal

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.