On April 13, the federal government said that Louisiana might not have to pay 35 percent of the cost of the levee work that the US Army Corps of Engineers says must be done to certify the levees.
Most people don’t realize that 35% of the money that paid for the shoddy Corps-built levees was local money. Even though the Corps is 100% responsible for the design and construction of the levees, it is the role of the state to come up with 35% of the cost. Since 1965, the state’s levee boards have been raising the state’s share and handing it over to the Corps. This is not disputed.
So the current proposal for Louisiana to pay for 35% of the cost to fix the levees is not reasonable. Louisiana and its citizens had no control over the design and construction of the levee system nor how the money was spent. The federal government had a fiduciary duty to spend our money correctly the first time. For us to pay for the repairs and betterments makes no sense.
Congress has yet to acknowledge that the Corps of Engineers has failed the citizens of Louisiana. This is so despite Lt Gen Carl Strock’s admission of culpability on the levee design, and despite Dan Hitchings, Director of Task Force Hope’s admission that the Corps is accountable to Congress and to the American people.
It is time that Congress acknowledged that an agency of the federal government created the worst engineering disaster in American history. And it is high time that Congress start taking water management in Louisiana seriously.
Sandy Rosenthal
