Levees.Org

Please support the 8/29 Investigation

Follow the simple steps below and demand the 8/29 Review,
a truly independent analysis of the flood protection failures,
and the decision making involved, in metro New Orleans
during Hurricane Katrina.

You can edit the letter if you wish....

February 09, 2010

Subject:

Recent remarks by Senator Tom Coburn (OK-R) and Rep Darrell Issa (CA-R) demonstrate continued misunderstanding regarding the flooding during Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005.

In two separate judgements, Federal Judge Stanwood Duval has found the Army Corps of Engineers responsible for the flooding in much of New Orleans and all of neighboring St. Bernard Parish during Hurricane Katrina (civil action 05-4182).  In addition, Judge Duval found the Army Corps financially liable for flooding damage caused by failure to properly maintain a navigation channel, the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO)

"The Corps' negligence resulted in the wasting of millions of dollars in flood protection measures and billions of dollars in Congressional outlays to help this region recover from such a catastrophe. Certainly, Congress would never have meant to protect this kind of nonfeasance on the part of the very agency that is tasked with the protection of life and property," Duval wrote (pg 111).

But this is not a distinctly Louisiana problem.  With the majority of the American population living in counties protected by levees, the most important ones built by our Army Corps, this is clearly a national problem.

Experts all across America continue to warn that massive civil engineering mistakes by the federal government like those in metro New Orleans will continue if changes are not made in way important water projects are chosen, funded and implemented in this country.

But first, the citizens of Louisiana and the nation’s taxpayers deserve the 8/29 Review, a truly independent analysis of the flood protection failures - and the decision making involved - in metro New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.  This is needed for the following reasons:

1.  Judge Duval's ruling revealed much important new information heretofore unknown.  For example, the Corps was negligent for its failure to armour the MRGO dikes to protect them from wave action (page 41).
 
2.  Two respected levee investigation teams (U.California Berkeley and Team Louisiana) have reported findings that conflict with five (5) of seven (7) of the most important levee failure mechanisms reported by IPET including the Industrial Canal (which inundated the Ninth Ward neighborhood) and the 17th Street Canal (which inundated the Lakeview neighborhood.).

3.  A task force in Sept 2008 led by Sherwood Boehlert R-NY (ret) faulted the organization responsible for peer reviewing the IPET for conflict of interest, lack of transparency and questionable funding sources.

4.  The majority of the participants in the federal Interagency Performance Evaluation Task force (IPET) were employed by the Army Corps of Engineers or its sister agency, Army Research and Development, an apparent conflict of interest.

5.  The scope of the IPET levee study was severely limited and is thus incomplete.  This is documented in 42-page ethics complete to the American Society of Civil Engineers by civil engineer expert Dr. Ray Seed.

Every citizen of the United States has a right to know to true cause of the flooding devastation in New Orleans and its surrounding parishes during Katrina.

The only way they will find out the truth is with passage of a bipartisan act that requires a truly independent analysis.

Please support the 8/29 Review.

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