[StBernard] Corps Admits Fault in New Orleans Flooding

[Westley Annis]

Dear Members,

This week, the US Army Corps of Engineers admitted that the levees it
controls in New Orleans were an incomplete and inconsistent patchwork of
protection containing flaws in design and construction. 

The list of errors is long.  The Corps acknowledged
<http://www.democracyinaction.com/dia/track.jsp?key=75911310&url_num=1&url=h
ttp://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/01/us/01cnd-corps.html?hp&ex=1149220800&en=8ac
0ecfa22b1f7c8&ei=5094&partner=homepage>  they used a Standard Project
Hurricane inadequate for today's storms, used a safety margin too low for
one million people and their property, selected projects based on revenue
generated not safety, ignored critical subsidence data, and did not plan for
overtopping of levees. On top of all this, the engineering of what they
built was fatally flawed.

I hope that, with the admissions of the Corps and with the expert opinion
revealed in the U.C. Berkeley report that the Nation and Congress will come
to a better understanding of what happened August 29, 2005. Hopefully,
finally, we can all agree on what caused the Flooding and truly embark on
the process of rebuilding New Orleans and southern Louisiana and making its
citizens whole.

It is time for the federal government to ackowledge the Corps' culpability
and it is high time for Congress to do what is right for the people of
Louisiana. 

What you can do this week:


1.	If you haven't already, please urge everyone you know who lives
outside New Orleans to go to: http://www.levees.org/advocacy/congress1.php
and send letters to their Members of Congress.
2.	Display your sign! If yours has mysteriously disappeared, put up
another one! We have a sizable inventory and they're paid for by donations.
Get a sign at one of our 8 city wide locations:
http://www.levees.org/promo/sign.php
	


Thank you!


Sandy Rosenthal
Founder, Levees.Org
www.levees.org