[StBernard] Group: Report doesn't solve MRGO flooding

[Westley Annis]

by Jaime Guillet 
01/01/2007 
 
Eminent coastal scientists say the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' recent
recommendation to close the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet because of costs
to taxpayers - not because of significant flooding to New Orleans - is a lie
to Louisiana residents. 
 
"Our concern is if the closure is just seen as a step to fix the economics
... it could be a fairly slow process to actually taking the steps necessary
to restore this area and take care of the public safety aspects because
they're completely discounted at this point," said Paul Kemp, associate
professor at Louisiana State University's Hurricane Center.
 
During a Dec. 21 press conference, Kemp and fellow oceanographers and
engineers unleashed harsh criticism on the Corps following the agency's Dec.
15 interim report on closing the 76-mile MRGO. The Corps concluded the MRGO
should be closed with an armored, earthen dam south of Bayou La Loutre near
Lake Borgne because the channel's economic benefits of $6.2 million do not
outweigh the $12.5 million cost to taxpayers to maintain its 36-foot depth
by dredging. 
  
"(The Corps report) is not taking ownership of the fact that the canal is
dangerous to our public," said Ivor van Heerden, LSU Hurricane Center deputy
director. 
  
In denying the MRGO's "funnel effect," claiming the channel does not
expedite storm surge into surrounding areas, the report demonstrates the
Corps' unwillingness to move forward with the appropriate flood protection
efforts, said Kemp. 
  
"The one thing that they recommended was the placement of the dam at Bayou
La Loutre. And I have to say that is not going to protect New Orleans from
flooding," Kemp said. "That's essentially a good faith environmental action.

  
"From the standpoint of the city, the great vulnerability is to the funnel
itself and all the elements of it, including the channels and levees. So
addressing the funnel on the east side of the city is really something that
needs to go forward a lot faster." 
  
Tom Podany, chief of the Corps' New Orleans Protection and Restoration
Office, said the agency looked at scientific data and concluded the channel
did not contribute significantly to flooding. 
  
"From our standpoint, the preponderance of scientific evidence is that the
MRGO does not play a significant role in the surges that might come to New
Orleans," Podany said. "In the modeling it's pretty clear - it's less than a
foot, in some cases it's 6 inches or less." 
Podany acknowledged the Corps report focused only on the channel and did not
examine surges in the area known as "Reach 1," where the MRGO meets the Gulf
Intracoastal Waterway between eastern New Orleans and north of the Lower
Ninth Ward. 
  
"I think some people mistakenly believe that this report provides authority
to do things it doesn't," said Podany. "This authority that Congress gave us
asked us to develop a comprehensive plan at full federal expense to
de-authorize deep-draft navigation, to do it in six months and provide an
interim report to Congress. 
  
"(The report) is not meant to address the hurricane protection problem
because it's not attributable to the MRGO," said Podany. "Once (a surge)
does get into ... Reach 1, we agree you either need to raise the levees
there or put in the structures that would improve the system. We are looking
at that under additional and other authorities." 
  
The Corps' "piecemeal" approach of looking only at one portion of the
channel and not the entire system is unnatural when hurricane and flood
protection is at stake, said Kemp. He said the Reach 1 area had to be
enlarged to accommodate the large ocean-bound vessels that come up the MRGO.

  
"Reach 1 - no one argues about. That's the surge highway, the backdoor,"
said Kemp. "Reach 1 is the only route, other than over the levees, which the
Lake Borgne surge reaches the city. There's no question that's the way it
cuts. Basically it means that whatever surge is in Lake Borgne is in the
Inner Harbor Navigation Canal. 
  
"Nobody argues that but (the Corps) tends to skip over it and focus on the
marsh section that goes down along the levee. That to me is a little bit
disingenuous." 
  
Scientists sent letters to Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Sen. Harry Reid,
D-Nev., the incoming leaders of the House and Senate, sharply criticizing
the Corps for failing to acknowledge the "clear and present danger posed by
the MRGO to public safety and property." 
  
"The only reason we got the closure was because of direct congressional
action, not precipitated by the Corps," said Kemp. 
  
The letter proposes Congress establish a technical board of directors to
oversee the actions of the Corps. Other entities could participate but
essentially the Corps would be taken out of the driver's seat, said Kemp. 
  
The Corps will provide its final analysis on the MRGO closure in December
2007..