[StBernard] Design failures caused Flood in New Orleans

Westley Annis westley at da-parish.com
Mon Jun 11 21:06:43 EDT 2007


June 11, 2007

A report just released by the American Society of Civil Engineers says the
primary cause of the New Orleans disaster was flawed design of its flood
protection structures.

It was bad design - pure and simple.

But here's the catch: The 84-page report sponsored by the US Army Corps of
Engineers never mentions that the Army Corps itself is, by federal law, the
agency responsible for designing the flood protection.

The role of the Corps in flood protection design is law by Congressional
mandate since 1965, is not disputed, and you can read it yourself on Page 2
of the Corps' testimony before the Government Accountability Office.
<http://www.levees.org/research/sources/gao%20Testimony.pdf>

This shows we need an unbiased analysis of the federal flood protection
failures on August 29, 2005. We need an independent, congressionally ordered
study with experts who don't work for the Corps and aren't paid by the
Corps.

Click here to demand the 8/29 Commission.
<http://www.votervoice.net/Groups/LEVEES/Advocacy/?IssueID=11007&SiteID=-1>

Senator Mary Landrieu D-La and Senator David Vitter R-La are working
together to pass the 8/29 Commission legislation this summer (in
conferencing for the Water Resources Development Act). Show them you are
serious about finding out why metro New Orleans had such inadequate
protection.

Click here to write to your members of Congress and demand
the truth!
<http://www.votervoice.net/Groups/LEVEES/Advocacy/?IssueID=11007&SiteID=-1>

The State of Louisiana is united on this! Last week, the Louisiana
Legislature unanimously passed a concurrent resolution requesting Congress
to authorize the 8/29 Commission.

Legislative Director, Vince Pasquantonio and I will be guests on Garland
Robinette's radio show WWL, FM105.3 Monday June 11th at 2:10pm. We'll be
discussing Levees.Org's upcoming campaigns. Please tune in.

Sandy Rosenthal
Founder and Executive Director
Levees.Org
www.levees.org <http://www.levees.org/>

For a copy of the ASCE report, click here. <http://www.asce.org/asce.cfm>




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