"The First I've Seen of This Information"

Something important is happening in New Orleans this week. Under the leadership of John Barry (full disclosure: I know this man), the new consolidated levee board has invited Dr. Bob Bea to the city, and, according to today's Times-Picayune, Bea presented his critiques of the Army Corps' post-disaster work to the board, with the head of the Corps' "hurricane protection" operation in attendance. Since Dr. Bea helped head an independent forensic team highly critical of the Corps' pre-disaster performance (identifying the Corps as the prime cause of the disaster, in fact), and is now an expert witness for the team suing the Corps for disaster-related damages, this was a momentous achievement indeed, and Barry (author of the seminal book on the 1927 Mississippi River flood, Rising Tide) deserves great credit.

But the money quote in the article came from Col. Jeffrey Bedey of the Corps. Remember, Dr. Bea co-authored a report (the ILIT report, available in pdf form from UC Berkeley) that leveled severe detailed criticism at the Corps' performance in designing and constructing the levee-floodwalll system that failed. Those critiques received full and complete coverage, if not in the national media, in the New Orleans press and electronic media. Col. Bedey's comment, after Dr. Bea's presentation this week:

"For me, this is the first I've seen of this information, and we've got to put it into the hands of engineers and scientists," he said. "I won't presuppose anything, but I will say again that the commitment of the Army Corps of Engineers is to provide 100-year protection."

Either the colonel is living in a Corps-imposed bubble, where the insiders are rigorously shielded from outside comments and critiques, or he's being disingenuous. As for that commitment, one need only note that, after their disastrous 1953 flood, the Dutch committed to 10,000-year protection as a benchmark for their improved flood-control system. Hey, it's only a matter of a couple of zeros...

Comments

[realitytrumpsbull]

Fraud and mismanagement have become headlines
in the discussion about Iraq, you have to wonder
how many millions, tens of millions have been siphoned off of the Corps over the years, too.
Goverbuxx!! Woohoo!!! $$$$$$$$$$­$$$$.$$

[twofish]

"Who could imagine
that they would freak out
somewhere in Kansas?"

"It can't happen here
It can't happen here
I'm telling you my dear
That it can't happen here.
Because I been checkin it out baby
Checked it out a couple a times..."

"Who could imagine
that they would freak out
in Washington DC?"

-- Frank Zappa, "It Can't Happen Here"

And for an encore:

"Concentration moon
over the camp in the valley
Concentration moon
Wish I was back in the alley
with all of my friends,
still running free,
hair growing out every hole in me."

A wise man, was Frank.

[CrankyCurmudgeon]

I'm no statistician, but I would venture a guess that preparing for a 100-year event is tantamount to preparing for a 10-year event. 100 years is such a short time and, variation being what it is, such paltry preparation looks a lot like criminal negligence to me.

[AsheDambala]

on a semi-tangent

- Chapel Hill, North Carolina – Today, Senator Edwards released the following statement on the New Orleans City Council’s approval of the HUD plan to begin demolishing public housing in New Orleans:

“I am disappointed in the decision today by the New Orleans City Council to approve the demolition permits that HUD needs to begin demolition of public housing in New Orleans. As I’ve said before, knocking down historic and livable housing that withstood the winds of Katrina is counterproductive to the goal of giving residents a home to which to return. Decentralizing poverty by encouraging new mixed-income income makes a lot of sense – I’ve proposed creating 1 million new housing vouchers to do exactly that. But eliminating housing where people could live – in a city with a desperate shortage of shelter – makes no sense at all.”

"Withstood the winds of Katrina"..­..he still hasn't gotten it right. "Withstood the floodwaters from the Corps' faulty levees" is the proper sentence. Even though he's apparently as clueless about our housing situation as he is the Federal Flood.

I'm still gonna bear with him and give him the benefit of the doubt that his sentiments are good...but I'll admit he obviously hasn't done his homework.

Great comment about Nossiter, too...I wish the NYT would send him to Darfur or Zimbabwe so he could actually find the story he needs to win his pulitzer instead of trying to create that story here. I guess it sells papers though.

[Steve]

Everything was great until the second to the last sentence: "As for that commitment, one need only note that, after their disastrous 1953 flood, the Dutch committed to 10,000-year protection as a benchmark for their improved flood-control system."

What they did is exchange one disaster (flooding) for another (ecological).

Google "holland flood control ecological consequences" either on the main page or in Google Scholar.

Which is worse? You tell me.

Just askin'.

[csavage]

Sorry, the Army Corp of Engineers hired contractors from S. LA to do the work and pour millions down a hole of graft and corruption that is politics as usual for that town.
How are the efforts to find the 120,000 displaced New Orleanians here in Houston new homes and jobs-No? Didn't think so, they were only important enough to Nagin to bus back to get him re-elected.
HARRY RESPONDS: Sorry to interrupt your stereotype, but one of those contractors actually sued the Corps during the construction of the 17th St. Canal floodwall, alleging (correctly, as events proved) that the sheet pile it was under contract to dig into the soil wasn't going down deep enough to anchor in stable soil. The Corps contested the suit, and prevailed in court.

[campaignman]

When forced to confront facts, the Bush administration officials must say something but the last thing they will ever say is that they were aware of anything in the past that might hold them accountable for failure since.

Damn, W himself wouldn't admit that he was fully briefed about Katrina in advance.

Everything is new to these guys. They claimed that no one ever thought bad guys could fly planes into buildings either and, it turns out, our government had plenty of prior assessments that considered that very thing.

We must continue to remember at every turn that this administration is committed to a lack of accountability and a lack of desire to do anything to hold its corporate backers accountable.

[hopeless277]

Along the same lines as the tried and untrue 'Who could have anticipate­d_______'(­fill in the blank).