Unbeknownst to Gilda Reed, a decision made by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1965 led to her decision to enter the political fray, to pursue with strong-willed determination the need to represent the People of LA-01. In 1965, Hurricane Betsy ravaged the Gulf Coast. Reacting to the devastation wrought by "Billion-Dollar Betsy", Congress passed the Flood Control Act of 1965 which placed the responsibility of the safe-keeping of New Orleans solely with the Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps was the designer and architect of a flood protection system for a major city, but, instead, provided protection at a level no greater than intended to protect cows!
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(This is the twelth diary in a 24-hour fundraiser for Gilda Reed, Democratic Candidate for Katrina-Burdened LA-01.)
Reacting to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Betsy, the Congress passed the Flood Protection Act of 1965 (FPA) which authorized the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to "design and build flood protection for metro New Orleans from the the most severe storm characteristic of the region." With the passage of the FPA, Congress removed the responsibility for the design and construction of levees from the local levee boards and placed it squarely in the hands of the Army Corps. The original project was "expected to take about 13 years to complete and cost about $85 million." However, as of 2005, this very same project is "not expected to be completed until 2015—nearly 50 years after it was first authorized."
Our nation’s current levee policies are based on safety factors dated back to the 1940s when most of our levees were constructed to protect pasture land. To this day, the Corps uses the same safety factor of 1.3 to protect New Orleans. Engineers use a safety factor to account for unknown variables, "such as defects in materials or uncertain soil conditions." Even after Hurricane Betsy slammed into New Orleans with winds of 125 MPH, even after levees failed, even after the storm surge pushed into Lake Pontchartrain and up the man-made Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, the Corps used the 1.3 safety factor. Even after Hurricane Betsy's flooding waters rose above some one-story homes in the Lower Ninth Ward, the Corps used the 1.3 safety factor. Even after people drowned in their attics, even after 76 people lost their lives, the Corps used the 1.3 safety factor.
In other words, our federal government is essentially providing the people of NOLA with the same protection against deadly floods that our government provides to cows:
By contrast, he says, the safety factor for New Orleans levees is 1.3. Surprised by this low standard, Bea and the NSF engineering team traced it back to the 1940s, when the Corps used a 1.3 safety factor to protect agricultural land - cows, in other words - against flooding. By applying the same standard to city levees, he says, the Corps has effectively been treating the people of New Orleans "as if they were as valuable as cattle."
While I love cows, and all of God's beautiful animals, if flood infrastructure is intentionally designed to only hold back floodwaters that might endanger cows grazing in a pasture, how the heck will it be strong enough to protect people living in homes, or working in their offices when the next Katrina hits:
Once the people in New Orleans see that analysis, which the corps owes them, I expect they'll have something to say about whether a 1.3 factor of safety is acceptable at the 17th Street Canal, the London Avenue Canal or anywhere else where they are trying to live and rebuild and put their lives back together," Bea said.
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Such governmental failure to provide protection to NOLA should be grounds to at least provide some monetary damages to the floodwater victims who lost loved ones, homes, livelihood and property. However, last month, Judge Duval dismissed a class action lawsuit by over 300,000 New Orleans residents, businesses, and property owners against the Army Corps of Engineers for the "failure of the Orleans Parish outfall canals and, in particular, the17th Street Canal that accounted for approximately 80% of the flooding of downtown New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina."
Unfortunately, but predictably, the federal judge acknowledged that the Corps "failed to properly safeguard the city," but the federal government has immunity which protects it from liability when flood control projects fail, and thus the judge had to dismiss the lawsuit. "Judge Duval ruled that the 17th Street, London and Orleans Avenue outfall canals were federal flood control projects and therefore statutorily immune from suit under the Flood Control Act of 1928."
Source: 17th Street canal breach (Public Domain)
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The Judge noted that the Corps' failures were intentional:
This story-fifty years in the making-is heart-wrenching. Millions of dollars were squandered in building a levee system with respect to these outfall canals which was known to be inadequate by the Corps' own calculations. The Byzantine funding and appropriation methods for this undertaking were in large part a cause of this failure....
The cruel irony here is that the Corps cast a blind eye, either as a result of executive directives or bureaucratic parsimony, to flooding caused by drainage needs and until otherwise directed by Congress, solely focused on flooding caused by storm surge. Nonetheless, damage caused by either type of flooding is ultimately borne by the same public fisc. Such egregious myopia is a caricature of bureaucratic inefficiency.
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The judge stated that the Corps clearly deserved "blame for its role in the flooding even if it can't be held legally responsible" and should be held accountable for its failure to provide protection:
While the United States government is immune ... it is not free, nor should it be, from posterity's judgment concerning its failure to accomplish what was its task," Stanwood said, lamenting his inability to take further action.
The judge suggested that citizens take action to hold the government accountable for its failure that was shielded by immunity in the law:
It is not within the court's power to address the wrongs committed. It is hopefully within the citizens of the United States' power to address the failures of our laws and agencies. If not, it is certain that another tragedy such as this will occur again.
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The plaintiffs' attorney said that one option is for Congress to authorize a full investigation of the Corps' conduct by creating a commission similar to the 9/11 Commission: "We are calling upon all citizens to write their senators and congressmen to demand the Corps be held accountable."
The plaintiffs will appeal on the grounds that the "corps was not protected by the 1928 law’s immunity clause, largely because a change it had made to its flood protection plan for New Orleans had not been authorized by Congress." In the meantime, the Corps is quite pleased with the court's ruling, but will remain silent because there are a number of other Katrina lawsuits in the wings.
So, a federal judge places responsibility on the Corps, which thus far prevails on a legal technicality. The judge suggests that the citizens need to compel a remedy or the same deadly consequences will happen again. Congress has not been willing to take steps to address this issue. So, what can NOLA do until Congress gets a backbone?
Well, frustration and anger have produced one sarcastic proposal made by a Times-Picayune editorial, which brings us back to the cows.
The Editorial expresses the frustration of trying to convince the federal government to provide monies for recovery and reconstruction. Yes, the feds are now sending billions of dollars but monies are once again being wasted on mismanagement and Congress is still reluctant to fund infrastructure to provide "protection against the strongest storms." Indeed, it's not "easy to convince Congress of our worthiness."
Some lawmakers worry over a federal budget that is sinking due to the Iraq War, and other SNAFUs by the Bushies. However, rather than blaming Bushie for the mess, some lawmakers blame NOLA for needing money:
Some members of Congress have been downright indignant about Louisiana's requests for aid. Their message: Do you think we're made of money?
No, but they sure do act like it sometimes.
For example, the Department of Agriculture had administered a "now-defunct Livestock Compensation Program" for 2 years which "spent $1.2 billion on so-called drought relief." However, "$635 million went to ranchers and dairy farmers in areas where there was no drought or only moderate dryness." The federal government did not require ranchers to prove that they had suffered any losses because money was based "merely on how many head of cattle they owned."
Moreover, eligibility was originally limited to ranches in drought zones, but Congress eliminated that requirement so that "any type of federally declared disaster" was eligible for monies. Well, heck, this type of program could have funded recovery of the Katrina disaster. Just look at how our federal government interpreted the eligibility rules to hand out money for some of the most absurd situations:
Some ranchers got tens of thousands of dollars simply because pieces of the space shuttle Columbia landed 10 miles from their cattle. Nothing hit the cattle, mind you. The debris was just within driving distance of a cow.
The Post also reported that ranchers in a northern Texas county took in nearly $1 million for an ice storm that occurred more than a year before the drought-relief program even existed.
Ultimately, ranchers in 765 counties that had no drought were qualified to get money from the program in 2003. In Texas alone, $45 million went to ranchers in counties with no drought. And even in counties where a drought existed, there was no bothersome requirement to show an actual loss.
All you had to do was fill out a form verifying how many cows you owned. The money was doled out by type of cow -- beef cattle were worth $18 each and dairy cows were worth $31.50. Buffalo and sheep got ranchers a smaller amount.
The Editorial reaches the logical conclusion based upon the illogical rules used by Congress when providing funding for "disasters":
So here's the plan: Let's put a few head of cattle on the levees and tell Congress it's a dairy farm. Then, just sit back and wait for the disaster relief to flow in.
Need I say more? We need more and better progressive Dems like Gilda to provide us with real protection from natural disasters and man-made governmental disasters.
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Rebuilding Louisiana: Gilda Reed 24-Hour Online Fundraiser
Help us support Kossack Candidate Gilda Reed for Congress in Louisiana's 1st District! She's running in a special election to fill the seat vacated by Bobby Jindal. We'll be posting diaries about Gilda for the next 24 hours to raise support and bring attention to her candidacy. Please join us and learn more about this great Democratic candidate!
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