U.S. Army Corps of Engineers civil works controversies

Many of the Corps of Engineers' civil works projects have been characterized as being riddled with patronage (see pork barrel) or a waste of money and resources (see boondoggle (project)) such as the New Madrid Floodway ^[1]^[2] and the New Orleans flood protection^[3]. Projects have allegedly been justified based on flawed or manipulated analyses during the planning phase. Some projects are said to have created profound detrimental environmental effects and/or provided questionable economic benefit such as the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet in southeast Louisiana. ^[4] Faulty design and substandard construction have been cited in the failure of levees in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.^[5] Reforming the Corps' way of doing business has been championed by Senators Russ Feingold and John McCain.^[6]

New Orleans flood protection

In New Orleans after Hurricane Betsy flooded large sections the city in 1965, Congress mandated that the US Army Corps of Engineers become the sole agency responsible for levee design and construction. This is defined in the Flood Control Act of 1965.

In August of 2005, forty years later, when Hurricane Katrina passed to the east of New Orleans, the Corps's flood protection failed catastrophically with levee breaches in over 50 places. The levee failures caused massive flooding in New Orleans with associated property loss and drownings. This was the first total failure of a USACE system. On August 29, 2005, the hurricane protection authorized 40 years earlier was between 60-90% complete and the projected date of completion was estimated to be 2015. In June 2006, Lt. Gen Carl Strock, Corps commander and Chief of Engineers accepted responsibility for the failure of the flood protection, calling it "a system in name only." Faulty design specifications and incomplete or substandard construction of levee segments contributed to the failure of the flood protection.^[7]

In April 2007, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) began referring to the flooding as the worst engineering catastrophe in US history.^[8] Two months later, a report released by an investigative team convened by the ASCE stated that two thirds of the deaths would have been avoided had the levees held.^[9]

A grassroots group in New Orleans is claiming that the levee investigation conducted after the New Orleans flooding should be invalidated because the study was managed by the Corps of Engineers which is also the agency responsible for the levee design and construction.^[10] They also claim that the American Society of Civil Engineers expert review panel convened to peer review the Corps' study sought to minimize the Corps' role in the flooding.^[11]

In November 2007, a well-known engineer and ASCE member submitted an ethics complaint to the ASCE alleging that the Corps of Engineers colluded with the ASCE to minimize the Corps' mistakes in the flooding and to intimidate anyone who tried to intervene. The Corps has acknowledged receiving a copy of the letter but has refused to comment until after the ASCE comments.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). Many homeowners are disgruntled with the huge annual costs associated with this temporary fix; typical fees are $2,000 per month for a 3 bedroom beachfront condominium.

Corps reform

Some in Congress feel that reforms are necessary in the way the Corps operates. The Corps has been criticized as being mismanaged and lacking oversight and accountability, especially since Hurricane Katrina and the failure of the Army Corps built levees in New Orleans.

Senator Russ Feingold and Senator John McCain pushed to establish two amendments; one an independent review of Corps projects from planning and design to construction, and a second that would require that Corps projects be ranked in importance based on national priorities. They succeeded in adding the peer review of corps projects to the Water Resources Development Act in 2006.^[12]

In August 2007, Senator Feingold tried to block passage of the bill because he felt the reforms it contained would not do enough to change the way the Corps does business.[1]

“After a decade of government and independent reports calling for reforming the corps and pointing out stunning flaws in corps projects and project studies, and after the tragic failures of New Orleans levees during Hurricane Katrina, the American people deserve meaningful reform,” Mr. Feingold said in a speech on the Senate floor. “How many more flawed projects or wasted dollars will it take before we say enough is enough?”[2]

On October 25, 2007, the Water Resources Development Act arrived on the President's desk. President Bush has 10 days to sign the bill, veto it or let it become law without his signature. ^[13]

References

External links

[1] ttp://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/missouristatenews/story/AFF2AC0B5A2C828C8625735A0073D4FD?OpenDocument

[2] ttp://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1663903,00.html?xid=feed-cnn-topics

[3] ttp://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1646611_1646683_1648904,00.html

[4] ttp://mrgomustgo.org/

[5] ttp://www.nola.com/weblogs/nola/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_nolaview/archives/2006_06_01.html

[6] ttp://feingold.senate.gov/~feingold/releases/07/05/20070514.html

[7] ttp://www.iht.com/articles/2006/06/01/news/orleans.php

[8] ttp://eng.auburn.edu/admin/marketing/seminars/2007/l-roth.html

[9] ttp://www.asce.org/static/hurricane/whitehouse.cfm

[10] ttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/05/AR2007020501233.html

[11] ttp://fe42.news.sp1.yahoo.com/s/prweb/20071009/bs_prweb/prweb559330

[12] ttp://feingold.senate.gov/~feingold/releases/07/05/20070514.html

[13] ttp://americanagriculturist.com/index.aspx?ascxid=fpStory&fpsid=30572&fpstid=1

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