Playing the blame game: admin tries to blame Environmentalists for levee failure

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" Zepp " <zepp

Fri, 16 Sep 2005 13:48:56 -0700

Subject:[Zepps_News] #Playing the blame game: admin tries to blame

Environmentalists for levee failure

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050916/NEWS0110/509160\

369/1260

 

*E-mail suggests government seeking to blame groups*

 

*By Jerry Mitchell*

jmitchell <jmitchell

 

 

 

 

 

*E-mail*

 

E-mail sent to various U.S. Attorney's offices:

 

SUBJECT: Have you had any cases involving the levees in New Orleans?

 

QUESTION: Has your district defended any cases on behalf of the Army

Corps of Engineers against claims brought by environmental groups

seeking to block or otherwise impede the Corps' work on the levees

protecting New Orleans? If so, please describe the case and the outcome

of the litigation.

 

District: __________

Contact: _________

Telephone: ________

 

Federal officials appear to be seeking proof to blame the flood of New

Orleans on environmental groups, documents show.

 

The Clarion-Ledger has obtained a copy of an internal e-mail the U.S.

Department of Justice sent out this week to various U.S. attorneys'

offices: " Has your district defended any cases on behalf of the (U.S.)

Army Corps of Engineers against claims brought by environmental groups

seeking to block or otherwise impede the Corps work on the levees

protecting New Orleans? If so, please describe the case and the outcome

of the litigation. "

 

Cynthia Magnuson, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department, said

Thursday she couldn't comment " because it's an internal e-mail. "

 

Shown a copy of the e-mail, David Bookbinder, senior attorney for Sierra

Club, remarked, " Why are they (Bush administration officials) trying to

smear us like this? "

 

The Sierra Club and other environmental groups had nothing to do with

the flooding that resulted from Hurricane Katrina that killed hundreds,

he said. " It's unfortunate that the Bush administration is trying to

shift the blame to environmental groups. It doesn't surprise me at all. "

 

Federal officials say the e-mail was prompted by a congressional inquiry

but wouldn't comment further.

 

Whoever is behind the e-mail may have spotted the Sept. 8 issue of

National Review Online that chastised the Sierra Club and other

environmental groups for suing to halt the corps' 1996 plan to raise and

fortify 303 miles of Mississippi River levees in Louisiana, Mississippi

and Arkansas.

 

The corps settled the litigation in 1997, agreeing to hold off on some

work until an environmental impact could be completed. The National

Review article concluded: " Whether this delay directly affected the

levees that broke in New Orleans is difficult to ascertain. "

 

The problem with that conclusion?

 

The levees that broke causing New Orleans to flood weren't Mississippi

River levees. They were levees that protected the city from Lake

Pontchartrain levees on the other side of the city.

 

When Katrina struck, the hurricane pushed tons of water from the Gulf of

Mexico into Lake Pontchartrain, which borders the city to the north.

Corps officials say the water from the lake cleared the levees by 3

feet. It was those floodwaters, they say, that caused the levees to

degrade until they ruptured, causing 80 percent of New Orleans to flood.

 

Bookbinder said the purpose of the litigation by the Sierra Club and

others in 1996 was where the corps got the dirt for the project. " We had

no objections to levees, " he said. " We said, 'Just don't dig film

materials out of the wetlands. Get the dirt from somewhere else.' "

 

If you listen to what some conservatives say about environmentalists, he

said, " We're responsible for most of the world's ills. "

 

In 1977, the corps wanted to build a 25-mile-long barrier and gate

system to protect New Orleans on the east side. Both environmental

groups and fishermen opposed the project, saying it would choke off

water into Lake Pontchartrain.

 

After litigation, corps officials abandoned the idea, deciding instead

to build higher levees. " They came up with a cheaper alternative, "

Bookbinder said. " We didn't object to raising the levees. "

 

John Hall, a spokesman for the corps in New Orleans, said the barrier

the corps was proposing in the 1970s would only stand up to a weak

Category 3 hurricane, not a Category 4 hurricane like Katrina. " How much

that would have prevented anything, I'm not sure, " he said.

 

Since 1999, corps officials have studied the concept of building huge

floodgates to prevent flooding in New Orleans from a Category 4 or 5

hurricane.

 

Although the Federal Emergency Management Agency in 2001 listed a

hurricane striking New Orleans as one of the top three catastrophic

events the nation could face (the others being a terrorist attack on New

York City and an earthquake in San Francisco), funding for corps

projects aimed at curbing flooding in southeast Louisiana lagged.

 

U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., has said the White House cut $400

million from corps' requests for flood control money in the area.

 

In fiscal 2006, the corps had hoped to receive up to $10 million in

funding for a six-year feasibility study on such floodgates. According

to a recent estimate, the project would take 10 years to build and cost

$2.5 billion.

 

" Our understanding is the locals would like to go to that, " Hall said.

" If I were local, I'd want it. "

 

 

 

 

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