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KC Burke wrote:

"I've also done millions of dollars of work for the COE and they don't let people cut corners from what is
on the documents. The two things combined (design errors and construction not-in-place) are almost
beyond belief."

When the first sonar results came out, there were also reports that at least two different periods of construction took place after the ortiginal structure was built under Corps supervision.

Neither of these projects was under Corps control or supervision, and I believe that at least one of them was under Sewer and Water Board control.

The Sewer and Water Board was also the agency that received reports of water standing in people's backyards near the 17th Street breach well prior to Katrina and never reported it to the Corps.

I think this report is a deliberate attempt to cloud the waters, make the CoE bear part of the blame when the lawsuits start racking up. Like you, I know my way around engineer types, and am willing to bet that the Corps CYA documents can be measured in tons gross weight.

In any event, the official Senate investigation is in good hands, and their report will have much greater effect on the outcome of class action malicious negligence suits than any deliberate smear job by the media and a few pocketed professors.

I had thought that this levee wann't even built for the Corps. I thought that the River levee and the Lake Levee were the two Corps works. It was my understanding that this one even was only partially funded with COE money and that it was built by the local Levee districts and the State of Louisiana. with most of the impacted folks I know in Mississippi, I haven't really paid that strick of attention to the details of this battle we will watch for years to come, but I know that the COE folks I have worked with are pretty stand-up fellows. They have their institutional culture that makes them a little obtuse to those of us in the outside world, but I would be amazed if a COE team looked the other way if by chance this was something they provided field management of overall.

I think that this probably had a 60% COE grant and they were one of five bodies sent the initial plans for funding verification and it was the local levee board and government that this was built for.

However, if the media sees that a U. S. Army Corps of Engineers truck parked alongside the proposed site when attending the Ground Breaking and never saw the job from that point on, it will still be "Bush's fault."

When the first sonar results came out, there were also reports that at least two different periods of construction took place after the ortiginal structure was built under Corps supervision.

As I recall those reports, the Sewer Board pulled the original steel, did some work, then drove new steel.

First thoughts I had were of a truck load of 18' steel to "show & shuttle" and lots of hidden 10' or 12' to actually drive, with invoices showing all of it 18', and stamped "Paid In Full", and debits to match.

Be interesting to pull this stuff, and check its thickness and grade, too.