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KATRINA'S AFTERMATH A Barrier That Could Have Been Congress OKd a project to protect New Orleans 40 years ago, but an environmentalist suit halted it. Some say it could have worked. By Ralph Vartabedian and Peter Pae, Times Staff Writer September 9, 2005 latimes.com In the wake of Hurricane Betsy 40 years ago, Congress approved a massive hurricane barrier to protect New Orleans from storm surges that could inundate the city. But the project, signed into law by President Johnson, was derailed in 1977 by an environmental lawsuit. Now the question is: Could that barrier have protected New Orleans from...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Before Hurricane Katrina breached a levee on the New Orleans Industrial Canal, the Army Corps of Engineers had launched a $748 million construction project at that very location. But the project had nothing to do with flood control. The Corps was building a massive new lock for the canal, an effort to accommodate steadily increasing barge traffic. Except barge traffic on the canal has been steadily decreasing...

With all that has happened in the state, it’s understandable that the Louisiana chapter of the Sierra Club may not have updated its website. But when its members get around to it, they may want to change the wording of one item in particular. The site brags that the group is “working to keep the Atchafalaya Basin,” which adjoins the Mississippi River not far from New Orleans, “wet and wild.” These words may seem especially inappropriate after the breaking of the levee that caused the tragic events in New Orleans last week. But “wet and wild” has a larger significance...

Before Hurricane Katrina breached a levee on the New Orleans Industrial Canal, the Army Corps of Engineers had already launched a $748 million construction project at that very location. But the project had nothing to do with flood control. The Corps was building a huge new lock for the canal, an effort to accommodate steadily increasing barge traffic. Except that barge traffic on the canal has been steadily decreasing. In Katrina's wake, Louisiana politicians and other critics have complained about paltry funding for the Army Corps in general and Louisiana projects in particular. But over the five years of President...

You will need powerpoint to view this file.

In the 1970s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity Hurricane Barrier Project planned to build fortifications at two strategic locations, which would keep massive storms on the Gulf of Mexico from causing Lake Pontchartrain to flood the city of New Orleans. These plans were abandoned after a radical enviromental group called Save Our Wetlands successfully sued to stop the projects as too damaging to the wetlands and the lake's eco-system.

Largess in Louisiana Money Flowed to Questionable Projects State Leads in Army Corps Spending, but Millions Had Nothing to Do With Floods By Michael Grunwald Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, September 8, 2005; Page A01 -snip- In Katrina's wake, Louisiana politicians and other critics have complained about paltry funding for the Army Corps in general and Louisiana projects in particular. But over the five years of President Bush's administration, Louisiana has received far more money for Corps civil works projects than any other state, about $1.9 billion; California was a distant second with less than $1.4 billion, even though its...

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers News Release Release No. PA-09-01 For Immediate Release: September 3, 2005 Contact: Connie Gillette: 202-761-1809 Constance.S.Gillette@hq02.usace.army.mil U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Hurricane Relief Support and Levee Repair Background Information The breaches that have occurred on the levees surrounding New Orleans are located on the 17th Street Canal Levee and London Avenue Canal Levee. The 17th Street Canal Levees and London Avenue Canal Levees are completed segments of the Lake Ponchartrain and Vicinity Hurricane Protection Project. Although other portions of the Lake Ponchartrain project are pending, these two segments were complete, and no modifications or improvements...

WASHINGTON - A loose barge may have caused a large breach in the east side of the Industrial Canal floodwall that accelerated Hurricane Katrina's rising floodwaters in the Lower Ninth Ward and St. Bernard Parish, Army Corps of Engineers project manager Al Naomi said Monday.

I got this from Power Line. It's another great blog out there and it was also on Free Republic. The Freepers are doing great work on all this. "The New York Times is leading the shameless Bush and Republican bashing with respect to the response to Hurricane Katrina. One of its themes is that Congress didn't pay enough attention to flood control in the Gulf. But Donald Luskin reminds us of this bit of wisdom from the New York Times editorial page earlier this year." If you've been paying attention -- and I don't know how long you can before...

Vicksburg, MS., 5 September 2005 – Positive news reported overnight on the work by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in closing off the breaches at the 17th Street Canal, London Canal and IHC. “The primary focus today is to assess the pumps within the city and to work to get some of those started today,” said Greg Breerwood, deputy district engineer for Project Management, managing the flood fight from the New Orleans emergency operation center located in Vicksburg, MS. “We’ll want to start those pumps slowly to watch the impacts on the system, trying to ensure no damage as...

...Notably, the New Orleans mess improved only after the Pentagon got involved. Though the military is normally barred from domestic law enforcement by the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, Defense officials have been doing a lot of creative thinking about what they can do and what the public now expects post-September 11.... Mr. Bush will also need to guide the rebuilding choices for New Orleans and the Mississippi delta.... But clearly there is an issue of how much federal money to pour into a city that is below sea-level and would still be vulnerable to another Category Four or Five...

A week after Hurricane Katrina, engineers plugged the levee break that swamped much of the city and floodwaters began to recede, but along with the good news came the mayor's direst prediction yet: As many as 10,000 dead. Sheets of metal and repeated helicopter drops of 3,000-pound sandbags along the 17th Street canal leading to Lake Pontchartrain succeeded Monday in plugging a 200-foot-wide gap, and water was being pumped from the canal back into the lake. State officials and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers say once the canal level is drawn down two feet, Pumping Station 6 can begin...

A week after Hurricane Katrina, engineers plugged the levee break that swamped much of the city and floodwaters began to recede... Sheets of metal and repeated helicopter drops of 3,000-pound sandbags along the 17th Street canal leading to Lake Pontchartrain succeeded Monday in plugging a 200-foot-wide gap, and water was being pumped from the canal back into the lake. State officials and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers say once the canal level is drawn down two feet, Pumping Station 6 can begin pumping water out of the bowl-shaped city. Some parts of the city already showed slipping floodwaters as...

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said on Monday it had completely closed one major gap in the levees breached by Hurricane Katrina and was close to repairing a second major breach. "Progress has been sufficient to allow the contractors to be in position to completely close the breach at 17th Street, and the breach at the London Street Canal has been completely closed," the Corps said in a statement. "The primary focus today is to assess the pumps within the city and to work to get some of those started today," said Greg Breerwood, deputy district engineer for Project...

The breach in the 17th Street Canal levee that had put the city of New Orleans underwater was essentially closed early Sunday evening after days of work and the use of "ingenuity to the max," a top U.S. Corps of Engineers general said.

Most of the television news channels and the political left have been hysterical in their comments about Hurricane Katrina. CNN actually committed fraud by editing out of a previous newscast the report that the President had urged local officials to evacuate New Orleans before Katrina hit. Insane claims by left-wing nuts that President Bush botched the recovery effort on purpose so as to kill black people are repeated by the Main Stream Media without analysis or perspective. Meanwhile, no one points out that it was President Bush who implored Governor Blanco to issue a first-ever mandatory evacuation order for the...

Five people killed by New Orleans Police Last Updated Sun, 04 Sep 2005 18:59:47 EDT CBC News New Orleans police shot and killed at least five people Sunday after gunmen opened fire on a group of contractors travelling across a bridge on their way to make repairs. Deputy Police Chief W.J. Riley said police shot at eight people, killing five or six. John Hall of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said fourteen contractors were travelling across a bridge that spans a canal connecting Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River, under police escort, when they came under fire. The contractors...

The MSM began politicizing the hurricane Katrina disaster before it even happened. Of course, their one objective is to blame President Bush, our military and anyone else that represents an idealogical barrier to their agenda. What the MSM has not done, is look in their own backyard -- in 1998 the Army Corps of Engineers provided a Draft Request to pursue the protection of noted areas in the Gulf region, to enhance their ability to survive heavy hurricane damage. The project was summarily REJECTED BY BILL CLINTON as not important. The complicit MSM is making insane charges and accusations based...

<p>Mod point of clarification: The first 100 or so replies below were posted in reaction to reports that the contractors had been fatally shot.</p>