Jeudi

Season's first tropical depression forms ~JeffMasters

DAY THREE: Landrieu, Jackson Visit Water Management Experts in Rotterdam, Delft
Singin'wit da'choir!
United States Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator (EPA) Lisa P. Jackson today continued their Congressional Delegation trip to the Netherlands with visits to Rotterdam and Delft.
The morning discussions focused on the challenges facing the city of Rotterdam, which as a major port city shares many characteristics with New Orleans.
Rotterdam has the largest port in Europe, and Louisiana hosts the largest port system in the United States.

“The city of Rotterdam has learned to live with water, and we need to as well,” Sen. Landrieu said. “We need to manage and integrate the water instead of only trying to get rid of it. The Domenici-Landrieu bill established an independent revenue stream to rebuild our coast. We need to use this funding to establish a protection system that more closely models the Dutch’s world-class system.”
The Vice Mayor of Rotterdam Lucas Bolsius said his city is facing problems such as rising sea level and is continually reevaluating its protection. “We have a history of water management for hundreds of years, but we have to integrate,” he said. “We have to find new solutions.”
Vice Mayor Bolsius said Rotterdam, which is surrounded by water on four sides, and New Orleans are cities that have to balance environmental concerns with their economic importance as major port cities. The city is incorporating planning elements, such as green roofs, which mitigate against heavy rainfall and add to the aesthetic value of the city. They also are incorporating housing, shops and park space into their levee protection system. Rotterdam planning experts said that the Dutch have a lot to learn from the United States as well, including mitigation efforts and evacuation plans.

Members of the Louisiana delegation discussed America’s infrastructure challenges. Robert Turner, regional director of Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority, added that the New Orleans region has been focusing on 100-year flood protection, but needs to move toward a more secure system as the Dutch have. “We just cannot stop there,” he said.
In the afternoon, the delegation traveled to Delft for a briefing at Deltares, an independent institute for delta technology that provides expertise to governments and the private sector on living in deltas, coastal areas and river basins.

The delegation ended the day at Delft University where Sen. Landrieu and New Orleans urban planner Greg Rigamer explained the devastation of Hurricane Katrina to Dutch students.
Rigamer explained that Katrina was the worst storm in New Orleans’ history and that the levee breaches, not wind, caused most of the damage. But he said the situation is not hopeless.
A $15 billion flood protection system is being built in New Orleans, and the Domenici-Landrieu Energy Security Act has created an independent revenue stream to rebuild the Louisiana coast. “There is a light at the end of the tunnel for our community.”
Executive Director of Levees.org Sandy Rosenthal, Sen. Landrieu, and Director of Research for Levees.org H.J. Bosworth

Louisiana Delegation, Landrieu, EPA Jackson Continue Study Of Netherlands Waterworks
~Diary: Page 2: by Stephen Sabludowsky

U.S. environment chief praises Dutch water systems
~Toby Sterling~The mission was impressed by a number of Dutch innovative tactics to repel flooding including mixing water with sand dunes, building up minor waterways and the doing away with pavements to allow water to soak through to the earth. Jackson said the Dutch strategy to deal with excess water came down to "the idea that when it rains, the rush is not to pump out, but to be able to hold an amount of water."

Time, money press La. storm project~Rick Jervis

Ivor van Heerden cites policy lapses cited in Abita Springs talk
~Benjamin Alexander-Bloch

Corps Of Engineers Rotates In (demotes?) Geologist for NOLA Hurricane Protection Office, formerly commanded last year's Flooded Midwest District
--3rd to assume the position in past year!
~Col. Robert Sinkler <-(again, we don't make up these names) takes over from Col. Michael McCormick, whose stint in New Orleans was brief after taking over the Hurricane Protection Office in August 2008. Sinkler is the commander of the corps' Rock Island District, which was responsible for flooding in Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Missouri last summer '08. Uh'D'Oh, Datman!

Corps signs off on Chalmette Loop levee plan

Hackers Infiltrate Corps Servers
~Paul McDougall~The hackers used simple SQL Server injection techniques to gain access. That's troubling because it shows a major Army security lapse, and also the ability to bypass supposedly sophisticated Defense Department tools and procedures designed to prevent such breaches.
~Editilla Ironates!~ Jus'sayin... this is bonefide Irony, right?

Bill to give Orleans Levee District property to City Park scuttled

Opportunities Abound for Disaster Reconstruction Industry Professionals
~Comprising the National Disaster Reconstruction Expo's conference program are the country's foremost experts in the disaster reconstruction industry.
The keynote speakers and session facilitators represent FEMA, the Department of Homeland Security, the Office of Emergency Preparedness, and the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA), among many other top industry organizations.
The NDRExpo launches June 17-18, at the Morial New Orleans Convention Center.

New Orleans Pilot Program Replants Vacant Lots with Sunflower Farms
~Matthew MacDermott

A Tale of Two Coasts

Bitter Financial Intercourse??
~slabbed

Politics with a Punch

Alexandria’s White Linen Night ~CenLamar

As If New Orleans Hasn’t Suffered Enough Already
~AMERICANEXCEPTION.COM

Down by the River
~Alex Rawls, offBeat

The New Orleans Airlift is coming to Berlin in June!
~The House of Misbelieve

Mboya Nicholson Swings About New Orleans on Debut CD