~Bob Hall is Tetra Tech's senior flood control engineer, overseeing engineering studies, reports, and designs. He has nearly 40 years of experience in the field, including 30 years with the Los Angeles District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), working primarily with flood control projects in Southern California, Arizona, and Nevada. His previous positions with the Corps include Chief of the Hydrologic Engineering Section, the Flood Plain Management Section, and the Design Branch, as well as the Assistant Chief of the Engineering Division.
Q: What’s driving this new focus on modernization of flood control systems?
A: When Hurricane Katrina happened and the levees failed around New Orleans, that got everybody’s attention and made them realize that flood control projects can fail. It got people looking at levees throughout the country, and as a result, FEMA is now requiring all levee owners to certify their levees.
That has put a large amount of work out there for consulting engineers, because the only people who can do that certification—other than the owners—are consulting engineers.
Also, a National Committee on Levee Safety was set up and it has just released its report to Congress, recommending that a National Levee Safety Program be established.
If Congress approves and funds this effort, it could dramatically change the way levees are perceived by the general public, and affect the way the levees are analyzed and treated.
~Editilla Boo'dats~This will be like the IPET Writ large, more Corps self-study. This is a former Corps Engineer who now does levee certifications, in a PR piece which advocates that the Corps do more levee study of its own failing levees, as we had in New Orleans, in order that we may not get any independent engineering views of those structures.
The Corps hires the engineers, everywhere.
But of course, since we have nothing like this on the ground, in Congress, no independent study of levee failures to use as a template, we should expect the Corps to move quickly forward with their own. As Editilla has said here many times: either we get this story straight our way or the Corps will do it for us their way ...or the flood way.
Perhaps Sandy Rosenthal can use her new-found fame as a Huffington Post Blogger to shine some light on this new Corps Levee Safety Program and how it contrasts and compares with the stillborn 8/29 Independent Review that Mitch Landrieu's Sister allowed to Drown in Committee last year. Indeed it appears tweeted that Levees.org will pay a visit to our intrepid Senator.
Discussion of “Overview of New Orleans Levee Failures: Lessons Learned and Their Impact on National Levee Design and Assessment”
The Vision for Civil Engineering in 2025 ~ASCE
Structural Project Engineer -Flood Control, New Orleans
GOP makes hay over Boxer’s ‘ma’am’ comment~The widely played video clip of Senator Barbara Boxer of California reprimanding a Corps of Engineers general for calling her “ma’am’’ is the gift that keeps on giving for the two Republicans hoping to challenge her next year.
Isle de Jean Charles Community now a poster child for global warming~John DeSantis
Coordinate ocean, ecosystem policies, report urges
~Amy Wold
Cane Harvest hampered
~Jeff Moore
Louisiana pipelines change hands ~NOCB
Watch Sen Al Franken Nail A Republican's Testicles to the Senate Floor Over Health Legislations Facts!
~"We are entitled to our own opinions. We're not entitled to our own facts," Franken repeated after the back-and-forth.
"The fact is benefits kick in on day one, and the large majority of benefits kick in on day one. And we shouldn't be standing up here with charts that say the exact opposite." Later, while riffing with Brown, Franken added, "Senator Thune did say that none of the benefits started next year. He just, I guess, hasn't read the bill."
Blow back, blow out and a lot of hot air around state-funded insurance plans ~slabbed
State streamlining report online
HANO's new leader tries novel approach: listening
~Katy Reckdahl
New Orleans school changes since Katrina win approval, poll shows
Propublica, Times Pic and Frontline team up for Katrina aftermath coverage~Chad Bower
Trees We Hate (#5 In a series)
~Library Chronicles
Mrs. Martha Hardy
~Liprap's Lament-The Line
Football, politics kick off a joyful winter: James Carville
To Call Blair Bush's Poodle Is An Insult to Poodles~Harry Shearer
Zoroaster: Historical Prophet of Iran ~SEMP
Bridge to Nowhere~Julie Bloom
Scenes from the Dumaine Street Gang Second Line and the Saints Second Line in ATL~Red Cotton
Project 2010 at Ashe Cultural Arts Center - Thurs. Dec. 17th
~New Orleans’ Cultural Ambassador Irvin Mayfield, and Luther Gray, the head of the Congo Square Foundation will join with members of the cultural political action committee Project 2010 to distribute funds raised for local artists in need of urgent healthcare. The presentation will take place at a holiday celebration at the Ashe Cultural Arts Center, 1724 Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard on Thursday, December 17th, from 6 to 8 PM.2010 Jazz Fest Line Up
~Pearl Jam, Aretha Franklin, Van Morrison, Lionel Richie, The Neville Brothers, Allman Brothers Band, Anita Baker, My Morning Jacket, Darius Rucker, Widespread Panic Among Hundreds Scheduled to Appear at 41st Jazz & Heritage Festival
Remembering the Warehouse: Bill Johnston~Alex Woodward
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