The Los Angeles Times runs an in-depth investigation into the uneasy partnership between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and New Orleans levee commissions that led to the disastrous failure of several levees.
"But their fractious partnership proved disastrous. While the corps and the Orleans board settled into an acrimonious 15-year relationship, spending $95 million to buttress the city's canal levees, their shared supervision failed to detect crucial weaknesses inside the flood walls before Hurricane Katrina struck.
...Structural inspections were cursory. Maintenance was minimal. A confusing regulatory patchwork of ownership over the levees and canals blurred the lines of authority â€" all shortcomings cited by independent engineering teams analyzing the levees' collapse.
'...The New Orleans board had the reputation of being one of the worst â€" by worst, I mean more political than professional,' said former Louisiana Gov. Charles E. "Buddy" Roemer III, a Republican whose Orleans board appointees launched the 1990 power play in Congress."
FULL STORY: Levees Weakened as New Orleans Board, Federal Engineers Feuded
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