Looking into the future the Pelican feeding its young from a self-induced wound in its own breast (as depicted, mysteriously, on the state flag of Louisiana) is accepted as an appropriate symbol of both self-sacrifice and rebirth. Through his selfless efforts, man is raised from the slavery of ignorance to the condition of freedom conferred by wisdom. Given the current state of affairs in Louisiana, one hopes that the understanding of the Pelican as a symbol shall point the way towards a new consciousness of ourselves as a whole, and lead us to face our futures with strength, grace, wisdom and faith, to learn from our mistakes and carry our successes and zest for living to future generations.

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GAO Report Exonerates SOWL In Barrier Dispute

October 10, 2005

On September 28, 2005, the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on the Army Corps of Engineers Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity Hurricane Barrier Project (HBP). In the report, the GAO outlines the original barrier plan and the estimated costs as of 1961. The report also points out a number of obstacles encountered in the construction of the HBP. Before construction could even begin, updated data on the severity of hurricanes indicated design changes needed to be made. This, after Hurricane Betsy flooded parts of the city in 1965.

Read Full Report: United States Government Accountability Office Report on the Army Corps of Engineers Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity Hurricane Barrier Project

By the mid-1980s, the Corps decided to abandon the barrier plan it had started with, choosing instead to go with the high-level levee design originally considered in the early 1960s. The high-level design selected was expected to provide the same level of protection as the original barrier design and cost less. The GAO report points out that design changes, increasing costs, environmental concerns, local opposition and legal challenges ultimately led to the abandonment of the original HBP. Some have blamed SOWL for single-handedly thwarting the original HBP; this is simply not true.

Ever since Joe Towers, former general counsel for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans Division, made misleading and inaccurate comments regarding the HBP in the L.A. Times on September 9, 2005, SOWL has been the target of venomous rhetoric from right-wing, anti-environmentalist, pro-Bush spin doctors on the yellow journalism internet circuit. SOWL has received scores of hate mail accusing them of 'green genocide'.

On the contrary, we already knew that Al Naomi, senior project manager for the Corps, stated "the levees and control structures in the post-1965 plan were not big enough to control a surge and protect the city." Now, according to the recent GAO report, "Corps staff believe that flooding would have been worse if the original proposed design had been built because the storm surge would likely have gone over the top of the barrier and floodgates, flooded Lake Pontchartain, and gone over the original lower levees planned for the Lakefront area as part of the barrier plan."

In 1977, co-plaintiffs St. Tammany Parish Police Jury, Save Our Wetlands (SOWL), the citizens of Slidell in St. Tammany Parish and of New Orleans successfully enjoined the Corps from building the same barrier complexes that the Corps stated in the recent GAO report dated September 28, 2005, that, had they been built, "the flooding would have been worse".

Then the report goes on to say:

"After the court order, the Corps decided to change course and completed a project reevaluation report and prepared a draft revised Environmental Impact Statement in the mid-1980s that recommended abandoning the barrier plan and shifting to the highlevel plan originally considered in the early 1960s. Local sponsors executed new agreements to assure their share of the non-federal contribution to the revised project. These changes are not believed to have had any role in the levee breaches recently experienced as the high-level design selected was expected to provide the same level of protection as the original barrier design."

So, in summary, the Corps' decision not to pursue the 1977 version of the barrier complexes, choosing instead to build what is today the existing levee system, did not play any role in the levee breaches from Katrina, since the Corps concluded the "high-level design" was expected to provide the same level of protection.

SOWL thinks this bears repeating:

"These changes are not believed to have had any role in the levee breaches recently experienced as the high-level design selected was expected to provide the same level of protection as the original barrier design."

What if the Corps had gotten its way, had built the barrier complexes in the Rigolets and at Chef Menteur Pass and was able to drain 28,000 acres of wetlands to build the Orlandia subdivision? As stated in the GAO, that levee system would have been topped and a catastrophe of even greater proportions would have occurred. This and other housing developments would surely have been washed away AND the rest of the city would have been more vulnerable to the storm surge because of the lower levees proposed in the original plan. In addition, on the Northshore, Slidell and St. Tammany Parish would now be susceptable to a soup bowl effect as well because a storm surge there would top the barrier and then would not be able to escape, thus causing devastating flooding.