Re: Geology is a dangerous business

I was not analyzing the entire Miss. flood plain, just the New Orleans
disaster. I have used the Corps computer modeling programs for hydrology,
since this is necessary for getting projects approved by them.

I was impressed with their knowledge and depth of personnel on hydrology
(Denver CO office), flood plains and drainage in general. I'll take the
Corps' word any day over some loony environmentalist, lamenting we msut save
the - - - - - (fill in the blank).

We are not stuck with what nature left us (wetlands, etc.), we can make it
better or change it entirely. Thay is why humans are superior to animals,
we can change our environment. We just need to be sure we know the
consequences of our actions, and find them acceptable.

My point was, (1) it was a tragedy, (2) it could have been prevented, it
should have been prevented, (3) the government had a viable plan to prevent
it, and (4) the Environmental movement had a significant part in halting a
civil engineering project that would have prevented the flooding
experienced. Hydrology computer simulation and modeling programs can easily
confirm this.

"I can't remember the last time I was wrong, I either have a faulty memory
or am a compulsive liar" - Groucho Marx


"George" <george@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:tRIhf.361081$084.78099@xxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> "SBC Yahoo" <atilla.the.hun@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:fFHhf.18353$BZ5.4615@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> In 1965, the Army Corps of Engineers designed the so-called Lake
>> Pontchartrain Hurricane Barrier Project. It required a complete reworking
>> of the levees and two massive storm gates that could close off the
>> Rigolets and Chef Menteur Pass if a hurricane was approaching. It was
>> passed by congress and signed into law by then President Lyndon Johnson.
>> This massive flood prevention project by the Army Corps of Engineers, the
>> foremost authority on watersheds, storm drainage and flooding in the
>> United States, the President of the United States and the House of
>> Representatives and US Senate were all overruled by a bunch of ignorant
>> alarmist environmentalists, wanting to strike a blow for a few plant
>> species and amphibious species, having blatant disregard for the most
>> important species there, the Human Species.
>>
>> This project, if built by the Corps of Engineers, would have prevented
>> the disaster that recently caused the destruction of the entire city of
>> New Orleans. But instead of considering facts, scientific evidence, and
>> the recommendations of the most credible source in this country, the Save
>> Our Wetlands group and others, filed a massive lawsuit to block the
>> construction of this project. They managed to keep the Corps of Engineers
>> tied up in courts for about 10 years, until the Corps was forced to give
>> up on its life saving plan to protect the people of the city of New
>> Orleans. At the time the projected cost was $85,000,000. The estimated
>> cost of the hurricane is currently placed in the range of
>> $150,000,000,000. There have been a thousand of lives lost, due to the
>> breach of the dam and levies around Lake Pontchartrain.
>>
>> "The project was stopped on Dec. 30, 1977, by U.S. District Judge Charles
>> Schwartz Jr., who said the corps' environmental impact statement had
>> failed to satisfy federal environmental laws.
>>
>> Schwartz ruled that the region "would be irreparably harmed" if the
>> barrier project was allowed to continue. He chastised the Army for its
>> inadequate environmental impact statement, which was based in part on a
>> single biologist who never submitted a written report." 1
>>
>> This is how the environmental movement functions, they provide
>> reactionary babble to refute scientific facts, in this case, submitted by
>> the most credible source in the country, the US Army Corps of Engineers.
>> Their well financed, and heavily promoted legal battle against the
>> efforts of the Corps of Engineers to protect the People of New Orleans
>> finally succeeded to stop the project.
>>
>> In my opinion, this would make the environmental movement, and all those
>> that contributed financially to this heinous effort, libel for the
>> needless destruction of the City of New Orleans and the needless death of
>> its citizens that perished as a result of the horrendous flooding that
>> occurred as a result of the breach of Lake Pontchartrain.
>>
>> Statistically, the storm was predictable, the only question was when
>> would it strike the area. The Corps of Engineers had used the best, most
>> reliable principles of hydrology, and civil engineering to arrive at
>> their conclusion that the drainage structures including the lake and the
>> canals, needed to be rebuilt to handle a large storm event. The
>> environmental movement used some half baked vodoo "scientific experts"
>> and reactionary, inflammatory rhetoric to whip up a legal case to block
>> the actions of the Corps of Engineers. Their commenting on the Corps of
>> Engineers plan, would be like a deranged crack addict laying in the
>> gutter rendering a "professional" opinion on Albert Einstein's Theory of
>> Relativity. While the drug addict might have an opinion, I am certain
>> that any rational person of average intelligence could see that it would
>> be pretty much worthless. Unfortunately the US District Judge in this
>> case was not that bright.
>>
>
> I don't intend to get into an environmental debate with you on this issue.
> If it was simply a matter of what some environmentalists are alleged to
> have done, I'd have to agree with you. The fact is that the Corp of
> Engineers are hardly innocent on this issue. Their efforts to control
> flooding along the Mississippi river over the past 100+ years is largely
> responsible for the degradation of the delta and wetlands areas in
> Louisiana, one result of which has been the subsidence in the New Orleans
> area. So even though they may have been prevented from carrying out this
> project, as you suggest, I suggest that they are largely responsible for
> the problem in the first place.
>
> The flooding along the Mississippi River in 1993 clearly demonstrated the
> damage that can occur due to the Corps efforts to restrict natural
> flooding along the banks of that river. Wetlands mitigate floods and
> provide valueable wildlife habitat. In order to make the river more
> navigable, and to provide more arable farmland, the Corp spent billions of
> dollars on floodwalls, dams, locks, and levees all along the course of the
> Mississippi River and its tributaries. The corp, in restricting the flow
> of the river, raised its channel, making damaging floods MORE likely,
> destroyed flood mitigating wetlands, and reduced the flow of valuable
> delta-building sediments. all of which had major adverse affects on the
> Mississippi delta, including the New Orleans area.
>
> George
>


.

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