As always Harold, thank you for your perspective on this issue.
Make mine a martini....
Barry H. Welliver
bhwengineers@digis.net
From: Harold Sprague <spraguehope@hotmail.com>
Organization: http://www.seaint.org
Reply-To: <seaint@seaint.org>
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:38:50 +0000
To: <seaint@seaint.org>
Subject: RE: when the levees break....
The US Federal Government has sovereign immunity and may not be sued unless it is waived by consent. The Federal Tort Claims act grants limited waiver of immunity. There are many other aspects that make attorneys rich by debating them.
Regardless, sovereign immunity may be invoked at any time and could effectively shut a suit down in appeals at any point. One judge's ruling is not the end of it.
MRGO was designed in the 1950's and constructed in the 1960's. Following construction, funding was limited by Congress, Port of New Orleans, Inland Waterway Trust Fund and others for maintenance and for construction. In 1997 there was a USACE evaluation report by the Corps. http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/prj/ihnc/EvaluationReport/ihnc_eval.htm
They only needed a half billion dollars for the work. No one authorized the effort and it was not done. If the proposed re-work had happened we might not be having this debate.
How much can be built of a half billion dollar project with zero funding?
I was part of an emergency response team that went in immediately after Katrina. I saw real corruption up close and personal. I saw a lot of ineptitude. I also saw a lot of Federal employees busting their hump to do some good at great personal risk with little gratitude. I do a lot of gratis work for the Federal government and military.
As an American have a vested interest in the success of the Federal government. My son is even serving in the US Navy. If we expect any good to come from this law suit, we are delusional. The only thing that will happen is that lawyers will get wealthy. Congress will never accept responsibility. After all, they "inherited" this problem from the other Congress. It is time we stopped using the Corps as a scape goat.
When the next big earthquake comes, we will mobilize to rescue and to aid in recovery. All Americans will be called on to help the stricken. I am sure that someone will sue the Federal Government for all of the buildings that did not get rehabbed. ...here we go again.
I need a beer.
Regards, Harold Sprague
> Subject: RE: when the levees break....
> Date: Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:10:57 -0500
> From: mStuart@cmxengineering.com
> To: seaint@seaint.org
>
> I thought you couldn't sue the US government for damages in the first
> place.
>
> D. Matthew Stuart, P.E., S.E., F.ASCE, SECB
> Senior Project Manager
> Structural Department
> Associate
> Engineers and Consultants - CMX
> 200 Route 9
> Manalapan, NJ 07726
> 732-577-9000 (Ext. 308)
> 908-309-8657 (Cell)
> 732-298-9441 (Fax)
> mstuart@CMXEngineering.com
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: akester@cfl.rr.com [mailto:akester@cfl.rr.com]
> Sent: Friday, November 20, 2009 1:05 PM
> To: seaint@seaint.org
> Subject: when the levees break....
>
> If we only listened to Led Zeppelin about 40 years ago, we would have
> known it was inevitable.
>
> So the Army Corps should subrogate against France. It is the French who
> chose to settle New Orleans in the first place.
>
> Is this one of those, pardon me for using it, "slippery slopes"? Will
> there not be a legal precendent now where the Corps may be held
> responsible for any of their other failed attempts at controlling
> nature? How about the entire Mississippi River and all of its
> tributaries? How about the senseless pumping of sand to "restore
> beaches" that often last only until the next tropical storm or
> northeaster, and in turn screw up nature's cycle and can destroy
> productive fish habitat not mention ruin great surfing waves (and in my
> opinion, we taxpayers are paying to insure beachfront property)? Since
> we all pay for the Army Corps, this scares me a bit...
>
> I am not arguing against responsibility, but I have to think it was less
> engineer's making miscalculations and more about backhanded politics.
>
> Andrew Kester, PE
> Florida
>
> ******* ****** ******* ******** ******* ******* ******* ***
> * Read list FAQ at: http://www.seaint.org/list_FAQ.asp
> *
> * This email was sent to you via Structural Engineers
> * Association of Southern California (SEAOSC) server. To
> * subscribe (no fee) or UnSubscribe, please go to:
> *
> * http://www.seaint.org/sealist1.asp
> *
> * Questions to seaint-ad@seaint.org. Remember, any email you
> * send to the list is public domain and may be re-posted
> * without your permission. Make sure you visit our web
> * site at: http://www.seaint.org
> ******* ****** ****** ****** ******* ****** ****** ********
>
>
>
> ******* ****** ******* ******** ******* ******* ******* ***
> * Read list FAQ at: http://www.seaint.org/list_FAQ.asp
> *
> * This email was sent to you via Structural Engineers
> * Association of Southern California (SEAOSC) server. To
> * subscribe (no fee) or UnSubscribe, please go to:
> *
> * http://www.seaint.org/sealist1.asp
> *
> * Questions to seaint-ad@seaint.org. Remember, any email you
> * send to the list is public domain and may be re-posted
> * without your permission. Make sure you visit our web
> * site at: http://www.seaint.org
> ******* ****** ****** ****** ******* ****** ****** ********
Hotmail: Trusted email with Microsoft's powerful SPAM protection. Sign up now. <http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/177141664/direct/01/http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/177141664/direct/01/>