June 4th, 2007 by Loki
Courtesy of the man who ade the AP finally take notice of the state of the pumps:
Dear New Orleanians & others concerned about our city,
At Thursday’s press conference with new Corps commander General Van Antwerp, it was announced that the Corps’ internal investigation into problems with the floodgate pumps would be released some time this week.
In advance of that, I thought people should see some of the raw documents upon which that investigation is undoubtedly based. Therefore, I’ve posted every Shop Inspection Report generated by the Corps during their time inside MWI’s facilities in Florida (at least, I think it’s every one - I can’t be absolutely sure the Corps didn’t hold back something).
I received these documents through a FOIA request, so they have names redacted. However, all the other information, including never-before-seen color photos of the testing and construction of the pumps, is intact. There are 34 reports in total, 24 of which are previously unreleased.
I have posted the documents at my blog,
http://fixthepumps.blogspot.com. They make for fascinating reading. I encourage anyone who’s interested in drainage or pumping in this city to take a look.
Matt
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May 31st, 2007 by Loki
Dear New Orleanians and those interested in our city,
Some of you may know that the new head of the Corps, General Van Antwerp, is in New Orleans today, and has a press conference scheduled for 4 PM.
Some of you may also know that the Corps has had an internal investigation of the design, installation and operation of the floodgate pumps underway since last September. In a
May 2, 2007 letter to Senator David Vitter, now-retired Corps Commander General Strock publicly revealed the existence of this investigation. He said the investigation would be complete sometime during May. He also said the investigation would be turned over to the GAO so that their inquiry would be robust.
Today is May 31. The Corps internal investigation has not been released. It has not been turned over to GAO, who issued
their findings last week. If GAO had received the Corps internal investigation, they would have mentioned it, but they didn’t. They never got it, because the Corps didn’t turn it over to them.
Now it appears the Corps is not going to release it until Van Antwerp has a chance to see it. Back channel sources are telling me the delay is also to avoid embarrassing Van Antwerp during his visit to New Orleans. Tomorrow is hurricane season. The citizens of New Orleans deserve much more than political games by Corps Public Affairs Officers. If there is something deeply damaging to the Corps in the report (and my money is on “Yes,” or else it would have come out by now or it would have been turned over to GAO before their May 15th deadline), everyone needs to see it, now.
If any of you know anyone who is to attend this afternoon’s 4 PM press conference with Gen. Van Antwerp, I beg you to have them ask hard about this internal report, and why the Corps feels it is more important to withhold potentially embarrassing information rather than informing the citizens who depend upon their work.
Matt McBride
Posted in Defend New Orleans, Dirty, Filthy Politics, Hurricane, Levees, We Are Not OK | No Comments »
