Tag: US Army Corps of Engineers

Because it is that good: “Shipping experts doubt Panama Canal expansion will bring the traffic, jobs being touted”

Yes I said 99% of the national financial media were sold out corporate whores but that does not mean there isn’t high quality business journalism happening folks.  The trick is knowing where to look and today, as is often the case, it is on the front page of the local paper.  Today Geoff Pender and Anita Lee examine the economics behind the Panama Canal expansion that includes a looksie at the shipping industry and the competition that ranks at the top of all the business stories I’ve read so far in 2012. The main reason for my enthusiasm is this piece has implications for every existing eastern port expanding in anticipation of the Panama Canal widening.

This snippet blows the political pump of these east coast harbor projects out of the water:

Daniel Yi, a spokesman for the port of Long Beach, Calif., notes shippers and rail services have invested billions in recent years in and around his port, one of the largest in the world. Continue reading “Because it is that good: “Shipping experts doubt Panama Canal expansion will bring the traffic, jobs being touted””

Are the construction people at the NOLA area US Army Corp of Engineers that incompetent or simply on the take? We have more levee debris complete with dueling excavators.

We’ve periodically updated Matt McBride’s series Debris over at Fix the Pumps and today we note part 9 of his series was posted several months ago when the Corp of Engineers told the West Bank Levee builder Phylway Construction to stop using dirt from the River Birch Borrow Pits in their construction.  I mention this because Paul Rioux updated the continuing story of testing the nearly complete levee and what he reports today for the Times Picayune does not sound very promising as we find out the new levee contains things like water heaters and shopping carts. Now I could be sarcastic and suggest using old landfill material to construct levees to combat rising sea levels caused by global warming may be the wave of the future but I won’t.  I’ve been around construction too long to understand this kind of thing happens a good bit.  The owner of the project has to be vigilant to insure the project is built to their specifications and sometimes that includes busting the contractor’s chops when the specs are not followed. Unfortunately the Corp of Engineers appears to prefer the whitewash and coverup route and the residents over Marrero way are certain to suffer the impacts of that at a point in time in the future, likely after all the current players are long out of the game.

Through my time doing Slabbed I’ve seen the Corp of Engineers excoriated in the local blogosphere over levee issues that Hurricane Katrina laid bare.  There are some folks like Western Carolina Professor Rob Young that have the opinion the CoE was scapegoated and indeed Rob tells me he received death threats after writing such in the Times Picayune.  For my own part the relationship we have with the CoE here on the coast does not include any flood protection because we simply do not fill in marshes and develop them like happens in metro NOLA.  That avoids the issue of depending on levees that inherently will fail over a long enough timeline altogether. That said I also watched the CoE steer post Katrina cleanup/demolition work to politically connected out-of-state contractors after Katrina so I well understand the agency is politicized and that is not a good thing for engineering IMHO.  The fact the Corps of Engineers was caught on video trying to coverup the problems revealed by the levee testing just simply illustrates the problems inside the CoE that has made it fair game for majority of the withering criticism leveled at it since Katrina.

So if the Corps of Engineers in bed with the contractor we better find out a bit more about the contractor, Phylway Construction.  First off they have been in business for a while and are properly licensed. According to their website: Continue reading “Are the construction people at the NOLA area US Army Corp of Engineers that incompetent or simply on the take? We have more levee debris complete with dueling excavators.”

Matt at Fix the Pumps keeps up the debris in the levee drumbeat. Logs being uncovered not to be confused with Shinola….

Late last month Matt at Fix the Pumps filed part 8 of his series Debris which documents logs being used as levee fill that go well beyond the project specifications.  We’ve been steering readers to this series of posts as the dirt appears to be coming from Team River Birch owned pits and it now appears the problems are most manifested by one contractor.  Matt’s latest installment features reporting from Channel 4 as they and the T-P’s Paul Rioux are feeding well at the table of facts Matt has constructed on his blog.  In fact Rioux’s latest installment on this for the Times Picayune is today’s feature story and is also well worth the read.

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There is a Heebe in the levee pile! Matt at Fix the pumps reveals continuing problems with substandard levee construction.

Susan Poag / The Times Picayune

Something starts to emerge from these reports: the River Birch pits are very, very bad. We’ve seen the possibility of it in the WBV-14b.2 reports above, we’ve seen it mentioned definitely in the WBV-14a.2 reports – also above – and we’ve seen it mentioned in the WBV-14c.2 reports earlier. Now it shows up in the most recent inspection report from project WBV-14e.2.

Yeah, what Matt said! Matt McBride at Fix the Pumps has added a 4th and 5th part to his continuing series on what appears to be substandard levee construction featuring dirt from the borrow pits of Sierra Club approved River Birch Landfill. (I’ll be circling back to the sold out sum bitches at the Sierra Club in another post.) His work on this topic, a vital one for those on the West Bank of Greater NOLA metro, is simply excellent. So much so that Paul Rioux picked up coverage for the T-P in fact.  We need to address one particular part of Rioux’s story so here is the salient snippet: Continue reading “There is a Heebe in the levee pile! Matt at Fix the pumps reveals continuing problems with substandard levee construction.”

Matt at Fix the Pumps finds woody debris in the new levees and a Fred Heebe in the woodpile.

Folks there are few more dedicated niche bloggers in Metro NOLA than Matt McBride over at Fix the Pumps.  Matt is a tireless advocate for properly constructed flood protection for New Orleans metro and in a 3 part series details the problems the Army Corps of Engineers is having with contractors delivering dirt for levee construction that is filled with woody debris, which is unsuitable levee material. Naturally my interest was piqued when the name Fred Heebe was mentioned in part 1 of Matt’s series Debris.  Here is a snippet:

And yes, the “River Birch” mentioned here is the same River Birch landfill that is the center of a wide-ranging federal investigation into corruption within Jefferson Parish politics. That investigation has already led to the resignation of three top officials within Jefferson Parish, including the parish president, Aaron Broussard. The Corps is approved to get borrow material from four River Continue reading “Matt at Fix the Pumps finds woody debris in the new levees and a Fred Heebe in the woodpile.”

Let's leap without looking. Slabbed explores the genesis of the sand berm scheme.

Folks the more I find out the more this sand berm scheme of dealing with the oil spill stinks. Let’s backtrack to last month to the beginning of the scheme and the bums rush to get it crammed down the Corps of Engineer’s throats per this Chris Kirkham story for the Times Picayune:

For years, state government officials, scientists and coastal residents have made numerous pleas to the federal government for money to restore Louisiana’s barrier islands.

In the midst of a catastrophic oil spill, they may finally get their shot.

At a news conference in Venice this afternoon, Gov. Bobby Jindal and Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser said they are already in discussions with BP and the Coast Guard to mobilize as many as 10 dredges to build up barrier islands in an attempt to prevent oil from getting into the state’s wetlands. Continue reading “Let's leap without looking. Slabbed explores the genesis of the sand berm scheme.”

Slicked and Slabbed Part 4: Slabbed calls bullsh*t on the sand berm scheme. BP is being fleeced to no good end.

Folks the more we learn the more this stinks and believe me we are not fans of BP here at Slabbed. The latest installment in as the berm turns comes courtesy of the Science Insider:

It could be one of the sloppiest engineering plans the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has ever seen—a hand-drawn plan illustrating how engineers would fill in a channel in Dauphin Island to prevent oil from reaching sensitive wetlands. The corps posted the permit application and asked for comment from agencies and public in just a few hours. Continue reading “Slicked and Slabbed Part 4: Slabbed calls bullsh*t on the sand berm scheme. BP is being fleeced to no good end.”

And while Phil waxes nonsensical let's not forget to record the musings of Mississippi's Teletubby in charge

Haley Barbour and staff just before commenting on the oil spill

 

Folks, you are not misreading the quote dutifully chronicled by the Sun Herald’s Karen Nelson, Haley said he trusts the Army Corps of Engineers! 

Gov. Haley Barbour and DMR Director Bill Walker said Thursday they trust the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers not to allow Louisiana to build any berm or sand barriers east of the mouth of Mississippi River that would cause oil to flow into Mississippi waters. 

Good thing you trust them Haley because no one down here does. 

Its gets better though because Haley and Phil evidently have their talking points and they are sticking with them by God. 

Gov. Haley Barbour, in a news conference Thursday, said the brown-orange mousse that has been washing ashore in Louisiana is not dangerous. Continue reading “And while Phil waxes nonsensical let's not forget to record the musings of Mississippi's Teletubby in charge”