Katrina: The Jury Answers

by Don Wittig

  down south in Plaquemines Parish. The force of Katrina was much

  greater there than in New Orleans.”

  “Not to confuse the jury, the Corps still performs annual inspections. Correct?”

  “Yes. Then it is up to the local authorities to make any necessary

  repairs or replacements.”

  “What about the pumping stations that were flooded and

  failed?”

  “As I understand, various water and sewer boards took over

  responsibility from the state. We originally contracted with the

  state of Louisiana. They in turn turned over their responsibility to

  all these various local governmental agencies.”

  “Has the Corps made specific recommendations for safety that

  were not heeded?”

  “Yes. We wanted to put in floodgates in three of the levees, but

  local authorities argued about it and we ended up not being able to

  carry out our recommendations. Same thing happened years ago

  when we recommended floodgates on Lake Pontchartrain. The environmentalists would not hear of it. The proposal was blocked in Congress. Remember, we work for the government. We aren’t

  the government.”

  “Were there reports of leaks on the Seventeenth Street and

  London Canals?”

  “Yes. Local citizens complained of leaks on the Seventeenth

  Street Canal. Both the Seventeenth Street and London Canals also

  had trees and bushes growing on them, which can cause piping.

  Piping creates openings for further erosion. I understand that local

  authorities disputed who was responsible for which side of the

  levees. So one side would be maintained and the other side would

  have trash, trees, and unsafe materials building up.”

  “And once again, that is a local responsibility.”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Pass the witness.”

  2 “General Walker, my name is Richard O’Reilly. We have not met or spoken before, have we?”

  “No sir, we have not. A pleasure to know you, sir.”

  “In June, 2005, the Corps performed inspections of the New Orleans levee systems and found them to be acceptable. True?”

  “Yes sir. We perform annual inspections along with the state and local authorities.”

  “General Walker, you have no doubt reviewed the findings of the IPEC. This was an independent investigative body that also included Corps personnel. Am I correct?”

  “Yes and yes.”

  “According to the report, there were fifty Major breaches of the levee system.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “One hundred and sixty-eight miles out of three hundred and fifty miles of protective structures were damaged?”

  “Yes.”

  “Forty-four miles of protective structure were severely damaged?”

  “Yes.”

  “Seventy-three neighborhoods were flooded?”

  “Yes.”

  “Thirty-four neighborhoods were completely inundated?”

  “Yes.”

  “Almost half of the pumping stations were flooded?”

  “Yes.”

  “There were forty-six breaches of the levees by overtopping?”

  “Yes.”

  “General Walker, you will also admit that there were at least four I wall failures due to their weak foundations?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Do you also acknowledge that some of the levee construction was not performed to design specifications?”

  “Those were the findings. Yes sir.”

  “Katrina was a cat five hurricane when she was one hundred and seventy miles out. But when she hit, she had dropped to a cat three. That was the supposed design strength of the levee protection systems. Therefore, the levees should have withstood a cat three surge. Correct?”

  “Correct.”

  “Notwithstanding, you are asking this jury to absolve the Army Corps of Engineers from all responsibility for the design, construction, and engineering of the New Orleans protective system?”

  “Yes. But may I explain?”

  “No. Your attorney will give you that chance. So are you saying that the Corps purposefully designed the flooding of New Orleans to create Lake George?”

  “Objection! Argumentative and outside the record.”

  “Sustained. Mr. O’Reilly, we’ll have none of your cute sarcasm! Any further questions?”

  “No, your honor. I apologize for my poor sense of humor. I pass the witness.”

  Judge Martin glared at O’Reilly. Several of the reporters again made quick exits. They had their second sound bite for the day. One reporter jotted down, “Corps Creates Lake George!”

  Judge Martin announced a brief recess. Once in his chambers he had to laugh. I wondered if that insulting barb would make its way into the testimony. Bad boy, that O’Reilly. But effective.

  As for O’Reilly, he felt like he roughed up the tidy general a bit.

  32 Mack Tries to Repair the Breach

  “G ENERAL WALKER, LET’S FIRST LOOK at the Orleans Canal. At the beginning of the canal, the end opposite Lake Pontchartrain, what was the situation there?”

  “This is the canal adjacent to City Park. At the end of the canal there were revetments that were six feet lower than the canal walls. So when Pontchartrain filled up with sea surge, the water came up the canal and flooded over the lower revetments.”

  “Did the Army Corps of Engineers have anything to do with building or maintaining those revetments?”

  “No sir. That was a local nonfederal agency.”

  “You heard about the train wreck?”

  “Yes. Damaged one of the floodgates to the Industrial Canal toward Lake Pontchartrain.”

  “Was the levee district paid by the railroad for the gate repairs in December 2004?”

  “That’s my understanding. The district did not award the repair contract until a few days before the 2005 hurricane season. In May of 05, I believe.”

  “What was the result?”

  “That was one of the first areas to flood because the repairs were not made. And no, that was not the responsibility of the Corps.”

  “Who did the design engineering on the Seventeenth Street Canal system?”

  KATRINA: THE JURY ANSWERS “We did some, but it was principally contracted out to one national and one local firm.”

  “Did the outside firms that did the engineering certify that the Seventeenth Street Canal levee system could withstand a cat three surge?”

  “Yes, sir, they did.”

  “And did that levee system withstand an eleven or twelve-foot storm surge?”

  “No, it did not. But to be fair, one of the firms doing the construction only sank some of the I wall sections to ten feet. The design called for seventeen-and-a-half-foot depth. Seems to me that is a construction not a design problem.”

  “Again, did the Corps put those I wall sections in too shallow?”

  “No. We did not.”

  “Were there other problems with the Seventeenth Street and London Avenue Canals?”

  “Yes, sir. First, New Orleans has a bad subsidence problem. I do not think any of the engineers, including our own, could foresee how much this city has been sinking. Next, it has no bedrock. Basically, New Orleans is sitting on top of marsh, peat, and mud. No new soil is being added, and the city is sinking on top of itself. All the levees are sinking too. It is unavoidable.”

  “Not the Corps’ fault New Orleans is sinking and is built on a marsh?”

  “No sir. We were told by Congress when and where to build.”

  “What about the Industrial Canal on the west side of Lake Borgne? Did that contribute to the New Orleans area flooding?”

  “In a way yes, but in another way it acted as a barrier. The canal runs on the eastern part of St. Bernard Parish bordering the wetlands. You have Lak
e Borgne, then the canal, then wetlands, and then the Forty Arpent Canal. The surge from Borgne first was slowed by the levees of the Industrial Canal. If the canal hadn’t been there, one barrier would have been removed. So after the Industrial Canal was breached, water then had to go across miles of wetlands. After that, the surge hit the Forty Arpent Canal. Its walls were only

  DON WITTIG seven to nine feet high. In the meantime, water is flooding from Pontchartrain on the north end of the canal where the train wreck was. Remember that floodgate was not fixed. Water was coming from everywhere. Water was over the rooftops in the houses west of the Forty Arpent. Just tragic.”

  “Finally, General Walker, are there some things that you think the Corps is doing better after the Katrina disaster?”

  “Definitely. We are raising the heights of the levees to compensate for subsidence. We are using T levees that are being constructed much deeper, and floodgates are finally being used, repaired, or replaced.”

  “Had Katrina not occurred, would you or should you have undertaken these projects?”

  “Congress gave us authority for making repairs after the storm. That’s part of our mission. Before the storm, the ownership, maintenance, and repairs of the flood protection system belonged to the state of Louisiana and local authorities.”

  “Pass the witness.”

  O’Reilly rose and addressed Judge Martin. “Just one question, your honor.”

  “Proceed.”

  “General Walker, the MRGO Canal was the brainchild of the Corps. You designed it, built it, and maintained it. The most severe damage to Orleans Parish, St. Bernard Parish, and Picayune Parish was caused by the levee failures of the MRGO canal. Yes or no.”

  “In part, yes sir.”

  “Nothing further.”

  Tiashi gave General Walker an approving look as he descended from the witness chair. He gave her an almost imperceptible smile. Mack was delighted. I thought she might come around. He knew he needed help with the women on the jury.

  O’Reilly frowned his discontent. He wondered what kind of mischief his worthy adversary had in store next.

  33 The Sun Is Always On

  “T HE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA calls Dr. Barbara Boudreaux,” Mack said. “Please state your name, occupation, and educational background.”

  A beautiful, dark-complexioned brunette took the stand. She had a Cajun look and charm about her. Dressed in a smart tan suit, she initially avoided the eyes of the jury. Instead she looked right at Judge Martin. She had traveled in some of the same circles as the judge while she was still married. She knew both Martin and his wife. “My name is Barbara Boudreaux. I received my baccalaureate in science at Sophia Newcomb, a master’s in science at Cal Tech, and my PhD in astrophysics from LSU. I presently teach astrophysics at LSU.”

  “Dr. Boudreaux, your last name has come up on a document written by Ms. Lewis. Are you any relation to Senator Boudreaux?”

  “We were married for thirteen years and have two beautiful children who live with me. My maiden name is Landry.”

  “Are you related to former Commissioner Landry?”

  “He was my father. He died of a heart attack the week after Katrina.”

  “Sorry to hear that. Did you or do you have anything to do with the design, construction, or maintenance of the New Orleans flood protection systems?”

  “No, I do not. Both my father and former husband were involved, but I have little knowledge of what they did.”

  O’Reilly accidentally allowed a frown. Both Julia and Tiashi intently scrutinized the witness, as did the other jurors.

  “The government has asked you to testify about your studies and research in the area of global warming and its effect on weather as it relates to Katrina. Can you tell us something of your research and studies in this area?”

  “Astrophysics interested me since I was about three years old. Daddy bought me a telescope when I was five, and I have been hooked ever since. I did my doctoral dissertation on solar storms and their effect on the environment. Since that time, most of my research and studies have been in this area.”

  “Dr. Boudreaux, give us a little background information in your field of study and expertise.”

  “Even the most primitive humanoids studied the sun. They knew that the portion of the Earth closer to the sun was warmer and the portion of the Earth farther from the sun was cooler. The Aztecs and Mayans tracked the four seasons, planting in the spring and harvesting in the fall. They had advanced knowledge of our solar system. They lacked the modern advantages of satellites and supper telescopes that have greatly increased our knowledge of the sun, but let’s face it.” The witness swiveled her chair to peer at the jury. She smiled in her most gracious old New Orleans manner, accentuated by a mischievous twinkle in her eye. “Most everyone knew that more sun meant the hotter weather. Much of modern science chooses to ignore what people everywhere have observed through the millennia.” The jury smiled, and she continued.

  “Earth is ninety-two million nine hundred and fifty-five thousand eight hundred and twenty point five miles from the sun. The temperature in the corona, the region five hundred kilometers above the photosphere, or core of the sun, is in the millions of degrees. Some say the corona is twenty-seven million degrees Fahrenheit. If Earth were as close to the sun as Venus, we would all die. We would be vaporized in seconds, and the planet could not support any kind of life. The surface temperature on Venus is eight hundred degrees Fahrenheit. Move Earth farther away, like Mars, and we would have a deep freeze the likes of which we have never seen. Truth is, the sun dramatically affects Earth’s atmosphere so that even the wobbling oscillation of the Earth can cause significant climate changes.

  “The sun’s energy reaches Earth by radiation. Light travels at three hundred thousand kilometers per second. So that means it only takes about eight and a half minutes for the sun’s radiation to strike the Earth. Scientists, including myself, have observed a high degree of correlation between solar radiance and flares and fluctuations of our temperatures on Earth. If the sun gets dimmer, we cool and vice versa. Somewhere between fifty percent and eighty percent of the one to one and a half degree Fahrenheit increase in our temperature since the end of the Little Ice Age has been caused by the sun. I’m sure the jury knows by now that the Little Ice Age was roughly 1350 to 1850AD. During that cooling period, canals in Venice froze, and you could walk across the ice in New York harbor.

  “We know that in the coldest part of the Little Ice Age, which we call the Maunder Minimum, the sun experienced fewer sunspots and low magnetism and therefore had lower radiance. That was in the 1645 to 1715 AD period. Since 8700 BC, there have been nine to eleven cold periods. Almost all of these colder periods were accompanied by fewer sunspots and lower radiance.”

  “Dr. Boudreaux, you mentioned a global warming of about one and a half degrees Fahrenheit. When did that occur?”

  “Most of the current warming cycle occurred between 1850 and 1940, well before significant global increases in CO2. Some believe we are now actually cooling a bit.”

  “Wait a minute. If the Earth is cooling now, that’s directly contradictory to what the warming alarmists are telling us.”

  “Yes. They like to ignore or gloss over the cooling data. You will also recall that a lot of data, perhaps hundreds of years’ worth, has been lost or destroyed.”

  “Is there any reason to believe that the cooling and warming that has been going on for the last eleven thousand years will stop? And where do you believe we are in that cycle?”

  “First of all, I can see no reason that we should not expect history to repeat itself. As far as where we are in the cycle is concerned, a number of us believe we are at the end of the warming cycle. You may recall a bunch of scientists jumped the gun in the 1970s and incorrectly predicted global cooling at that time. If I recall correctly, Time magazine had a cover story about the threat of global cooling in the seventies. They were three decades ahead of themselves.”

  “
Interesting point. How accurate are the global warming theoreticians?”

  “They have not been accurate at all. According to their modeling, the oceans should already be one or two centimeters higher instead of the three millimeters we have measured. Some alarmists are predicting a sixty or eighty-foot sea rise. One even got a Nobel Prize for that questionable science. There is no scientific basis for such a prediction, at least not based on man-made CO2 emissions. As for the polar bears, they are increasing in numbers.”

  “Objection. Outside the witness’s area of expertise.”

  “Your honor, if Al Gore can get a Nobel Prize without scientific proof, Dr. Boudreaux should be able to report an observable scientific fact.” Mack did not look at the judge. He braced himself for a hopefully mild reprimand. The jurors’ eyes followed the repartee then focused on Judge Martin.

  “Mr. Mack, we’ll have no more ad hominem sarcasm. That goes for both counsel. Objection sustained. Let’s move on.”

  “Take the Holy Grail of climate alarmists, the so-called hockey stick graph. The hockey stick graph represents some alarmists’ predictions of future global warming. The graph is formed on the long end by more or less constant temperatures between 1000 and 1900 AD. Then there is about an eighty-degree right-hand spike— looks like the handle end of a hockey stick. That geometric spike is supposed to represent global warming. First of all, only about ten percent of the temperatures represented in the stick graph are from actual temperature measurements. Most of the temperatures were reconstructed from tree rings and other data we call proxies. The presenters ignored historical data from Central Europe dating back to the Little Ice Age. Not only did they truncate data, like ignoring the Little Ice Age, they also used twenty-four obsolete sources of data and miscalculated the tree-ring data. In all, an unbelievable one hundred and five records were misread or just plain wrong.

  “I would also point out we only have actual temperatures for some areas for around three hundred years. The tree-ring proxy data used is mostly from North America, and the trouble with that data is the many factors that affect trees. Rain and drought, for example, greatly affect tree growth, and that growth is mostly in the summer, not winter. So we don’t know the winter temperature, which is something we would like to know before jumping to conclusions. There is considerable disagreement about how to interpret proxies like tree rings. So even if the data were accurate, which it is not, the experts cannot agree on just what it means. But you draw a graph, and some people like to call that science.”