Even as hurricane season begins, the Senate is poised to pass a massive new bill to authorize $12 billion in flood control and other water projects that would repeat the mistakes of the past. By failing to respond to the lessons from Hurricane Katrina, the bill would spend vast sums of money while making the country more vulnerable to floods by encouraging people to develop structures in flood-prone areas, increasing the devastation when a flood eventually hits. 
 
On Tuesday, May 9, Environmental Defense, the National Taxpayers Union, Taxpayers for Commonsense, and the National Wildlife Federation released a report documenting the flaws with the existing system and highlighting lessons to be learned from Hurricane Katrina. The Washington Post published two articles this weekend detailing the government’s contribution to the disaster – the true scandal of Hurricane Katrina. Links to all materials follow.
 
Not only have the government’s flood-control projects encouraged development in flood-prone areas, but the Army Corps of Engineers has no method for prioritizing its $58 billion backlog of water projects. As a result, Congress typically finances projects that have the most political backing rather than the greatest need. Moreover, the Corps cannot rely on its own project analyses, since the agency’s justification and design of projects is often “fraught with errors, mistakes and miscalculations,” according to the Government Accountability Office.   All of these flaws contributed to the devastation from Katrina. The Senate will debate amendments to correct these mistakes and avoid future catastrophes. “Katrina’s Costly Wake” discusses these problems at length.
 
For more information
·        Environmental Defense, Taxpayers for Commonsense, National Wildlife Federation and National Taxpayers Union, “Katrina’s Costly Wake: How America’s Most Destructive Hurricane Exposed a Dysfunctional, Politicized, Flood-Control Process,” May 2006 (Available online at http://www.environmentaldefense.org/article.cfm?contentID=5236)
 
·        Michael Grunwald, “Par for the Corps: A Flood of Bad Projects,” Washington Post, May 13, 2006, at B01. (Available online at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/13/AR2006051300037.html)
 
·        John M. Barry, “…And How To Stop It,” Washington Post, May 14, 2006, at B01. (Available online at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/13/AR2006051300038.html)
 
Contacts
Tim Searchinger, Senior Attorney, Environmental Defense (202-572-3344)
Chelsea Maxwell, Legislative Director, National Wildlife Federation (202-797-6800)
Kristina Rasmussen, Sen. Govt. Affairs Mgr., National Taxpayers Union (703-683-5700)

 
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One of the world’s leading international nonprofit organizations, Environmental Defense Fund (edf.org) creates transformational solutions to the most serious environmental problems. To do so, EDF links science, economics, law, and innovative private-sector partnerships. With more than 3 million members and offices in the United States, China, Mexico, Indonesia and the European Union, EDF’s scientists, economists, attorneys and policy experts are working in 28 countries to turn our solutions into action. Connect with us on Twitter @EnvDefenseFund