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Decision-Making Chronology for the Lake Pontchartrain & Vicinity

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Decision-Making Chronology for the Lake Pontchartrain & Vicinity DECISION-MAKING CHRONOLOGY FOR THE LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN & VICINITY HURRICANE PROTECTION PROJECT FINAL REPORT FOR THE HEADQUARTERS, U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS SUBMITTED TO THE INSTITUTE FOR WATER RESOURCES OF THE U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS Douglas Woolley Leonard Shabman March 2008 ii Forward The one-two punch of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in August and September of 2005 proved calamitous to a vast swath of the U.S. Gulf Coast across the States of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Texas. While still offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Katrina’s 175 mph winds created the highest storm surge yet recorded at landfall in North America. Katrina’s storm surge overwhelmed many of the levees and floodwalls for greater New Orleans designed and constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, collectively known as the Lake Pontchartrain & Vicinity Hurricane Protection Project (LP&VHPP). The result was a human tragedy—more than 1,600 people killed or missing and presumed dead, with over 1,250 confirmed deaths in Louisiana alone. In economic terms, the flooding from Katrina represents the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. Direct flood damages to residential, non-residential, and public properties and infrastructure in greater New Orleans approached $28 billion, with further indirect economic effects and long- lasting socio-economic disruption to the region. In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, the Secretary of Defense directed that that Army enlist the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a thorough review of the engineering aspects of the performance of the levees and floodwalls in place in New Orleans on August 29, 2005. In aid of this effort, the Corps of Engineers (Corps) initiated the Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force (IPET) to analyze the engineering performance of the LP&VHPP and subject that analysis to independent peer review by the American Society of Civil Engineers. This commitment to document the facts also led the Corps to concurrently commission the enclosed Hurricane Protection Decision Chronology (HPDC). The HPDC is the result of an unprecedented effort to document and interpret the chronological record of decision-making for the LP&VHPP, including the legislative, policy, economic, financial, and organizational factors that influenced decisions made over the 50-year project history. The HPDC focus on project decision-making complements the technical focus of the IPET investigation, and the resulting report and database of project-related documents provides invaluable insights into “how” and “why” the decisions were made that led to the LP&VHPP network of levees and floodwalls that existed when Katrina made landfall. Although many layers of government—from Federal through state to local—were involved in the decision process, the Corps is, in the end, responsible for leading the planning, design, and construction of LP&VHPP levees and floodwalls. As an agency of professional engineers and public servants entrusted with mitigating flood risks to public safety and welfare, the Corps holds itself to the highest professional standards. Consistent with being stewards of the public trust is the obligation to document the facts surrounding both “what happened” from an engineering performance perspective, and “why it happened,” with full consideration and disclosure of the chronology of decisions that led to the New Orleans network of levees and floodwalls that was in place on August 29, 2005. iii It is with that commitment to the American people that we, the civilian and military leaders of the Corps, are pleased that the HPDC report has been completed by the independent study team and is being published by the Corps’ Institute for Water Resources. We are confident in the completeness and soundness of the report, particularly after a rigorous peer review by an external panel of experts convened by the National Association of Flood and Storm Water Management Agencies (NAFSMA), and the subsequent public review of the draft final report this past summer, which yielded a few additional project documents that were incorporated into the final report and source database. All of the project-related documents that were used to prepare the HPDC report have been made available for public review along with the publication of the final HPDC report. We have thoroughly read the report, examined its findings and, in particular, studied the author’s reflections. While the report is critically important because of what the historical record tells us about past hurricane project decision-making in the Gulf Coast region, it is of even greater value as a national resource and database for informing planners, decision-makers, and stakeholders on how to make better future decisions on the nation’s critical public works infrastructure and the communities it serves. Accordingly, the disclosure of the facts is being accompanied by an agency commitment to apply the lessons learned from the HPDC to inform future flood mitigation efforts and flood preparedness and response processes across the nation. Those lessons are already being incorporated into a wide range of Corps initiatives aimed at avoiding future loss of life, human suffering, and economic losses within flood-prone areas across the nation. Lessons from the HPDC, IPET and other ex-post investigations are now being activated through the Corps’ Actions for Change initiative, which represents a new direction for the Corps in terms of how it plans, decides upon, and then implements water resources management programs and projects. The Actions for Change incorporate not only technical considerations, but organizational, human, and social factors as well, and how they in turn impact engineering system decision processes. They emphasize the need for dynamic, risk-based decision-making within a comprehensive systems focus for the planning, design, construction, and operation and maintenance of flood and storm damage reduction projects. The Actions for Change call for enhanced risk assessment and communication, including periodic assessment of the potential consequences of flooding as populations at risk and potential flood hazards change over time, and openly sharing information on residual risks with project sponsors and the public. Finally, the Actions for Change also focus on strengthening Corps professional standards and agency commitments to technical competency and professional conduct throughout its entire workforce across the nation. The Corps is now incorporating these actions into the improvement and augmentation of the LP&VHPP network of levees and floodwalls for New Orleans, and for the planning of broader flood and storm damage reduction and wetlands restoration efforts for the Gulf region as part of the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration (LACPR) project. They are also being implemented nationwide through the National Flood Risk iv Management Program, including a more rigorous and effective Inspection of Completed Works Program for assessing and reporting on the conditions of levees and floodwalls nationwide. In closing, we would like to express our sincere appreciation to the many people who contributed to the HPDC. First and foremost is the independent study team of Drs. Douglas Woolley and Leonard Shabman who conducted the HPDC inquiry and prepared the study report. Drs. Woolley and Shabman applied to this effort their extensive breadth and depth of expertise in water resources management policy and practice, and provided their candid reflections on lessons learned. We would also like to thank the many former and current Corps employees and other individuals with knowledge of the planning and implementation of the LP&VHPP who agreed to be interviewed as part of the study, and who helped the study team to obtain project-related documents. Finally, we thank the members of the External Review Panel convened by the NASMA to review and provide comments on the HPDC draft report, and the people who provided additional project documents through the public review process. These individuals, through their contributions to the HPDC, have greatly contributed to the Corps and the nation learning from the past to inform the future. The Honorable John Paul Woodley, Jr., Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) Major General Don T. Riley, Director of Civil Works, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Lieutenant General Robert L. Van Antwerp, Jr., Chief of Engineers and Commander, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers v vi Preface and Acknowledgements The Hurricane Protection Decision Chronology (HPDC) study was chartered by the Institute for Water Resources (IWR) of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps). The Corps Directorate of Civil Works, acting on behalf of Lieutenant General Carl A. Strock, Commanding General and Chief of Engineers, and the Honorable John Paul Woodley Jr., Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, requested this work. The Directorate provided executive contact to the HPDC study through Major General Don T. Riley, Director of Civil Works; Mr. Steven Stockton, Deputy Director of Civil Works; Mr. Thomas Waters, Chief, CECW-MVD RIT/Planning Community of Practice; and Mr. Zoltan Montvai, Civil Deputy, CECW-MVD. These leaders supported the work throughout, were briefed on progress, and made constructive suggestions, but always respected the independence of the study authors. The HPDC study charter was to document and examine decision-making for the Lake Pontchartrain & Vicinity Hurricane Protection Project (LP&VHPP). The HPDC
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