Spring 2006
The BRIDGE LINKING ENGINEERING AND SOCIETY
Toxic and Contaminant Concerns Generated by Hurricane Katrina Danny D. Reible, Charles N. Haas, John H. Pardue, and William J. Walsh The Behavior of Hurricane-Protection Infrastructure in New Orleans Paul F. Mlakar Rebuilding Electrical Infrastructure along the Gulf Coast: A Case Study Billy Ball Evacuation Planning and Engineering for Hurricane Katrina Brian Wolshon New Orleans and the Wetlands of Southern Louisiana Robert G. Dean Restoring Coastal Louisiana: Planning without a National Water Policy Gerald E. Galloway
Promoting the technological welfare of the nation by marshalling the knowledge and insights of eminent members of the engineering profession. The BRIDGE
NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING
Craig R. Barrett, Chair Wm. A. Wulf, President Sheila E. Widnall, Vice President W. Dale Compton, Home Secretary George Bugliarello, Foreign Secretary William L. Friend, Treasurer
Editor in Chief (interim): George Bugliarello Managing Editor: Carol R. Arenberg Production Assistant: Penelope Gibbs The Bridge (USPS 551-240) is published quarterly by the National Academy of Engineering, 2101 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20418. Periodicals postage paid at Washington, DC. Vol. 36, No. 1, Spring 2006 Postmaster: Send address changes to The Bridge, 2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20418. Papers are presented in The Bridge on the basis of general interest and time- liness. They reflect the views of the authors and not necessarily the position of the National Academy of Engineering. The Bridge is printed on recycled paper. © 2006 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
A complete copy of The Bridge is available in PDF format at http://www.nae.edu/TheBridge. Some of the articles in this issue are also available as HTML documents and may contain links to related sources of information, multimedia files, or other content. The Volume 36, Number 1 • Spring 2006 BRIDGE LINKING ENGINEERING AND SOCIETY
Editor’s Note 3 The Aftermath of Katrina George Bugliarello
Features 5Toxic and Contaminant Concerns Generated by Hurricane Katrina Danny D. Reible, Charles N. Haas, John H. Pardue, and William J. Walsh Decisions about rebuilding are based more on the potential for reflooding than on the overall health of the New Orleans area. 14 The Behavior of Hurricane-Protection Infrastructure in New Orleans Paul F. Mlakar The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is analyzing what went wrong (and right) during and after Hurricane Katrina. 21 Rebuilding Electrical Infrastructure along the Gulf Coast: A Case Study Billy Ball A proactive approach to disaster preparation is crucial to disaster recovery. 27 Evacuation Planning and Engineering for Hurricane Katrina Brian Wolshon The evacuation of New Orleans had some unprecedented successes . . . and glaring failures. 35 New Orleans and the Wetlands of Southern Louisiana Robert G. Dean The greatest uncertainties for wetland restoration will be political will and stakeholder response. 43 Restoring Coastal Louisiana: Planning without a National Water Policy Gerald E. Galloway No policies or standards are in place for individual water sectors or for water resources as a whole.
NAE News and Notes 50 NAE Newsmakers 51 Class of 2006 Elected 56 Report of the Foreign Secretary
(continued on next page) The BRIDGE
57 NAE Regional Meeting on Energy in the 21st Century 58 Tri-national Meeting on Industrial Competitiveness in North America 59 Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Graduate Fellows 59 Call for Awards Nominations 60 Message from the Vice President and Chair of the Development Committee 61 2005 Private Contributions 67 Calendar of Meetings and Events 67 In Memoriam
69 Publications of Interest
The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self- The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the author- to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility ity of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional char- has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on ter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own scientific and technical matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine.
The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, The National Research Council was organized by the National under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its adminis- science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering tration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal gov- accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the ernment. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engi- Council has become the principal operating agency of both the neering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages edu- National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engi- cation and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of neering in providing services to the government, the public, and the engineers. Dr. Wm. A. Wulf is president of the National Academy scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered of Engineering. jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. Wm. A. Wulf are chair and vice chair, respec- tively, of the National Research Council. www.national-academies.org SPRING 2006 3 Editor’s Note
The Aftermath of Katrina “think globally, but act locally,” a major disaster may be This is the second issue of local, but the response must be global. The Bridge in the past year Engineers and scientists must not only provide much devoted to disasters caused needed expertise, but must also advocate decision mak- by forces in our environ- ing based on dispassionate assessments and realistic ment. The summer 2005 long-range views. The papers in this issue address some issue was focused on the aspects of the Katrina disaster and suggest policies for Indian Ocean tsunami, and mitigating the consequences of future disasters. Brian this issue is focused on Hur- Wolshon, a traffic engineer at Louisiana State Univer- ricane Katrina. As human sity, analyzes the evacuation of New Orleans and demonstrates the importance of proactive traffic man- George Bugliarello is President populations continue to agement to facilitate large-scale evacuations. Billy Ball, Emeritus and University Professor grow in areas vulnerable senior vice president of transmission planning and oper- at Polytechnic University in Brook- to earthquakes, volcanic ations for Southern Company, describes the restoration lyn, New York, and foreign secre- eruptions, tsunamis, floods, fires, and landslides, we can of the multistate electric-power infrastructure in the tary of NAE. expect that the effects of dis- Gulf region and suggests improvements in emergency asters will also be more severe. In the face of enormous planning for the future. Robert Dean, a coastal engi- natural forces, prevention is seldom possible, but with neer, describes wetland formation and the history of rational planning and a collective will, we can mitigate wetland-system losses in the Mississippi Delta and out- damages and losses. lines some options for future wetlands restoration. He The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami showed the conse- argues not only for restoration of the Louisiana wetlands quences of gaps in global warning systems, the absence system, but also for a program to identify vulnerable of local warning systems and evacuation plans, and areas throughout the country. inadequate or nonexistent codes and regulations to Gerald Galloway, an expert in water policy, decries strengthen structures and infrastructures. The tsunami the lack of a national policy for coastal zones to provide also showed the enormous challenges of providing relief direction for coordinated long-term plans for the Gulf after a disaster has struck. Before Katrina, New Orleans region. Paul Mlakar of the U.S. Army Corps of Engi- had trusted in its flawed containment structures and its neers (USACE) describes the progress of the USACE good luck to withstand the most powerful hurricanes. task force analyzing the behavior of hurricane protec- The lack of coordinated city, state, and federal policies tion structures. Danny Reible (an environmental undermined emergency responses to Katrina and the health engineer) and his colleagues describe the toxics evacuation of New Orleans, which left hundreds of and contaminants in the floodwaters that inundated thousands stranded. New Orleans in the wake of Katrina and discuss the Many important lessons have been learned from these pros and cons of various criteria for making uniform, and other disasters. First, realistic plans must be made equitable decisions about rebuilding specific areas in advance to ensure the adequacy of defenses and to and structures. ensure that everyday services can be restored as soon as Inefficiencies, unrealistic promises, and wishful possible. Second, decision making at all levels must be thinking can add to the difficulties and expense of rapid and to the point in an emergency. Third, the pop- rebuilding habitats and economies. In New Orleans ulation must have accurate information and clear direc- and along the Gulf Coast, recovery has become a polit- tions for action. Finally, major disaster mitigation, ical balloon, with promises being made before rational restoration, and recovery require the intervention of analyses have been completed. Many fundamental organizations with the logistical capacity to address very questions remain to be answered. If another major cat- large-scale problems, usually beyond the capabilities astrophe hits our nation, how much can we realistic- of local jurisdictions. Unlike the well known dictum, ally afford for mitigation and recovery? Should we The 4 BRIDGE continue to build or rebuild in proven high-risk areas? How can we create safer communities and infrastruc- tures for the future? The answers to these and many other questions should guide the development of poli- cies for future disasters. Decisions about rebuilding are based more on the potential for reflooding than on the overall health of the New Orleans area.
Toxic and Contaminant Concerns Generated by Hurricane Katrina
Danny D. Reible, Charles N. Haas, John H. Pardue, and William J. Walsh
Danny D. Reible Charles N. Haas John H. Pardue William J. Walsh
When Hurricane Katrina flooded the city of New Orleans, one of many concerns in its wake was contamination. Several chemical plants, petro- leum refining facilities, and contaminated sites, including Superfund sites, were covered by floodwaters. In addition, hundreds of commercial establishments, such as service stations, pest control businesses, and dry cleaners, may have released potentially hazardous chemicals into the floodwaters. Figure 1 shows potential petroleum-related release points, including refineries, oil and gas wells, and service stations near the city.
Danny D. Reible is Bettie Margaret Smith Chair of Environmental Health Engineering in the Department of Civil, Archi- tectural and Environmental Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin and an NAE member. Charles N. Haas is the L.D. Betz Professor of Environmental Engineering and head of the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environ- mental Engineering at Drexel University in Philadelphia. John H. Pardue is the Elizabeth Howell Stewart Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and director of the Louisiana Water Resources Research Institute, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. William J. Walsh is a lawyer with Pepper Hamilton, LLP, in Washington, D.C. The 6 BRIDGE
FIGURE 1 Map of New Orleans showing flooded areas and petroleum and natural gas extraction, refining, and distribution facilities. Source: NIEHS, 2005.
Figure 2 shows the major hazardous-materials storage Murphy Oil USA Meraux Refinery in St. Bernard Parish locations, Superfund sites, and Toxic Release Inven- southeast of the downtown area was dislodged and lifted tory reporting facilities. by the floodwaters, spilling approximately 25,000 barrels Adding to the potential sources of toxics and envi- (more than one million gallons) of crude oil and impact- ronmental contaminants are metal-contaminated soils ing a one square mile area containing approximately typical of old urban areas and construction lumber pre- 1,700 homes (EPA, 2005c). served with creosote, pentachlorophenol, and arsenic. Several efforts were made during and after the flood- Compounding these concerns is the presence of haz- ing to monitor and quantify chemical and biological ardous chemicals commonly stored in households and contamination and assess exposures to, and risks from, the fuel and motor oil in approximately 400,000 flooded toxics and contaminants. Federal agencies, including automobiles. Uncontrolled biological wastes from both the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and human and animal sources also contributed to the pollu- National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Admini- tant burden in the city. stration, collected environmental samples both in In the confusion immediately after the flooding, the New Orleans and from the surrounding area impacted amount of contamination was not known. Oil slicks by Hurricane Katrina. Initial concerns in the city near some service stations and flooded automobiles and were focused on acute exposures for stranded residents wastes floating or suspended in floodwaters provided and relief workers. Subsequent efforts have been clear evidence of some environmental releases. focused on acute exposures for returning residents and A 250,000-barrel above-ground storage tank at the initial assessments of chronic exposures. The results SPRING 2006 7
FIGURE 2 Map of New Orleans showing flooded areas and hazardous-material release, storage, and disposal areas. Source: NIEHS, 2005. of independent sampling have been reported by and after the flooding and to put in perspective findings Pardue et al. (2005), Presley et al. (2006), and the for the rebuilding of New Orleans. National Resources Defense Council (NRDC, 2005b). Studies to date have generally painted a consistent Exposures during Flooding picture of contamination in the air, water, and soils and Floodwaters were present in the city from the passage sediments of New Orleans both during and after the of the storm on August 29, 2005, until the city was flood. Thus, they provide a reasonable characterization declared dewatered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of the general quality of the floodwaters and the soils on October 11. Sampling showed elevated levels of and sediments that remain. The data are relatively inorganic and organic contaminants and biological con- sparse, however, and therefore may not fully character- stituents, including pathogens. The level of inorganic ize localized problems. contaminants was generally low, even compared to Regulatory agencies typically assess risk on the basis of drinking water standards. Presley et al. (2006) found 95-percent upper confidence limits in concentrations of no floodwater samples with concentrations higher media to which exposure occurs. However, for the sake than those designated for drinking water or acute and of simplicity and because of the difficulty in characteriz- chronic threshold concentrations. Pardue et al. (2005) ing contamination from sparse data, we focus on maxi- noted consistently high levels of arsenic in the flood- mum observed concentrations. Our goal is to summarize waters (mean of 30 µg/L compared to a maximum key results from the available data to suggest the general contaminant level in drinking water of 10 µg/L). Drink- character of the toxics and contaminant exposure during ing water standards, however, are not an appropriate The 8 BRIDGE indicator of water quality for floodwaters because they are likely resulted in low oxygen levels in the immediate based on the assumption that a person drinks two liters vicinity of the discharge point but had a minimal of water every day for 70 years, whereas much less flood- impact on the lake as a whole. Similarly, the generally water is ingested or absorbed through dermal exposure. low levels of inorganic and organic contaminants in the Organic constituents in floodwaters were also at rela- floodwaters were unlikely to have significant impacts tively low concentrations. This observation was ini- on Lake Pontchartrain. tially met with some surprise because of the evident oil The sediments at the mouth of the discharge canals and hydrocarbon fuel spills in many locations. Soluble contained some contaminants prior to the flooding as petroleum oils and fuel constituents, such as benzene, the result of normal wastewater and stormwater dis- however, are typically volatile, leading to rapid release charges from the city. The Katrina floodwaters were to the air; less-soluble constituents partition to sedi- similar in character, although significantly larger in vol- ments left behind by the floodwaters. EPA concluded ume, to the normal stormwaters discharged into the lake that inorganic and organic chemical concentrations in (EPA, 2005b). Bacterial contamination of the discharge floodwater were generally below levels of concern for waters was typically an order of magnitude higher than short-term (90 days) dermal contact and incidental prior to discharge (as measured by fecal coliform con- ingestion (EPA, 2005b). centration). But in more than 100 samples collected by Bacterial contamination in the floodwaters was a EPA in September and October, bacterial levels in the source of great concern. Median concentrations of fecal lake were within recreational limits (EPA, 2005b). coliform of approximately 104 MPN/100 mL were In summary, with the possible exception of biological detected in the floodwaters (Pardue et al., 2005). This pathogens, direct exposure to floodwaters either in the can be compared to a water quality standard for primary city or in Lake Pontchartrain appeared likely to have contact of 200 MPN/100 mL. The detection of human minimal toxic or contaminant impacts. pathogens, such as Aeromonas spp., at concentrations on the order of 107 CFU/mL at two locations in the down- Exposures to Post-Flooding Soil and Sediment town area, raised even greater concern (Presley et al., Although floodwaters were removed from the city 2006). Members of the genus Aeromonas, which have by October 11, 2005, their legacy of contaminated soils, been associated with diarrhea and wound infections in sediments, debris, and houses remains. In addition, humans (Janda and Duffey, 1988), have also frequently sediment mobilized from storm surge through Lake been isolated from soils and fresh water. Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet/ Industrial Canal was deposited in the city. Additional sampling was done to assess the concentrations of Katrina floodwaters chemical and biological contaminants in these media. Presley et al. (2006) found several inorganic constituents were similar in character (arsenic, iron, and lead) and organic constituents (mostly polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons [PAHs]) in sediments to normal storm waters. from New Orleans that exceeded EPA Region 6 Human Health Specific Screening Levels for soils, which are used to evaluate the “relative environmental concern for Contaminants in Lake Pontchartrain a site or set of environmental data. The values are not Another major concern is the immediate and long- regulatory, but are derived using equations from EPA term impacts of the discharge of floodwaters into Lake guidance and commonly used defaults” (EPA, 2005a). Pontchartrain. From September 6 to October 11, The Screening Levels, which are “not generated to floodwaters, which had largely originated in the lake, represent action levels or cleanup levels but rather as a were returned to their source. Lake Pontchartrain is a technical tool” (EPA, 2005a), are “chemical concentra- brackish, shallow lake with a surface area of approxi- tions that correspond to fixed levels of risk (i.e., either mately 1,630 km2 and an average depth of about 4 m; a one-in-one million [106] cancer risk or a noncarcino- there is an active commercial fishery on the lake. genic hazard quotient of one, whichever occurs at a Pardue et al. (2005) detected low levels of dissolved lower concentration) in soil, air, and water,” based on oxygen in floodwaters and in discharged water, which assumptions of lifetime exposures to general, but not SPRING 2006 9
uniform, exposure values at the upper end of the range NRDC analyzed samples for other contaminants at of possible exposures (EPA, 2005f). the Agriculture Street site and found arsenic at levels Of the 430 sediment samples collected by EPA similar to those found at other New Orleans sites and a between September 10 and October 14, a number variety of high molecular weight PAHs at somewhat exceeded screening criteria of the local regulatory elevated levels (NRDC, 2005c). They ascribed the authority, the Louisiana Department of Environmental presence of the high molecular weight PAHs to Quality (LDEQ Risk Evaluation/Corrective Action leachate from the landfill, although, because of the Program or RECAP) (LDEQ, 2005). These criteria hydrophobic nature of these compounds, they would were developed to meet objectives similar to those of more likely be transported by resuspended soil from the the EPA Health Specific Screening Levels and are simi- site or elsewhere. Further assessment of this area might larly derived. The constituents most often found to be warranted. exceed the RECAP screening criteria were arsenic, lead, several PAHs (including benzo[a]pyrene), and diesel range organics. On November 19 and 20, EPA resampled areas where Pre-Katrina contamination previous sampling had indicated contaminant concen- has complicated post- trations in excess of screening criteria and where sedi- ment depth equaled or exceeded 0.5 inches (EPA, flooding assessments of 2005b). Because of the complex nature of the storm surge and levee breaches and overtoppings, the amount soils and sediments. of sediment deposited in flooded areas varied widely, and only 14 of the 145 locations had sufficient sediment depth. Three samples showed arsenic concentrations Background Contamination higher than 12 mg/kg (14.4–17.6 mg/kg); one sample The presence of a pre-Katrina background of conta- showed benzo[a]pyrene concentration of 0.77 mg/kg; mination has complicated the assessment of concentra- and one sample showed a concentration of diesel range tions in soils and sediments. For example, background organics of 2,100 mg/kg. Other samples were below concentrations of arsenic throughout the Mississippi applicable screening values. River Delta region of south Louisiana is on the order of Samples were also collected at specific sites where 10 mg/kg (Gustavsson et al., 2001), and LDEQ has there were known or potential leaks of hazardous reported a background arsenic concentration of 7 mg/kg. materials. Elevated concentrations of total petroleum Pre-Katrina concentrations of arsenic could be even hydrocarbons and a variety of crude oil-associated con- higher in residential areas because of arsenic in lawn fer- taminants were observed in the vicinity of the Murphy tilizers (WSDA, 2001). Oil crude oil tank failure and spill, which had a clearly Lead has also long been a concern in inner city New identifiable source and could be easily differentiated Orleans. About 40 percent of nearly 5,000 soil samples from the general flooding-related contamination. This showed lead levels in excess of 400 mg/kg (Pelley, 2006). area is being managed separately from the rest of the Presley et al. (2006) found lead in excess of 400 mg/kg flooded area and is not considered further here. (405 and 642 mg/kg) in two of 12 sediment samples, con- EPA also collected 74 soil samples at the site of the sistent with the pre-Katrina observations of Mielke et al. Agriculture Street Landfill, a closed Superfund site that (2004). The latter also showed elevated levels of PAHs was flooded by Katrina. The samples were collected in pre-Katrina soils of New Orleans and positive correla- immediately above the geotextile liner (12 to 24 inches tions between PAH levels and metal contamination. below ground), which was installed as part of the site With only 12 sediment samples collected by Presley remedy. All samples were analyzed for lead, which was et al., 14 that met the depth and previously detected the contaminant of concern that defined the cleanup, contamination criteria by EPA in the November 19 and but none showed concentrations that exceeded the lead 20 sampling, and even fewer samples reported in other cleanup standard or EPA screening standards for lead. analyses, it is impossible to differentiate statistically the EPA concluded that the flooding did not impact the current observations from pre-Katrina contamination effectiveness of the remedy (EPA, 2005d). levels. Thus, except in areas impacted by specific The 10 BRIDGE events, such as the failure of the oil storage tank and the exceed the level defined by default assumptions also may Superfund site, there was no general contamination of not require cleanup. “To prevent misuse of screening New Orleans to clearly unacceptable levels—especially levels,” EPA Region 6 normally considers other factors, with respect to acute exposures. such as “[a]pplying screening levels to a site without adequately developing a conceptual site model that identifies relevant exposure pathways and exposure sce- narios . . . [n]ot considering background concentrations Evaluating risks to human when choosing screening levels . . . [using] screening levels as cleanup levels without the consideration of health is complicated other relevant [remedy selection] criteria”, and “[using] screening levels as cleanup levels without verifying by the lack of clearly numbers with a toxicologist/risk assessor” (EPA, 2005a). applicable standards. For example, a review of the arsenic soil cleanup levels at Superfund or state sites indicates a wide range of con- centrations, from background levels to hundreds of parts per million (ppm), depending on site-specific con- Current Risks ditions (EPA, 2005e). Residents attempting to return to the city must be Under RECAP, there are two management options aware of the level of risk and the need for remediation (in addition to using a tabulated screening level) for prior to their return. The uniqueness of the short-term defining alternative concentration standards that might exposure pathways complicates the assessment. Not only apply to a particular site. One option includes site- are home owners faced with removing both wet and dry specific information with specified analytical fate and sediment from their homes and yards, but exposure to transport models and default exposure assumptions as a airborne hazards, such as mold and dust from these sedi- basis for defining concentration standards different from ments, has also occurred, exacerbated by demolitions screening values. The other option is based on site- and home “gutting” activities throughout the region. specific exposure and environmental fate and transport data. All site-screening approaches have a similar struc- Soils and Sediments ture and allow for modifications so that site-specific Evaluating the risk to human health associated with information can be used to refine estimates of exposure contaminant levels in post-Katrina soils and sediments is and risk and inform remedial planning. complicated by the lack of clearly applicable standards, According to LDEQ policy, a total lifetime cumula- which typically apply to the risk of inhalation, or, in the tive carcinogenic risk level of more than 106 may be case of water standards, to use-related risk (e.g., drinking acceptable, as long as the cumulative risk associated water vs. recreational-use water). For soil and sediment with residual constituent concentrations following concentrations, however, pathways of exposure may be corrective action is at or below 104 (LDEQ, 2003). incomplete (e.g., direct exposure to buried soil not sub- Even using conservative default exposure assumptions, ject to significant erosion) or variable (e.g., soil in a park an arsenic concentration of approximately 40 ppm may vs. residential soil), or contaminants may be present in be deemed acceptable if arsenic is the predominant forms that are largely unavailable for uptake (e.g., met- contaminant. als largely associated with low-solubility metal sulfides). Thus the need for remedial action at any particular Therefore, screening or threshold values are being used site in New Orleans must be assessed on the basis of an to assess the need for soil and sediment remediation and evaluation of that site for (1) average concentrations to guide the development of cleanup standards. that exceed screening values in an area where a resident Under the Louisiana RECAP standards, a site with or worker might be regularly exposed and (2) pathways concentrations below the levels defined on the basis of and attenuation along routes of exposure that lead to default lifetime-exposure assumptions and without site- unacceptable risk. specific exposure or availability data can be considered Even screening values based on generally conserva- safe; thus, remedial action is not required. As is typical tive default assumptions may not be fully protective with such approaches, however, concentrations that in all cases, however. In general, EPA, states, and the SPRING 2006 11
scientific community regularly reassess whether the biological hazards that posed risks to stranded residents methodologies used in the risk assessment process are and relief workers, they did not contain chemical toxi- adequate to protecting children and other sensitive pop- cants at levels that are expected to lead to long-term ulations, even when default exposure values are used. impacts on the surroundings beyond the impacts ex- Currently, this question is supposed to be addressed on pected of a similar volume of stormwater from the city. a case-by-case basis. The floodwaters undoubtedly redistributed some conta- Although the sampling and analysis required for a minants, but the contaminant burden in soils and sedi- site-specific assessment and evaluation approach can be ments appears to have generated few concerns for acute costly, using screening levels as remedial goals could also exposure and risk. However, although acute generalized be costly unless there is some assurance of a commensu- hazards have not been identified, the population of New rate reduction in risk. An individual home owner can Orleans faces localized areas of more serious contamina- assess the contamination on his or her property, but, in tion, such as the neighborhoods impacted by failure of a the absence of government support for testing and crude-oil storage tank in St. Bernard Parish. cleanup, the responsibility and cost would fall dispro- The most serious short-term issue facing most resi- portionately on the poor. Thus, home owners would dents is the presence of high concentrations of mold and naturally avoid testing. However, a generic response airborne mold spores. However, respiratory protection to potential contamination would undoubtedly lead to during the removal of all mold-contaminated materials the destruction of property that does not pose excessive and reconstruction can mitigate the risk. risks and would further delay the return of people to The results of long-term chronic exposure to contam- their homes. inants are uncertain, and chemical contamination that exceeds screening guidelines for chronic exposure has Mold been found in some areas. Apparently elevated levels of Another concern is the presence of mold and airborne contaminants can be found in nearly all samples for some mold spores in homes. Unlike air, water, and soil conta- constituents, such as arsenic, or, less frequently, PAHs or mination, there is little scientific basis for evaluating the other hydrocarbons. Exceedences of screening values do potential effects of mold on human health or for devel- not in themselves confirm significant future risk, how- oping risk-based action or cleanup levels. Mold counts ever, and neither the public nor the local government of 50,000 spores/m3 are considered very high; spore is likely to accept further delays in rebuilding the city. counts as high as 650,000 spores/m3 were observed by NRDC in a home in mid-city New Orleans (NRDC, 2005a). Because there are no standards to which these mold counts can be compared, there is no clear regula- There is little scientific basis tory responsibility among federal agencies for indoor air. High mold counts are cause for concern, however, and for evaluating the health both NRDC and EPA recommend that returning resi- dents use respiratory protection and remove all porous effects of mold. construction materials, including carpets and drywall, from flooded homes. The pervasive mold contamination of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina The frequency and distribution of exceedances may and the lack of knowledge about the risks of mold and not differ from pre-Katrina conditions in the city. Thus airborne mold spores suggests that additional research is the question arises as to whether individuals might be needed to respond effectively to this problem. willing to delay their return, and even support deci- sions about which neighborhoods might be rebuilt, Outlook based on pre-Katrina contamination levels. The The flooding in New Orleans resulted in the potential cleanup might be an opportunity to reduce exposure to for unparalleled exposure to toxics and contaminants. toxics and other contaminants, regardless of whether Initial concerns about a “toxic gumbo,” however, have the contamination was pre- or post-Katrina. This not been supported by sampling and analyses to date. would undoubtedly require, however, that the citizens Although floodwaters did contain significant short-term of New Orleans accept a diversion of reconstruction The 12 BRIDGE funds to environmental cleanup. Other questions History suggests that implementation will be easier if a involving contamination concerns will influence deci- consensus is reached (at least among governmental enti- sions about which neighborhoods might be changed to ties). Although the destruction in New Orleans is on a lower exposure parklands or other uses, the appropriate very large scale, tools that have been developed and balance of expenditures for environmental restoration used in the past to make habitability decisions (e.g., and flood protection, administrative or legal mecha- Love Canal, Times Beach, World Trade Center, and pre- nisms for government to make decisions and for citi- vious hurricane recoveries) can be adapted. zens to appeal them, and the role of government Third, there must be a balance between the cost of condemnations in these decisions. maximizing equity by making case-by-case determina- Unfortunately, currently available data do not show a tions and the need for making many decisions in a rela- serious enough contamination problem to encourage tively short period of time. In the absence of rapid government and the public to answer these questions. decisions and answers to the many outstanding ques- In the absence of a clear driver for action, decisions tions, individuals will proceed to define the future of about rebuilding are being based on more clearly defined New Orleans based on their own circumstances and risks, such as the potential for reflooding, and they are desires. In that event, uniformity and equity are likely being made largely by individuals and third parties, such to suffer. In one scenario, individuals or local govern- as insurers, banks, mortgage companies, and, eventually, ments might use reconstruction funds to conduct prop- the courts (in condemnation proceedings). At the same erty owner-by-property owner assessments and use the time, governmental entities are trying to build public conclusions to determine remedial action or recon- consensus for governmental proposals. struction planning. In another scenario, representative sampling might be used by government to make com- munity decisions, and individual property owners might obtain independent samples only to demonstrate the The critical test of a legal inappropriateness of a community decision as applied to their property. process is whether the public Finally, there must be a system of checks and balances perceives it as fair. to ensure that government does not simply “take” indi- vidual properties.1 Checks and balances should be based on existing methodologies, such as scientific peer review, public involvement, cooperative efforts between Principles for Further Assessments and local, state, and federal agencies, and public-private Rebuilding Decisions partnerships. The critical test of a legal process is not Louisiana RECAP standards call for further assess- whether an agency chooses the alternative preferred by ments and evaluations of areas with contaminants in the public, but whether the public perceives that the concentrations that exceed adopted screening stan- process is fair. dards. Normally (i.e., with no massive catastrophic event, such as Hurricane Katrina), existing institutions Lessons of Katrina (local government, insurers, banks, etc.) could handle Ultimately, the lessons learned (or missed) from Kat- the volume of site-specific assessments. However, in the rina should be crystallized in a generic form so that the wake of Hurricane Katrina (and, by analogy, other large- country as a whole will be better prepared for the next scale disasters), decisions must be made based on uni- natural disaster, major industrial accident, or act of ter- form standards and equity. rorism. Thus, every effort should be made to put aside First, the scale of decision making in this case and partisan concerns to solve real, significant problems in the number of people impacted by decisions about reconstruction are unprecedented. Thus, “off-the- shelf” models cannot be applied. 1 The U.S. Constitution Takings Clause states: “Nor shall private proper- ty be taken for public use without just compensation.” Thus, there may Second, rules by which decisions are made should be legal proceedings at some point about “takings” of property and be uniform, transparent, and consistent with existing “just compensation.” Many of the technical issues in such a proceed- ing are likely to be affected by the policies adopted by the government hazardous waste and natural disaster cleanup criteria. and private sector to determine the risk associated with each property. SPRING 2006 13
the way information is processed in emergency situa- (RECAP). Final Report. Available online at: http:// tions and to make sensible, safe, and equitable deq.louisiana.gov/portal/Portals/0/technology/recap/2003/REC cleanup/habitability decisions in an environment of AP%202003%20Text%20-%20final.pdf. great uncertainty. Because existing institutions were LDEQ. 2005. RECAP: Risk Evaluation/Corrective Action largely unprepared for a disaster of the scale of Katrina, Program. Available online at: http://deq.louisiana.gov/portal/ it may not be possible to implement these principles in tabid/131/Default.aspx. New Orleans. However, we can learn from Katrina and Mielke, H.W., G. Wang, C.R. Gonzales, E.T. Powell, B. Le, provide more effective responses to future catastrophes. and V.N. Quach. 2004. PAHs and metals in the soils of inner-city and suburban New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. References Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology 18(3): EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency). 2005a. EPA 243–247. Region 6: Human Health Medium-Specific Screening Lev- NIEHS (National Institute of Environmental Health Sci- els. Available online at: http://www.epa.gov/earth1r6/6pd/ ences). 2005. Geographic Information Systems. Environ- rcra_c/pd-n/r6screenbackground.pdf at 3 of 37 (Region 6 mental Health Science Data Resource Portal: Hurricanes Screening Value Guidance). Katrina and Rita. Available online at: http://cleek.ucsd.edu: EPA. 2005b. Hurricane Response 2005: Environmental 8080/gridsphere/gridsphere?cid=gisimages. Assessment Summary for Areas of Jefferson, Orleans, St. NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council). 2005a. Mold: Bernard, and Plaquemines Parishes Flooded as a Result of Health Effects of Mold. Available online at: http:// Hurricane Katrina. Available online at: http://www.epa.gov/ www.nrdc.org/health/effects/katrinadata/mold.asp. katrina/testresults/katrina_env_assessment_summary.htm. NRDC. 2005b. New Orleans Environmental Quality Test EPA. 2005c. Hurricane Response 2005: Murphy Oil Spill. Results. Available online at: http://www.nrdc.org/health/ Available online at: http://www.epa.gov/katrina/testresults/ effects/katrinadata/contents.asp. murphy/index.html. NRDC. 2005c. Sampling Results: Bywater/Marigny Includ- EPA. 2005d. Summary of Testing at Superfund National Pri- ing Agriculture Street Landfill. Available online at: ority List Sites: Agriculture Street Landfill, Orleans Parish, http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/katrinadata/bywater.asp. New Orleans, LA. Available online at: http://www.epa.gov/ Pardue, J.H., W.M. Moe, D. McInis, L.J. Thibodeaux, K.T. katrina/superfund-summary.html#2. Valsaraj, E. Maciasz, I. Van Heerden, N. Korevec, and Q.Z. EPA. 2005e. Superfund Information Systems: Record of Yuan. 2005. Chemical and microbiological parameters in Decision System (RODS). Available online at: http:// New Orleans floodwater following hurricane Katrina. www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/rods/index.htm. Environmental Science and Technology 39(22): EPA. 2005f. Updated EPA Region 6 Internet Version of Risk- 8591–8599. Based Human Health Screening Values. Available online Pelley, J. 2006. Lead: a hazard in post-Katrina sludge. Envi- at: http://www.epa.gov/earth1r6/6pd/rcra_c/pd-n/screen.htm. ronmental Science and Technology 40(2): 414–415. Gustavsson, N., B. Bølviken, D.B. Smith, and R.C. Severson. Available online at: http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/ 2001. Geochemical Landscapes of the Conterminous esthag-a/40/i02/html/011506news3.html. United States—New Map Presentations for 22 Elements. Presley, S.M., T.R. Rainwater, G.P. Austin, S.G. Platt, J.C. Zak, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1648. Denver, G.P. Cobb, E.J. Marsland, K. Tian, B. Zhang, T.A. Ander- Colo.: U.S. Geological Survey. Available online at: son, S.B. Cox, M.T. Abel, B.D. Leftwich, J.R. Huddleston, http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/p1648/p1648.pdf. R.M. Jeter, and R.J. Kendall. 2006. Assessment of Janda, J.M., and P.S. Duffey. 1988. Mesophilic aermonads in pathogens and toxicants in New Orleans, LA following human disease: current taxonomy, laboratory identifica- Hurricane Katrina. Environmental Science and Technol- tion and infectious disease spectrum. Reviews of Infectious ogy 40(2): 468–474. Diseases 10(5): 980–997. WSDA (Washington State Department of Agriculture). LDEQ (Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality). 2001. Pesticide Management Database. Olympia, Wash.: 2003. Risk Evaluation/Corrective Action Program WSDA. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is analyzing what went wrong (and right) during and after Hurricane Katrina.
The Behavior of Hurricane Protection Infrastructure in New Orleans
Paul F. Mlakar
In terms of flooding, Hurricane Katrina was one of the strongest storms to hit the coast of the United States in the past century. Katrina first made landfall on the southeast coast of Florida as a Category 1 hurricane, then crossed Florida into the Gulf, where it grew in size and strength and became a Category 5 hurricane, then weakened again before it made a second land- fall in southeast Louisiana. The storm then moved northward, pushing storm Paul Mlakar is a senior research surge into coastal areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, and finally scientist at the U.S. Army Corps of made a third landfall as a Category 3 storm in Mississippi. Engineers Engineer Research and Katrina caused the greatest loss of life and damage to property to the New Orleans metropolitan area, St. Bernard Parish, Plaquemines Parish, and the Development Center in Vicksburg, Mississippi Gulf Coast in recorded history. The hurricane created breaches in Mississippi. the floodwalls along the 17th Street Canal, the London Avenue Canal, and the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal (IHNC). Water flowed from Lake Pontchartrain through these breaches and inundated large urban areas in New Orleans to depths of as much as 20 feet. The levees in St. Bernard Parish and Plaquemines Parish were also overtopped, causing the inundation of substan- tial additional urban areas. The magnitude of the destruction, the extensive damage to the hurricane-protection system, and the catastrophic failure of a number of structures raised significant questions about the integrity of the flood-protection system prior to the storm and the capacity of the system to provide future protection, even after repairs. SPRING 2006 15
Immediately following Katrina, the U.S. Army information for all of the interested parties. Corps of Engineers (USACE) undertook four impor- This article includes (1) a general description of the tant missions. The first was to rescue survivors and hurricane-protection system in New Orleans and pre- “unwater” the city so that it could begin to recover. liminary observations about the effectiveness of three Second, the chief of engineers established an Inter- representative cases of infrastructure and (2) a discus- agency Performance Evaluation Task Force (IPET) to sion of IPET’s study of these cases, the review by provide credible, objective scientific and engineering ASCE, and further scrutiny by the National Research answers to questions about the reliability of hurricane Council (NRC). protection. Third, the reconstruction of the dam- aged protection infrastruc- ture to the authorized level began as soon as possible based on the best informa- tion available. Finally, Congress directed USACE to study the feasibility of providing a higher level of protection in the future. This article describes the progress of IPET on the sec- ond mission. The task force had to act swiftly to collect ephemeral data necessary for its study, such as water levels as a function of space and time in the affected region inferred from obser- vations of residual evidence FIGURE 1 Hurricane and flood protection in 1965. and eyewitness accounts. IPET also had to document 17th St Canal IHNC Canal Michoud Levee the physical condition of the damaged infrastructure before it was changed by cleanup and reconstruction activities. IPET collected this infor- mation in a completely open and transparent way. When approached by teams from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), National Science Founda- tion, and Louisiana Depart- ment of Transportation and Development, who had similar purposes, IPET inte- grated these teams into a joint endeavor to collect FIGURE 2 Hurricane and flood protection in 2005. The 16 BRIDGE
the inflow of hurricane surges into Lake Pontchar- train and a lakefront lock on the IHNC were also authorized but were not yet funded. On September 9, 1965, Hurricane Betsy struck the Louisiana area, causing major flooding, loss of life, and property damage in New Orleans. A higher level of hurricane protection was subsequently authorized by Congress. In the ensuing four decades, the construc- tion of those improvements had progressed (Figure 2). FIGURE 3 Cross section of New Orleans on September 20, 2005. Many of the levees planned in 1965 were in place, but the gates and lock on Lake Hurricane-Protection System Pontchartrain had not been constructed. Additional New Orleans was founded in 1718 by the French protection was provided through floodwalls atop the explorers Iberville and Bienville. According to one levees along the canals at 17th Street, London Avenue, anecdote, their engineer advised against settling on this Orleans Street, and the IHNC Canals. particular parcel of land, which lies below sea level. The “saucer-like” topography of metropolitan New Nonetheless, by the middle of the nineteenth century, Orleans is shown clearly in Figure 3, a cross section the settlement had grown into the “Crescent City” sur- of the city from Lake Pontchartrain to the Mississippi rounded by swampland and the Mississippi River. The River on September 20, 23 days after Katrina struck. environment was characterized by muddy streets, stag- The ground slopes gradually down from the river flood nant water, pathological conditions, frequent flooding, protection to the lakefront hurricane protection. At and limited room to grow. that time, the lake level was at an elevation of 1.5 feet, In the progressive years around the turn of the twen- and the river was at 3.5 feet. The flooding in the bowl tieth century, a public consensus was reached in support of the city was still higher than 5.0 feet. Protection of a serious drainage effort, and by the 1920s, a compre- along the London Canal had been restored to 10.0 feet. hensive system of gutters, drains, sewer mains, outfall canals, and pumping stations was in place. These mea- Michoud Levee sures saved lives, improved the quality of life, and The Michoud Generating Plant of Entergy Corpora- became a model for the protection of low-lying regions tion, located near the intersection of the Gulf Intra- worldwide. These improvements also allowed the city coastal Waterway and the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet to expand outward from the higher ground close to the (Figure 3), is protected from hurricane surge by a levee river into the lower area near Lake Pontchartrain. By 1965, further enhancements were made in response to this growth. The major features of the hur- Flood Side Protected Side ricane and flood-protection system were substantial lev- ees along the Mississippi River and the shore of Lake Pontchartrain (Figure 1). A number of other levees were planned along the lakefront and the recently com- pleted Mississippi River Gulf Outlet. Gates to control FIGURE 4 Levee section. SPRING 2006 17
Figure 6, taken by the teams jointly collecting ephemeral data in early October, shows a photo of the same levee from a slightly different angle. The chain link security fence has been damaged, and the back slope of the levee shows minor erosion, but the section of the levee itself is largely intact and still capable of providing protection from lesser surges. This levee is representative of many that were over- topped by a loading higher than their design level but remained relatively intact. We often associate lessons learned with poor performance, but there is also some- FIGURE 5 Overtopping of Michoud levee during Katrina. thing to be learned from cases of excellent perfor- mance. What was it about the embankment material, along the waterfront. Levees around the world are gen- slope, protective vegetation, surge, and other condi- erally constructed of soil (Figure 4) and designed to pro- tions at the Michoud levee that resulted in its remain- vide protection to lowlands for a short time during ing intact? This will be a subject of comprehensive seasonal flooding, high tides, or tropical storms. Basi- study as IPET proceeds. cally, a levee is an embankment of soil that has been placed and compacted to form a barrier against high Inner Harbor Navigation Canal Floodwall water. The soil for the levee is generally taken from The IHNC is an important commercial waterway shallow pits adjacent to the levee, termed “borrow pits.” that links Lake Pontchartrain, the Gulf Intercoastal Unlike a dam, which is usually sited on a favorable foun- Waterway, the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, and the dation, levees are placed according to flood control Mississippi River (Figure 2). In 1965 when Hurricane needs regardless of the suitability of the foundation con- Betsy hit the area, the earthen levees that lined the ditions. The grass on levee slopes helps protect the soils IHNC were overtopped and breached. In an attempt to against erosion during flooding. provide a higher level of protection, a floodwall was built atop the existing levees (Figure 7). These I-walls, so named because of their shape in cross section, are
FIGURE 6 Condition of Michoud levee after Katrina.
In a photo at the Michoud levee (Figure 5) taken by an Entergy security camera during Hurricane Katrina, the levee is invisible under the severe overtopping surge from the storm. Preliminary observations of residual high-water marks and hydrodynamic analyses of hurri- cane surge by IPET are consistent with the degree of overtopping shown in the photo. FIGURE 7 I-wall section. The 18 BRIDGE
collects in the interior basin of metropolitan New Orleans is evacuated to Lake Pontchartrain through this canal with the assistance of one of the largest pumping stations in the world located at the interior end of the canal. After Hurricane Betsy, an I-wall was constructed on top of the existing levee to increase protection against hurricane surges entering the canal from the lake. Unlike the Michoud levee and the IHNC floodwalls, indications at this time are that the water in the 17th Street Canal did not reach the top of the I-wall. This conclusion, supported by hydrodynamic calculations of the storm surge and wave height, has been further sub- stantiated by observations of the high-water marks fol- lowing Katrina. FIGURE 8 Breach of IHNC floodwall. Regrettably, a portion of the wall lining the east side of the canal was breached. A photo (Figure 11) taken cantilevered structures that derive support solely from during the emergency closure of the breach shows that the soil in which they are founded. An I-wall consists substantial flooding ensued. There is some evidence of sheet pile embedded in the foundation that protrudes that the levee and floodwall may have translated as a into a monolithic concrete wall above. unit away from the canal (Figure 12). The location and Like the Michoud levee, the initial indication is that condition of the floodwall monoliths in the breach (Fig- the loading from Hurricane Katrina exceeded the level ure 13) are consistent with this hypothesis. for which the I-wall was designed. This conclusion is A comprehensive study by IPET will include state-of- based on observations of residual high-water marks and the-art calculations of soil structure interaction on high- accounts by eyewitnesses, and corroborated by prelimi- performance computers and physical modeling in large nary hydrodynamic calculations of the hurricane surge. centrifuges. This will be a high-priority item for IPET, Unfortunately, the response of this wall was cata- because some other parts of the system behaved similarly. strophic (Figure 8). Significant stretches of the wall were breached on both sides of the canal, contributing to the flooding of the metropolitan area. Figure 9, taken shortly after the region was unwatered in October, shows the condition of the breached I-wall and the missing levee. Figure 10, immediately adjacent to the largest breach, shows that the remaining wall clearly tilts away from the canal. The significant trench was probably scoured by the water overtopping the wall. The extent of this scour diminishes with distance from the breach. This wall is representative of walls throughout the system that were overtopped and failed to some degree and probably exacerbated the flooding. Thus, this I-wall will be the focus of intense study by IPET to determine how various hydraulic, geotechnical, and structural factors affected its performance. The study will include both state-of-the-art physical hydraulic modeling and analytic modeling on high-performance computers.
17th Street Canal Floodwall The 17th Street outfall canal is on the boundary of Orleans and Jefferson Parishes (Figure 2). Water that FIGURE 9 Condition of breached IHNC floodwall. SPRING 2006 19
Further Study IPET is working toward completing a comprehensive analysis before the start of the next hurricane season on June 1, 2006. The work of IPET includes a number of interrelated tasks, each of which is being investigated by a team led jointly by an expert from USACE and an expert from an external organization. IPET is also work- ing with other organizations conducting related studies and analyses to maximize its effectiveness within the short time frame of the study. Comprised of individuals from more than 40 organizations, IPET teams have a diversity and depth of knowledge and experience.
FIGURE 11 Emergency closure of 17th Street canal breach.
In the process of answering these questions, IPET is also continuously providing insights and findings to the USACE team reconstituting the damaged portions of the flood-protection system to authorized levels of pro- tection by June 1. IPET will determine the performance of the flood- protection system by examining primary inputs, responses, and outputs. Inputs are the surge, waves, and rainfall from the storm. Responses are the behavior of the structural components of the system, the com- FIGURE 10 Floodwall adjacent to IHNC breach. ponents designed to unwater protected areas, and the degree of flooding in the protected areas. Outputs The activities of IPET are focused on answering five are primarily the context of principal failure mecha- strategic questions: nisms, the consequences of flooding due to compo- nent failures, and the risk and reliability of the flood- 1. What were the design criteria for the pre-Katrina hur- protection system. ricane protection system, and did the design, as-built IPET is using the most appropriate tools and data construction, and maintained condition meet these available to determine the criteria? forces on the New Orleans 2. What storm surges and waves were used as the basis of flood-protection structures design, and how do these compare to the storm surges during the storm and why and waves generated by Hurricane Katrina? they performed as they did. Katrina and other storms 3. How did the floodwalls, levees, pumping stations, are being modeled to help and drainage canals, individually and as an inte- scientists and engineers grated system, perform in response to Hurricane determine the magnitude Katrina, and why? and variability of surge and 4. What have been the societal-related consequences of wave conditions as a func- tion of location and the Katrina-related damage? character of the storm. 5. Following the immediate repairs, what will be the This information, detailed quantifiable risk to New Orleans and vicinity from modeling of the canals, and FIGURE 12 Block movement of levee future hurricanes and tropical storms? the physical evidence will and floodwall. The 20 BRIDGE
performance analysis by May 1, 2006, and producing a final report by June 1, 2006. An interim report of progress as of January 10, 2006, is available at
Rebuilding Electrical Infrastructure along the Gulf Coast: A Case Study
Billy Ball
Hurricane Katrina made landfall near the Mississippi-Louisiana state line on the morning of August 29, 2005, with an estimated intensity of 120 mile per hour (mph) winds and a storm surge of at least 30 feet (Figure 1). Tropical- storm-force winds extended out about 230 miles, and hurricane-force winds extended out more than 100 miles (Knabb et al., 2005). Katrina presented Southern Company with one of the biggest operational chal- Billy Ball is senior vice president of lenges in its more than 80-year history (Table 1). According to the Insur- Transmission Planning and Opera- ance Information Institute, total insured losses from Katrina were estimated tions for Southern Company.1 at $40 billion—almost twice as much as the next most expensive storm in U.S. history. Hurricane Katrina was the worst natural disaster in the history of Southern Company’s Mississippi Power subsidiary. After making landfall, Katrina moved north northeast at about 15 mph, with winds exceeding hurricane force in all major cities in Mississippi Power’s service territory. All 195,000 Mississippi Power customers lost power, nearly two-thirds of the transmission and distri- bution system was damaged or destroyed, and all but three of the company’s 122 transmission lines were out of service. More than 300 transmission tow- ers were damaged, 47 of them metal towers in the 230-kV bulk power system.
1 Southern Company, which has 40,000 megawatts of electric-generating capacity and 26,000 employees, provides electricity to more than 4 million customers in Alabama, Georgia, south- eastern Mississippi, and the Florida panhandle. The 22 BRIDGE
In Alabama, Katrina caused the second highest num- ber of customer outages, trailing only the 825,000 out- ages from Hurricane Ivan in 2004. Although most of the outages were in the Birmingham area, the heaviest dam- age was in Mobile and along the Gulf Coast (Table 2).
Planning for Disasters Southern Company relies on extensive pre-planning, the ability to communicate internally and externally immediately after a storm, effective execution of disaster- recovery plans (including receiving significant help from external and internal resources), and the capturing of lessons learned to prepare for the next storm response. The company’s operating subsidiaries—Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Gulf Power, Mississippi Power, and Savannah Electric—maintain detailed disaster- recovery plans with specific responses and actions iden- tified for each. Every year before the start of hurricane FIGURE 1 A satellite image of Hurricane Katrina as it made landfall on the Gulf season on June 1, storm training is provided for employ- Coast of the United States on August 29, 2005. Image courtesy of the Air Force ees, whose assignments differ from their regular jobs. Weather Agency. Training is designed to ensure that everyone involved understands every aspect of the recovery plan. In the distribution system, about 65 percent of facilities were damaged; 9,000 poles and 2,300 transformers were lost; and 23,500 spans of conductor were down. All generation equipment at Plant Watson, Missis- sippi Power’s second-largest electricity generating plant, was damaged by floodwaters, which affected the com- pany’s emergency operations center and backup control center located in the plant. Seven other buildings also sustained significant damage, including the corporate headquarters in Gulfport (Figure 2), the building hous- ing the distribution and transmission departments, the substation construction headquarters, the Biloxi service center, and the Pass Christian office. The corporate headquarters was damaged so severely that it will not be fully operational again until late 2006. FIGURE 2 The severely damaged Mississippi Power headquarters in Gulfport, Mississippi. TABLE 1 Peak Customer Outages as a Result of Hurricane Katrina Subsidiary companies share the lessons learned from storm or hurricane experience, and plans are revised Southern Company accordingly. Because Mississippi Power participated in Subsidiaries Number of Outages Total Customers Gulf Power’s assessment of its plan following Hurricane Alabama Power 637,000 1,385,374 Ivan in 2004, Mississippi Power was better prepared to respond to Katrina. Continuous learning is a critical Georgia Power 10,000 2,078,127 aspect of superior performance. Gulf Power 129,000 394,772 Recovery plans provide for flexible, decentralized authority so decisions can be made as close to the disas- Mississippi Power 195,000 195,000 ter as possible. Storm teams start taking action two weeks SPRING 2006 23
TABLE 2 Transmission Lines Outages as a Result of Katrina many years and is appli- cable to a variety of disaster Alabama Power Mississippi Power types, such as winter storms, Total Lines Out after Katrina Total Lines Out after Katrina tornadoes, and straight-line winds. Mississippi Power 500 kV 12 0 1 1 critiques its performance 230 kV 94 8 23 20 after every storm and updates its procedures based 161 kV 11 0 N/A N/A on lessons learned both 115 kV 289 32 80 80 from its own experiences and the experiences of 46 kV 234 27 18 18 other utilities.
Totals 640 67 122 119 All employees have storm assignments, frequently dif- ferent from their day-to-day before a potential disaster, and every day new decisions jobs. Storm assignments include functions related are made depending on the latest track and severity of to system restoration, such as disaster coordination, the storm. Mississippi Power began track-ing Katrina as manpower coordination, responsibility for specific geo- it developed in the Caribbean and followed events as the graphic areas, acting as crew guides, tending to the storm tracked across southern Florida, impacting utilities needs of outside personnel (such as lodging and meals), there, before entering the Gulf of Mexico. and tracking restoration efforts. Three days prior to landfall, Mississippi Power, assum- As part of the overall preparations, the company main- ing a direct hit from a major hurricane, began making tains weather consultants on retainer, participates in requests for manpower, material, and logistics—includ- regional mutual-assistance organizations, maintains pre- ing almost 3,000 linemen and 1,750 tree trimmers. arranged contracts with logistics vendors, staging-site However, damage in Florida and the risk posed to utili- owners, line-construction and vegetation-management ties along the northern Gulf of Mexico in the projected contractors, and maintains pre-arranged agreements for path of Katrina’s second landfall reduced the regional materials, fuels, and equipment. pool of qualified line workers. Mississippi Power also Disaster directors coordinate and direct activities placed orders for additional transformers, poles, con- related to specific functional areas. In addition, every ductor, line hardware, and fuel over and above its nor- disaster director has a designated backup. Each func- mal storm-season stocking levels. tional area undergoes an annual review, beginning with Arrangements were made for nearly 4,800 beds vari- an evaluation of steps to ensure that the company is pre- ously located in mobile sleeper trailers, military facili- pared to respond: ties, college facilities, tents, cots in company facilities, •Discussions are held with surrounding utilities and and motels as far away as Pensacola, Montgomery, and contractors to determine the availability of line crews Dothan. A pre-arranged plan with a logistics vendor, and tree-trimming personnel. which included provisions for tents, caterers, portable toilets, showers, and dumpsters to be set up at prede- •Logistics activities related to housing, food, and laun- termined staging sites, was implemented on Friday, dry are reviewed. (Before Katrina, more than 100 August 26, three days before the storm hit. By the time potential staging sites were identified, and detailed Katrina made landfall, the company had spent $7 mil- layouts were prepared of how those sites would be lion in securing equipment and logistical support. used. At the peak of the restoration, 30 sites were used—18 for a combination of feeding, lodging, fuel- Details of the Plan ing, materials, showering, and parking, and 12 as As it does with any major hurricane, Mississippi Pow- material lay-down yards. Also at peak, approximately er took a proactive approach to disaster preparation and 11,000 personnel were being housed, 32,500 meals recovery. The company has a detailed, flexible, “scal- were provided in one day, 93,000 pounds of fabrics able” disaster procedure that has been developed over were laundered, and 65 buses were put into service.) The 24 BRIDGE
•A detailed distribution-restoration plan is established based nor cellular phone service was available, and com- and continually updated. Each substation is assigned munication with outside restoration resources was very a substation-restoration coordinator who reports to difficult. For most of the 12 days it took to restore elec- the area-restoration coordinator. One or more feeder- tric service, the only communication system in opera- restoration coordinators, who are responsible for each tion on the coast of Mississippi was SouthernLINC circuit, report to the substation coordinator. Because Wireless, a wholly owned subsidiary of Southern Com- these coordinators know their areas of responsibility pany. Through this system, Mississippi Power was able in advance, they are able to become familiar with to communicate internally and with other operating their facilities. This unique operational framework companies, which relayed messages to outside resources. was extremely effective in the aftermath of Katrina. The SouthernLINC Wireless system was built with considerable redundancy. Therefore, even though it • Stocking levels of critical materials are increased as sustained catastrophic damage, it was functioning at storm season approaches. (During Katrina, arrange- near pre-Katrina levels within three days, even with the ments were made with other companies to provide at added capacity to accommodate the dramatic spike in least five deployed storerooms at various staging areas. demand. Mississippi Power also installed its own In one day, as many as 60 tractor trailer loads of mate- microwave capability to 12 remote staging areas in order rials were delivered, and 5,000 vehicles were fueled. to transmit material inventory data into the company’s Average daily fuel consumption was about 80,000 gal- automated procurement process. If communication cir- lons, with a peak one-day consumption of more than cuits of another company were down, the information 110,000 gallons.) technology group found a way to bypass those circuits Employees Helping Employees and restore critical communications. Crews are prepared to function for two days without Hurricane Katrina had an unprecedented impact on communications—including field-to-field or field-to- the employees of Mississippi Power. Many homes were HQ communications and logistics/procurement com- destroyed, flooded, or severely damaged (Table 3). In munications for taking on and coordinating outside response, Southern Company’s Family Services imme- resources. Vendors procured prior to Katrina were given diately mobilized support teams from around the com- instructions on where to set up and what to be prepared pany system to provide services and help employees’ for, even if communications with Mississippi Power were families arrange places to stay, repair homes, clean up not available after the storm. debris, and move furniture to storage facilities, among many other necessary tasks. Knowing that their families Executing the Plan and homes were being taken care of enabled many Mississippi Power began its damage assessment—the employees to return to work quickly. first phase of the disaster-restoration plan—as soon as Communication the winds subsided to a safe level. The assessment indi- cated that the system had sustained far more damage Communication is crucial in responding to disasters, than anticipated. It was immediately apparent that the especially communication with thousands of extra 5,000 outside personnel the plan had assumed for a workers. Immediately following Katrina, neither land- worst case “Camille-like” storm would be inadequate. TABLE 3 Impact of Hurricane Katrina on The company needed more than twice that number. Mississippi Power Employees Even as Katrina was still pounding Mississippi and Alabama, repair crews and trucks were rolling in from Percentage of other states to begin immediate work on damage assess- Employees ment and restoration. Approximately 2,400 outside Homes destroyed 86 7% workers were pre-positioned on the fringe of the storm area ready to move in where needed, with clear author- Homes flooded 196 16% ity and accountability for the jobs assigned. Within 24 Homes damaged 441 35% hours after Katrina, more than 75 percent of the electric system had been inspected on the ground and from the Total 721 58% air. This was possible because of the pre-positioning of SPRING 2006 25
outside workers and advanced contracting with several tions, of course, have top priority. During Katrina, the aircraft for inspections. focus was on restoring generation, transmission, and dis- Through mutual-assistance agreements with utilities tribution with priority customers in mind. Mississippi across the nation, workers from other utilities and con- Power’s first priority in transmission was to establish a tracting companies joined hundreds of company employ- 230-kV path from an interconnection point with ees. Within seven days after Katrina, 10,800 workers Alabama Power in Jackson County across the Gulf from 23 states and Canada were assisting Mississippi Coast and upstate through Hattiesburg, Laurel, and Power. These emergency workers were provided with Meridian to a northern interconnection point with housing, food, tetanus shots, and other necessities to Alabama Power east of Meridian. The transmission was make life as comfortable as possible for them under the hindered by flooding in several key substations on the circumstances. Six full-service tent cities were erected as coast in addition to extensive salt contamination on temporary homes (Figure 3). substation and transmission-line facilities. On the first day after the storm (August 30), Missis- sippi Power was informed of the importance of the pipeline pumping stations in Collins, Mississippi, to the gasoline supply of the eastern United States. Work- ing virtually around the clock, crews restored service to key facilities in the Hattiesburg area, including the pumping stations, by the end of Day 2 (August 31). By the end of Day 6 (September 4), a transmission source had been established to all substations from which cus- tomers were able to take service. When the transmission line into the Hattiesburg area was energized, power was also restored to a critical regional hospital. The company helped refuel hospital generators until service could be restored. FIGURE 3 A tent city for emergency workers. By the end of Day 1, 2,800 outside personnel were working on restoring distribution, and service had been Many line-crew personnel were put in charge of restored to 600 customers. By the end of Day 9 (Sep- directing outside crews and handling restoration for tember 7), 10,800 outside personnel were working on feeder lines or entire areas. Because they were accus- restoration, and service had been restored to 126,200 tomed to making decisions, they were prepared to han- customers, or 75 percent of the total. dle the increased responsibilities. As for generation, Plant Watson’s combustion turbine The company’s approach to storm recovery is based on unit was back on line on September 8. Coal yard oper- self-sufficiency. For example, backup plans are in place ations resumed in 34 days, and Unit 4 came back on line for when outside suppliers for critical items, such as cots, in 46 days. Unit 5 was back on line in December, and tents, and food, are not available. After Katrina, the units 1, 2, and 3 are expected to be back on line by mid- company brought in its own 250-person armed security 2006. By the end of Day 12 (September 10), service had force to protect people and equipment. been restored to every customer who could receive it, By the end of Day 5 (September 3), Mississippi Power and the number of outside personnel working on was able to communicate to the public its commitment restoration had been reduced to 5,300. to restore service to every customer who could receive The total cost of restoration in Mississippi has been it by September 11. This goal motivated everyone estimated at more than $250 million—the costliest in the involved, and service was actually restored by September company’s history. Remaining costs include rebuilding 10—just 12 days after Katrina hit. distribution facilities in areas decimated by the storm Priorities for repairing electric facilities are based on surge where there are few or no customers able to take ser- the stability of the electric system and restoring service vice and completing repairs to flooded and damaged sub- to critical customers, such as hospitals, emergency stations, Plant Watson, various buildings, and a 230-kV responders, and water systems. Life-threatening situa- transmission line across the Pascagoula River swamp. The 26 BRIDGE
Substation and transmission line repairs will be Evaluation largely complete in the first half of 2006. Generation Continuous learning is a disciplined process. In pre- repairs and repair work on damaged buildings should be liminary findings, the following issues have been identi- primarily complete by the end of 2006. Distribution fied for improvement: reconstruction is likely to continue for years as the most heavily damaged areas are rebuilt and customers are able • The acquisition of “initial showing” resources and to take service. their division among the affected areas should be refined. Lessons Learned • Evaluations of the resources needed “on the ground” The greatest cost savings resulted from the effective for initial showing can be improved. First-day use of outside resources and the effective use of time. resources do not have to be line resources; they may The establishment and operation of staging areas and the be tree crews or evaluators. procurement of food, shelter, fuel, and security are crit- ical to the efficient use of resources. Mississippi Power is • Potential improvements in storm prediction and a vertically integrated utility, and the coordinated storm damage models should be explored. restoration of damaged generation, transmission, and dis- • Backups for all positions, including storm leadership tribution facilities enabled optimum use of scarce ser- positions, should be identified. vices and other resources. Close coordination with, and support from, govern- Many customers suffered significant personal losses, ment agencies and officials was also crucial. By staying were without homes, food, water, and sewer services, in close contact with state legislative and regulatory and were faced with looting and other conditions that agencies, law enforcement, local governments, and were unimaginable under normal conditions. At times, disaster-recovery agencies, including the Federal Emer- hope itself was a scarce commodity. As every electric gency Management Agency and the Mississippi utility knows, municipalities, law enforcement, and Emergency Management Agency, conflicts between local, state, and federal agencies need electric power restoration and recovery efforts were avoided, and much- before they can begin the process of recovery. When needed support for traffic control was available. the lights come back on and vital services return, hope Other federal agencies also provided assistance. The seems to make a comeback. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted a waiver Reference for utilities affected by Katrina in reporting requirements under their standards of conduct. This allowed the util- Knabb, R.D., J.R. Rhome, and D.P. Brown. 2005. Tropical ities to focus entirely on restoring the electric grid and Cyclone Report Hurricane Katrina. National Hurricane Cen- service. The U.S. Department of Energy offered its sup- ter, Miami, Fla. Available online at: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ port and is following up by studying the technology pdf/TCR-AL122005_Katrina.pdf. and technological advancements that would facilitate electric-system restoration after major events like hurri- canes and ice storms. The evacuation of New Orleans had some unprecedented successes . . . and glaring failures.
Evacuation Planning and Engineering for Hurricane Katrina
Brian Wolshon
The hurricane season of 2005 will go down in the record books. It included 14 hurricanes (a new record), three of which were among the most powerful and costly in the 154-year history of record keeping in the Atlantic Basin. In addition, there were 27 named systems—the latest, Tropical Storm Zeta, con- tinued to move through the Atlantic even as this article was being written in January 2006. Some meteorologists suggest that this pattern may last for at Brian Wolshon is associate profes- least another decade. sor, Department of Civil and Envi- Although little can be done to alter the weather, we can prepare for the ronmental Engineering and the eventuality of hurricanes and other natural and man-made hazards. For decades, engineers and scientists have been developing techniques, strate- LSU Hurricane Center, Louisiana gies, and materials to help the built environment withstand the effects of State University. hurricanes. In addition, building and zoning codes have been changed to keep critical infrastructure away from hazardous areas to minimize the risks of flood and wind damage. The only way to protect people, however, is to evacuate them when threats arise, but this is often easier said than done. At the fundamental level, the concept of evacuation is simple—move people away from danger. In reality, evacuations, particularly evacuations on a mass scale, are complex undertakings. As the nation clearly saw during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, it is not always possible to evacuate everyone who is in danger. The most obvious problem is the sheer scope of the event. Hurricane evacuations may involve millions of people over hundreds of The 28 BRIDGE thousands of square miles. In addition, because evacu- respond to, and study such events, the level of death and ations are inconvenient and disruptive, evacuees often destruction wrought by Katrina was not outside the delay travel decisions until the threat appears imminent, realm of possibility. Although a complete evacuation of thus compressing the enormous travel demand into the city has been the cornerstone of hurricane pre- shorter time periods. paredness planning for the region, the highway evacua- tion plan used for Katrina evolved over a period of many years based on valuable lessons learned from prior storms in Louisiana and elsewhere. Transportation infrastructure Fortunately for New Orleans, officials in Louisiana is not designed to were able to evaluate and refine their evacuation plan based on two “practice runs.” In 1998, Hurricane accommodate evacuation- Georges appeared to be heading directly for the city, leading to the first major evacuation in some 20 years. level demand. From that experience, it was apparent that making con- ventional use of available routes in the region was not an adequate strategy. As a result, the Louisiana State One complicating factor is that transportation infra- Police (LSP) developed a plan to implement two short structure is neither planned nor designed to accom- segments of contraflow (LSP, 2000). modate evacuation-level demand; building enough Six years later, Hurricane Ivan threatened another capacity to move the population of an entire city in a direct hit on the city, triggering an implementation of matter of hours is simply not economically, environ- the new plan and the first-ever implementation of evac- mentally, or socially feasible. Roadways are not even uation contraflow in Louisiana. Like Georges, Ivan designed to be delay-free under routine peak-period tracked east prior to landfall and largely missed conditions. The effectiveness of an evacuation is Louisiana. The evacuation that it precipitated, how- also greatly affected by human behavior and socio- ever, revealed numerous deficiencies in the plan that economics. No matter how threatening the conditions, resulted in monumental congestion and delays on sev- some people refuse or are unable to leave. eral key evacuation routes. After a period of consider- Despite these difficulties, the evacuation of New able public criticism, the Louisiana Department of Orleans for Hurricane Katrina was widely viewed as a Transportation and Development (LA DOTD) and LSP success; data show that more people were able to leave formed a Louisiana Evacuation Task Force with input the city in a shorter time than had been thought pos- from consultants in industry and academia to identify sible. There were also apparent failures, however, par- where and how the congestion occurred and to develop ticularly in the evacuation of low-mobility groups. and test ways to reduce it. This article highlights the development of the evac- After a review of traffic volume and speed data, uation management plan for Hurricane Katrina and traffic videos, media accounts, and interviews of evac- summarizes some of the facts, findings, and unresolved uees, the task force identified four primary issues that issues. The discussion is presented from the perspec- had hampered the evacuation: (1) over-reliance on tive of a transportation engineer and centers primarily westward traffic movement; (2) inefficient loading of on the highway-based aspects of the evacuation, the contraflow freeway segment out of New Orleans; including demand, capacity, and issues related to the (3) extreme congestion resulting from the confluence non-evacuees. This article also presents some lessons of multiple regional evacuation routes in Baton Rouge, learned and how they may be applied to other locations Hammond, Lafayette, Covington, and Slidell; and and other threat scenarios and identifies unanswered (4) the lack of real-time, accurate traffic information. questions and research needs that should be addressed in the future. New Orleans Analyses In New Orleans, the goal was to get as many people The Katrina Evacuation Plan as possible out of the threat zone as quickly as possible The city of New Orleans has long been considered “a by making full use of the available traffic lanes. The disaster waiting to happen.” For those who prepare for, movement of traffic out of the city can be pictured as SPRING 2006 29
sand moving through an hourglass. The outflow of sand loading point (as happened during the Hurricane Ivan (evacuation demand) is controlled by the neck of the evacuation). glass (over-water elevated freeway segments). Given Based on these assumptions, simulation was used to the limitations and the infeasibility of constructing evaluate several alternatives. One of the first ideas was additional lanes on outbound bridges in the foreseeable to move the first loading point of the contraflow future, efforts were focused on making the most effec- upstream and to add two contraflow loading points tive use of available capacity by using engineering and downstream. This configuration would prevent the nor- operations techniques to open the neck of the hourglass mal outbound and contraflowing traffic streams from as wide as possible. ever merging. The additional loading points would pro- The analysis after Ivan showed that the movement vide direct access by using existing exit ramps as of traffic was further hindered by the configuration of entrance ramps to the contraflow. Overall, this config- the contraflow initiation point. As shown in Figure 1, uration was expected to accomplish several objectives. contraflow was initiated by crossing the left two lanes of First and foremost, it would spatially spread the loading the outbound side of I-10 into the inbound lanes. The of the demand. Next, it would not only give evacuees traffic control strategy at this location resulted in a routing choices, but would also locate decision points capacity restriction that effectively regulated flow into on the surface-street system instead of the interstate sys- the downstream section thereby preventing full use of tem, where maximizing capacity was a necessity. the contraflow lanes. While traffic upstream of this This plan was thought to be ideal, not only from the location was heavily congested, traffic downstream standpoint of efficiency, but also for balancing traffic on moved much more freely. the separate sides of the freeway, eliminating a major merge point, removing the decision point from the interstate, and providing access from both Orleans and Jefferson Parishes to both evacuation routes. To spread traffic demand spatially, vehicles would enter freeway lanes via six downstream interchanges, rather than at a single point, as in the earlier plan. The anticipated ben- efits of this plan were clearly supported by the results of traffic simulation modeling, which showed a potential increase in outbound volume of more than 60 percent, or 30,000 vehicles, over a 12-hour period. Ultimately, this concept was rejected, however, because of the cost and time required to build the FIGURE 1 Westbound I-10 contraflow initiation point during Hurricane Ivan. Photo crossover, but the knowledge gained about the benefits source: Alison Michel, Urban Systems Inc. of using multiple loading points with direct access was used to develop a plan with three interchanges and a Traffic modeling was used to assess loading techniques single lane crossover. Simulation modeling showed that and identify a method that would allow for optimal use with this plan outflow volumes would be only margin- of the contraflow lanes without limiting the capacity of ally (about 15 percent) lower than for the original plan. the normal lanes or vice versa. It was hypothesized that The final access points (interchanges) were selected direct access to the contraflow lanes, similar to normal based on input from both LSP and LA DOTD, as well entrance ramps to a freeway, would avoid the friction as other factors, such as interchange configurations, and, therefore, lost capacity of a crossover/decision construction requirements, emergency access, and pop- point for drivers. It was thought that, if decision points ulation distribution. were located on the surface-street system, the interstate Efforts were also made to evaluate alternatives on would not experience the loss of capacity. It was also the east side of the city. Although eastbound routes were believed that by using multiple loading points with not affected by Hurricane Ivan to the same degree as direct access to the contraflow lanes, the demand would westbound routes, significant congestion was evident be spread spatially throughout the surface-street system on eastbound routes as evacuees moved east to avoid con- rather than being limited by the capacity of a single gestion in the city. To remedy the situation, a contraflow The 30 BRIDGE alternative was developed and tested to route all west- (I-10 and I-12) had created a bottleneck that restricted bound traffic entering from Mississippi north back into flow and caused traffic congestion and delay over many Mississippi, thus precluding entry into Louisiana. Inter- miles. The most radical and interesting proposal to state contraflow had never been implemented before, and address this problem involved the use of an eight-mile- the state of Mississippi would have to accommodate hun- long segment of freeway contraflow through the heart dreds of thousands of evacuees from Louisiana. Fortu- of Baton Rouge to eliminate the merging of intersecting nately, an agreement was reached between officials in evacuation flows. As diagrammed in Figure 2, the Louisiana and Mississippi just months before Katrina. contraflow segment would keep the I-10 and I-12 traffic Realizing the enormous threat posed to New Orleans, the streams separate, sending them onto two different free- state of Mississippi also permitted Louisiana to reroute ways and eliminating congestion associated with merg- traffic back into Mississippi and initiate contraflow on ing. Simulation modeling showed that such a plan another freeway route. would eliminate all congestion from the area (where delays as long as 14 hours had previously been reported). Baton Rouge Analyses Despite its potential benefits, it was decided that Because of the level of demand generated by mass contraflow through Baton Rouge was not a viable alter- evacuations, impacts to the transportation network native. The main objection was that it would have often occur far away from the source of the demand. In required closure of the sole interstate freeway route Louisiana, significant increases in volume were clearly through the city, raising concerns about the movement apparent in downstream locations, such as Baton Rouge, of commercial and hazardous cargo outside of the I-10 Lake Charles, and even Shreveport, nearly 300 miles corridor, local traffic from the west side of the Missis- from New Orleans. The focus of regional improvements sippi River, loss of access to property or family east of following Ivan was centered in Baton Rouge where the Baton Rouge, and loss of access for emergency and ser- merge point of two major freeway evacuation routes vice vehicles. Interestingly, the plan that was ultimately decided upon and refined by LSP was potentially even more radical. In fact, in terms of its scale and level of strate- gic control, it was unprece- dented. As shown in the schematic diagram in Fig- ure 3, the final plan elimi- nated confluence traffic by forcing evacuees to use northward evacuation routes and prohibiting cross-state westbound traffic into the Baton Rouge area. The plan featured the reversal of approximately 100 miles of interstate freeway from Louisiana into Mississippi, forcing the northbound movement of traffic instead of the usual congestion- causing westbound move- ment. It also restricted access FIGURE 2 Suggested Baton Rouge contraflow plan. Source: ABMB Engineers Inc. to nearly 100 additional SPRING 2006 31
FIGURE 3 New Orleans metropolitan area evacuation map (2005 update). Source: LA DOTD, 2005b. miles of freeway to prevent a regional bottleneck in of the implications of the modifications to the Louisiana Baton Rouge. Combined with the improved loading evacuation highway management plan. plan in New Orleans and the coordination of trans- Traffic-count data recorded as part of the LA DOTD portation assets on a regional basis, the plan was ex- traffic monitoring network showed elevated volumes at pected to enable a rapid, orderly exodus of more people every station throughout the state, even on lightly trav- than was ever possible before. eled roads through sparsely populated areas hundreds of miles from the storm landfall location. Increases in Successes volume were evident as early as Friday evening as Soon after the storm, efforts were initiated to assess some travelers moved into the New Orleans area and and evaluate traffic impacts associated with the evacua- as late as early Monday morning as traffic was winding tion, including how, when, where, and how long it took down through more distant areas like Monroe and evacuees to move along the road network of the Gulf Shreveport. During the peak 48-hour period of Coast, how contraflow impacted the efficiency of the evacuation, more than 430,000 outbound vehicles evacuation, and, in particular, how some of these were recorded on the six freeway and major arterial impacts were related to the revisions in the plan. Early roadways in southeast Louisiana. Although this indications of these analyses have revealed the number total does not include several other primary highways, it of vehicles involved, when evacuations started and has been assumed to mean that about 80 to 90 percent of ended at key locations, the geographic extent of the the population evacuated the area. evacuation in Louisiana, the directions of travel, Figure 4 graphically illustrates the progression of the capacity gains made through contraflow, and some the New Orleans evacuation over time. In the figure, The 32 BRIDGE
I-1O WESTBOUND LAPLACE
3000
2500
2000
Ave. of Prior 3 Weeks 1500 Katrina Evacuation Flow Rate (vph)
1000
500
0 0 12 24 12 24 12 24 12 24 12 24 THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY
FIGURE 4 Traffic flow volume on westbound I-10 (LaPlace, Louisiana). the heavier line represents the average traffic volume Preliminary analyses also reveal other indications of the between Thursday and Monday in the two westbound effectiveness of the plan, including better use of low- lanes of I-10 during the three weeks prior to Katrina. volume routes and significant gains from contraflow. The lighter line shows the volume at the same location during the four-day period preceding the storm landfall. Failures The graph clearly shows that the volume increased sig- Not all of the evacuation news was positive, how- nificantly in the late morning hours of Saturday, ever. Images of thousands of desperate people being August 27 and that traffic volume decreased for a brief plucked from rooftops by helicopter, stranded at the period as contraflow was implemented some 20 miles New Orleans Convention Center and Superdome, and upstream at around 4:00 p.m. Volumes increased again awaiting rescue on freeways have overshadowed the and remained far above average throughout the night. successes of the highway-based evacuation plan. It has The flow peaked at more than 2,500 vehicles per hour been estimated that between 100,000 and 300,000 peo- and remained at that level throughout the day. It ple did not or could not be evacuated from the city. dropped dramatically the evening before the storm The most serious questions, however, relate to the city’s made landfall. poor populations. Local governments have been blamed Temporal analyses supported by Figure 4 also show for poor planning and not providing adequate trans- that the duration of the evacuation required only about portation to shelters of last resort. For example, it was half of the 72-hour clearance time that had historically widely known that some 112,000 people did not have been assumed prior to the 2005 modifications. Given access to personal vehicles at the time of the storm (Rus- the limited number of roadways, this was a tremendous sell, 2005). Given these numbers and the limited capa- achievement. The accomplishment was even more sig- bility of moving this enormous number of people quickly, nificant because of the small number of traffic-related public officials have long advocated “neighbor helping injuries or deaths directly resulting from the evacuation. neighbor” policies, urging low-mobility individuals SPRING 2006 33
to arrange for transportation with friends, family, neigh- road in that state did not have to leave (Collins, 2002). bors, and church members. Local plans also included This so-called “shadow evacuation” also contributed to using Regional Transit Authority buses to carry people the enormous congestion in Houston. Phased evacua- to the Superdome from 12 locations around the city tions may help, although they may be difficult to imple- (Russell, 2005). ment, and measures can be taken to strengthen building A major failure of the plans for evacuating the low- codes and encourage in-place sheltering practices to mobility population was the lack of communication. reduce the need for people to leave. Evacuation plans can only be effective if people are Emergency management and transportation officials aware of them, and evacuation orders can only be involved in evacuations most often cite a need for bet- heeded if they are received in time.1 Thus, the of prob- ter communication and coordination among emergency lem evacuating low-mobility populations will be one management, transportation, and law enforcement of the most important issues for all levels of govern- agencies and the public. Many states are working to ment in future evacuation plans. combine emergency management personnel into single facilities and to establish coordinated evacuation poli- Lesson Learned and Future Needs cies. Evacuation plans can be communicated through- In Louisiana, three major traffic modifications signif- out the year through public information campaigns, icantly improved the evacuation. First, a staged evacu- public service announcements, and tourist information ation plan identified the order of evacuees, starting with centers. In addition, the collection and transfer of traf- the lowest lying areas, and suggested a time line for the fic information during an evacuation is critical to the initiation of contraflow. Second, multiple interchanges management of evacuation routes and the allocation of and a crossover were used for the contraflow loading transportation resources. plan to minimize congestion and maximize the capacity LA DOTD and LSP are already working to commu- of bridges; this spread the traffic demand to several crit- nicate evacuation plans via news media and public ser- ical roadway segments. Third, the access management vice announcements urging people to prepare for future plan made maximum use of major arterial roadways; this evacuations by (1) developing personal evacuation helped spread demand to many highways instead of con- plans before the need for an evacuation arises and centrating demand on the freeways. Although these knowing which routes will be available; (2) being pre- changes may have limited flexibility and caused some pared for traffic delays; (3) leaving as early as possible; inconveniences to evacuees and pass-through traffic, and (4) encouraging people on the Gulf Coast to make they accomplished their primary goal of saving lives. northward travel plans and shelter arrangements (e.g., Coastal populations are expected to continue to grow Jackson, Mississippi; Memphis, Tennessee; and Birm- while available roadway capacity remains relatively ingham, Alabama), rather than westward plans (Hous- unchanged. As a result, future efforts must also focus on ton or Dallas) (LA DOTD, 2005a). Overall, people controlling evacuation travel demand. This may be must be encouraged to take a more active role in plan- accomplished through better public information and ning for their own safety. education programs, including educating the public about which areas are truly at risk and working with the Conclusion news media to provide more accurate descriptions of The experiences of the 2005 hurricane season have threat levels. shown that overall evacuation readiness in the United During Hurricane Floyd, the Florida Division of States has improved in the past decade, although a great Emergency Management estimated that about 35 per- deal remains to be done. We now have evidence of the cent of the approximate 2.0 million evacuees on the significant gains that can be made through large-scale, aggressive, proactive regional traffic management. Pol-
1 “Many said that mandatory evacuation orders came too late, or that icy makers and plan developers must understand that leaving, even with transportation, was not a simple matter for older res- evacuations are not business as usual and cannot be con- idents. LeShawn Hains could not find a special-needs shelter for her sidered local events. Evacuations are life-and-death sce- mother, Gilda, who was on oxygen and had heart and lung trouble. Eddie Cherrie Jr. stayed behind with his mother, Onelia, who relied narios, and planning decisions must be made with on a walker and blood pressure medication. ‘It’s true nothing stopped preserving lives in mind. This may mean that conve- us from leaving,’ he said. ‘But also, it’s not that easy to leave with a 91-year-old woman’” (Russell, 2005). nience, accessibility, route choices, and perhaps even The 34 BRIDGE safety, may have to be compromised somewhat to main- LA DOTD (Louisiana Department of Transportation and tain the most efficient traffic flow. Development). 2005a. “Prepare Ahead of Time,” Coalition As we move forward and prepare for the next hurri- Urges. Baton Rouge, Louisiana, June 2005. Available cane season, the search for solutions will extend far online at: http://www.dotd.louisiana.gov/press/pressrelease.asp? beyond the realm of engineering. The lessons learned, nRelease=489. information exchanged, and new knowledge that will LA DOTD. 2005b. Metropolitan New Orleans Contraflow be created in this field will have implications far Plan. Available online at: http://www.dotd.state.la.us/ beyond hurricane evacuations. Temporary reversible maps/Web_ ContraFlow2.jpg. lanes, unconventional spatial and temporal loading Louisiana Recovery Authority. 2005. Louisiana Recovery strategies for freeways, and the use of mass transit Initiatives. Baton Rouge, Louisiana, November 2005. under emergency conditions have applications for Available online at: http://www.lra.louisiana.gov/assets/ homeland-security scenarios, major-event traffic initiatives.pdf. management, and traffic congestion during peak com- LSP (Louisiana State Police). 2000. New Orleans Emergency muter periods. Evacuation Plan. Troop B, Kenner, Louisiana, May 2000. Russell, G. 2005. Nagin Orders First-Ever Mandatory Evac- References uation of New Orleans. The Times-Picayune, New Collins, R. 2002. Florida State Perspective, Session 14: Hur- Orleans, Louisiana, August 28, 2005. Available online at: ricane Partners—Avoiding the Perfect Storm. Presented http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/ at Institute of Transportation Engineers Spring Conference nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_08_28.html. and Exhibit, Palm Harbor, Florida, March 2002. The greatest uncertainties for wetland restoration will be political will and stakeholder response.
New Orleans and the Wetlands of Southern Louisiana
Robert G. Dean1
The New Orleans-Mississippi River and associated wetland system are cen- tral to the well-being of the nation. The Mississippi River drains 41 percent of the water in the continental United States, and every year the system provides some one billion pounds of seafood and 25 percent of the nation’s oil and gas. In addition, $15 billion worth of cargo passes through the Port of New Orleans. Barrier islands and wetland systems2 provide habitat for Robert G. Dean is Graduate much of the finfish and shellfish consumed in the United States as well as a Research Professor, Department of degree of protection for New Orleans against the effects of hurricanes. Coastal and Oceanographic Engi- Estimates of the size of the wetlands range from 6,000 to 12,000 square miles (in this paper, I use 9,000 square miles). This article is about (1) the neering, University of Florida, and degradation of these valuable wetlands and the diminishment of their pro- an NAE member. tection against hurricanes and (2) the prognosis for restoring them and rebuilding New Orleans. To understand and, ideally, reverse wetland loss, three salient features of the area must be kept in mind: (1) the immensity of
1 The author recently chaired the National Research Council (NRC) Committee on Restoration and Protection of Coastal Louisiana, which evaluated the so-called “LCA plan” a near-term, $2-billion program formulated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the state of Louisiana Department of Natural Resources. The plan was a scaled-down version of two much more comprehensive and ambitious earlier plans. Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the committee or the NRC. 2 Barrier islands in this area, elongate features generally formed by sediments from the Mississippi River, are coarser than similar features in the landward wetlands. In this article, the term wetland systems includes the barrier islands. The 36 BRIDGE
The Natural System
50 In its natural condition, the Mississippi River can be considered a vast, “leaky” plumbing system; the leaks 40 increase during higher flows /year) 2 (Figure 2 shows the associ- ated river distribution sys- 30 tems in 1880 and 1990). Under the influence of nat- ural forces (Figure 2a), Mis- 20 sissippi River waters spilled over its banks during peri- ods of high flow, depositing 10 coarser sediments close to
Rate of wetland loss (mi the river and finer sedi- ments farther inland. The
0 sediments deposited near 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 2040 2050 the river formed natural Year (elevated) levees. The finer sediments provided a rich matrix for agriculture over FIGURE 1 Measured (1956 to 2000) and projected (2000 to 2050) rates of wetland loss without the LCA Plan. Note the rapid broad flooded areas, as well decrease over the last several decades. Source: NRC, 2005; USACE, 2004. as sediment that enabled the land to maintain its ele- the area of concern; (2) the pervasiveness of the natural vation in the presence of rising relative sea level.3 forces that tend to degrade the wetlands (particularly In some areas, the overflow was more or less uniform; the rate of subsidence and the rise in sea level); and in other areas, the overflow was concentrated into chan- (3) the interests of entrenched stakeholders. nels with deposits forming “splays” on the lee sides of the natural levees. After the river returned to its normal Wetland Loss flow, the incipient channels formed during high flows Background would usually heal, leaving the sediments in place. The wetlands of southern Louisiana, the largest in the During high flows, the river also deposited sediments United States, which provide a buffer against storm in the vicinity of its terminus. If this terminus were in surges and waves, are being lost at an unprecedented relatively shallow water, the river mouth would advance rate—approximately 1,900 square miles since 1930. toward the Gulf through deposition and the formation Figure 1 shows the documented historic and projected of natural levees. Figure 3 shows the advancement of future losses of wetlands. Reduction in the loss rate from Southwest Pass (historically, the main shipping chan- 1990 to 2000, an average of 25 square miles per year in nel) by 15 kilometers in 215 years, an average rate of 1995, is probably the result of several factors: (1) the about 70 meters per year! Today, the terminus of South- more readily eroded wetlands had already been lost, and west Pass is at the edge of the continental shelf where the remaining wetlands are more resistant; (2) there the sediment load is discharged into deep water, con- were fewer major storms in recent years; and (3) limited sidered a favorable process by those responsible for remedial measures have had some beneficial results. maintaining navigation depths. A preliminary assessment by the U.S. Geological Survey established that 100 square miles of wetlands were lost 3 Relative sea level rise is the sum of the eustatic (worldwide average sea due to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (NWRC, 2005), level rise) component and local effects, which include subsidence. Land and it is not known if some of these wetlands will subsidence in the delta region, both natural and anthropogenically induced, can be as much as 2 centimeters per year, approximately recover, as they have after other major storms. 16 times the eustatic rate. SPRING 2006 37
channel levees and wet- lands are “switched” to the new area where wetlands formation, natural levee building, and river channel extension are active processes. Thus, the area of previous wetland growth and maintenance is subject to rapid erosion and wet- land drowning as a result of relative sea level rise, and the area of new sediment delivery undergoes vigorous wetland formation. It is possible to observe this nat- ural process of wetland growth in the modern delta system (albeit in a con- trolled setting) where sedi- ments delivered by the Atchafalaya River result in the annual net production of 180 acres of wetlands and would produce more if it weren’t for the dredging and disposal in deep water of 8 million cubic meters per year of sediment to main- tain the Atchafalaya River Navigational Channel.4 In summary, under nat- ural conditions, the uncon- trolled Mississippi River delivered its waters and sed- iments toward the Gulf of FIGURE 2 Comparison of the percentage of Mississippi River discharge flowing into the adjacent wetlands and distributary chan- Mexico through channels nels on the Mississippi River deltaic plain (2a) for 1850 and (2b) for 1990. Source: Kesel, 2003. that were subject to over- flow during floods, thereby As the length of the channel increases, it becomes providing the nutrients and sediments necessary to less efficient hydraulically and during high flows more maintaining wetland elevations in the presence of rela- susceptible to channel “switching,” when a breach can tive sea level rise. Channel switching caused the sedi- become the predominant channel that delivers water ments to be routed to shallow waters, resulting in rapid and sediments a shorter distance to the Gulf. The cre- wetland growth in the areas of new sediment supply and ation of a new, hydraulically preferred channel and the abandonment of a previous channel has been docu- 4 As seen in Figure 2, the Atchafalaya River, a distributary of the Missis- mented to occur, on average, approximately once every sippi River, discharges into Atchafalaya Bay. The flow volumes in the thousand years. When channel switching occurs, the Atchafalaya River are controlled at 30 percent of the total flow in the Mississippi River. Without control, the Atchafalaya River would by now sediments and fresh waters that nourished the previous have captured the main flow of the Mississippi River. The 38 BRIDGE
substantially, which can contribute to subsidence in the area. Morton and colleagues (2002, 2003) have conducted careful studies correlating areas of high subsidence with decreases in bottom-hole pressures in oil fields. Their studies strongly support a link between hydrocarbon extraction and local subsidence. Not everyone agrees, however. Gagliano et al. (2003), for example, have argued that local subsidence effects are due to natural thrust faults; even without hydro- carbon extraction, they say, it is well known from geo- logical evidence that faulting (called “thrust faults”) in the region has been caused by sediment loading of the delta region. Other anthropogenic causes of wetland loss include channels cut for hydrocarbon exploration and produc- tion, the consumption of wetland vegetation by nutria (fur-bearing animals introduced into the region), the FIGURE 3 Advancement of Southwest Pass of the Mississippi River from 1764 to alteration of wetland areas for agriculture, and so on. 1979. Source: Coleman, 1988; Gould, 1970. In my view, and the view of many, but not all, other investigators, the dominant causes of wetland loss are rapid wetland degradation in areas of channel abandon- the channelization of the Mississippi River to ensure ment. Thus, under natural conditions, the wetland sys- that sediments are discharged offshore into deep water tems were dynamic. However, to the best of our ability and the restraint of the river to eliminate natural over- to determine, the net wetland area was stable over the bank flooding and channel switching. Thus, substan- long term. tial progress in large-scale restoration of the wetlands will require that large-scale sediment processes be The Altered System reinstated to the degree possible. A comparison of Figures 2a and 2b shows how the “leakiness” of the Mississippi River has changed under Subsidence, Sediment, and modern systems. The flows through Bayou La Fourche Relative Sea Level Rise have been essentially eliminated, and practically all of Two unique physical features of wetland loss in south- the flows over and through the natural levees have ern Louisiana are the pervasiveness of natural “forces” ceased as a result of levee construction for flood pro- and the vastness of the affected area. The dominant tection. Thus, the supply of sediments that formerly natural force is subsidence, which ranges from approxi- spilled over the banks along the length of the river has mately 0.25 centimeters per year near the southern been all but eliminated. Similarly, the river now dis- limits of New Orleans to nearly 2 centimeters per year charges most of its sediment load into deep water rather near the terminus of the river. This is 2 to 16 times the than depositing it where it can offset the effects of rela- worldwide average rate of sea level rise (based on a rate tive sea level rise. This has had a significant negative of 1.2 millimeters per year). The wetlands must accrete impact on the barrier islands and wetlands. vertically at the rate of local relative sea level rise to The extraction of large quantities of hydrocarbons has maintain their viability, which requires substantial also had a significant effect. The first successful oil well quantities of sediment. Keep in mind that the wetlands in southern Louisiana was drilled in 1901. The earliest cover approximately 9,000 square miles, with an east- oil fields were developed on land, but as those fields west dimension of 300 miles from the Mississippi state became depleted and larger and more productive off- boundary on the east to the Sabine River at the Texas shore fields were discovered, and as new technologies border on the west. The north-south dimension aver- became available, the offshore resources were developed. ages 30 miles. Unless water is injected to replace the oil, gas, and Because essentially all of this area is experiencing water extracted, the pressure in oil fields decreases some degree of subsidence, to maintain the present SPRING 2006 39
wetland area, mineral (i.e., inorganic) and organic sed- In addition to the navigation industry and, perhaps, iment volumes must be sufficient to maintain the ele- the city of New Orleans, the many communities located vation against relative sea level rise. However, the on natural levees, the elevations of which are decreas- sediment delivery of the Mississippi River has been ing, are facing difficult choices. They can (1) do noth- reduced in historic times by the upstream construction ing to change the situation, thus awaiting another of impoundments and by agricultural practices to con- disaster, (2) eventually abandon their communities, or trol erosion. In fact, these reductions raise the question (3) build levees to protect themselves. Agricultural of whether the river now delivers enough sediment to interests will also require substantial compensation, stabilize or increase the present wetland area. if they agree at all, to participate in a plan that floods To address this question, we consider an annual min- their lands with the sediments necessary to maintain eral sediment delivery of approximately 100 million elevations equal to rising relative sea level. cubic meters and that the proportions of mineral to organic sediment volumes necessary to form wetlands Looking Ahead vary from 1:10 to 1:4. A simple calculation suggests that We can now identify the conceptual elements of a to maintain elevation of this 9,000-square-mile area in viable wetland restoration plan, as well as some of the the presence of an (assumed) average 0.25 centimeter uncertainties. Capturing and delivering large quanti- per year relative sea level rise, the present rate of min- ties of sediment to areas conducive to the development eral sediment delivery is approximately 8 to 20 times the of barrier islands and wetlands must be the centerpiece amount required—but only if the sediment can be of the plan. If the sediment is made available, the delivered to the areas in need. opportunistic nature of the wetlands will ensure their Unfortunately, targeted delivery is not economically formation. To accomplish this objective, the plan possible for several reasons, such as the energy costs and must mimic the natural system of sediment delivery as long distances of these areas from the Mississippi River, closely as possible. The greatest uncertainties will be which is the primary source of sediment. In addition, the willingness of the nation to provide adequate many communities have been built on the natural lev- financial resources and the acceptance or resistance ees of the river, making it almost impossible to raise the of stakeholders, such as communities built on natural general elevations of these areas; the building of man- levees, to meaningful action. made levees remains the only means of protecting them against flooding.
Stakeholders A wetlands restoration plan A great many stakeholders will be involved in a wet- must mimic the natural land restoration plan that incorporates the optimum characteristics of a natural system. The stakeholder system of sediment delivery most likely to be resistant to large-scale sediment deliv- ery to the areas in need and to channel switching is the as closely as possible. navigation industry. At present, the shunting of sedi- ments offshore through Southwest Pass to deep water provides substantial benefits for the industry. First, it Proposed Plan reduces the amount of dredging necessary for channel Previous efforts to reduce the rate of wetland loss have maintenance. Second, vessels now enter the protective been partly successful. In 1990, Congress passed the shelter of the levees of Southwest Pass immediately after Coastal Wetlands Protection and Preservation leaving the deeper waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Thus, Act or CWPPRA (also known as the Breaux Act) to the present system provides both economic and safety provide federal funding (approximately $50 million benefits that the navigation industry will certainly not per year) for coastal restoration. This program has con- want to compromise. Third, the long distance from sisted primarily of the diversion of fresh water and New Orleans to the Gulf of Mexico effectively limits the sediments to allow for wetland building. Partly because encroachment of saltwater from the Gulf up the river to of limited resources, however, none of the CWPPRA the municipal water intakes of New Orleans. projects has attempted to capture a major portion of the The 40 BRIDGE
TABLE 1 Land-Change Projections for the Next In the NRC report, Drawing Louisiana’s New Map: 50 Years with the CWPPRA and Other Projects Addressing Land Loss in Coastal Louisiana, a committee of and the LCA Plan experts recommends some modifications to the LCA plan (NRC, 2005). Instead of locating the point of Land Changes Program (mi2/year) diversion near Donaldsville, the committee suggests locating it farther south (north of Head of Passes),5 thus Loss-rate reduction attributable to diverting water and sediments to the west. In this way, funded CWPPRA and other projects +2.6 almost all of the discharge could be diverted without Existing situation with existing funded affecting the navigational function of Southwest Pass. CWPPRA and other projects –10.3 The smaller sediment fractions would flow predomi- Anticipated decrease with the LCA plan +1.7 nantly to the west under natural forces; coarser sedi- ments (called “bed load”) would require substantial Net Change with the LCA plan –8.6 dredging from the river bed with predominant place- ment to the west. Source: USACE, 2004. The NRC committee also suggests that the LCA plan proceed with the aid of an evolving map of future river sediments. The Louisiana Coastal Area (LCA) landscapes for various time horizons under alternative plan (developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers options for remediation. Predictions of future land- [USACE] and the Louisiana Department of Natural scapes, although somewhat limited, can be made with Resources and reviewed by the National Research Coun- a reasonable degree of confidence without additional cil [NRC]) is a $2 billion proposal that includes five restoration efforts. Capabilities for predicting the effec- major projects to be constructed within a 10-year period tiveness of various restoration options are already suffi- —the initiation of a science and technology program, cient to initiate a program, and these capabilities will several smaller scale demonstration projects, and prelim- improve with future monitoring of the wetlands and inary evaluations of a few large-scale long-term projects, their response to remedial measures. one of which is discussed below. The purpose of the sci- With the modifications recommended in the report, ence and technology program is to provide an organiza- the LCA plan would focus first on large-scale projects tional framework for the monitoring and evaluation of that could provide economies of scale in delivering constructed projects and to assist in the selection and sediments to the areas in need. If stakeholder concerns design of future projects. Table 1 shows estimates of the and political consequences render the first choices reduction in wetland-loss rates as a result of CWPPRA infeasible, expectations could be adjusted accordingly and other projects and the predicted effects of imple- through revisions to the map. mentation of the proposed LCA plan. To evaluate this approach and demonstrate its bene- A major component of the overall LCA plan that fits (and perhaps gain broad approval), a scaled-down would be evaluated, but not constructed during the version could be put in place. The diversion could be 10-year project, is the so-called “third delta,” originally limited in magnitude with dredging still capturing and proposed by Gagliano and van Beek (1999). A channel delivering coarser sediments to the west. Ideally, these would be constructed from near Donaldsville, Louisiana, sediments could be discharged a sufficient distance to some 55 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. The channel the west that the waves, through natural processes, would be aligned approximately parallel to Bayou La would continue to carry them in that direction, thus Fourche, the natural conveyance that, under natural nourishing the present barrier islands. conditions, carried approximately 15 percent of the Mis- sissippi River discharge (see Figure 2a). This project Rationale for an Integrated Plan appears to be feasible from an engineering perspective Whatever protective system is selected, two essential and would mimic to some degree the natural sediment components must be levee construction and wetland and water delivery processes of the river. Stakeholders and barrier island restoration. Without the latter may be the major limitation to this plan, although a sub- stantial educational program might persuade them to 5 Head of Passes is the location shown in Figure 2b where the main consider the idea. river divides into three main distributaries. SPRING 2006 41
component, the protective capability of levees will con- If the warnings had been heeded, the estimated cost tinue to decrease with time. Wetlands reduce hurri- of prevention would have been less than 1 percent of cane storm surge and wave impact partly by bottom the cost of reconstruction, and many lives would have friction, which dampens waves and reduces storm surge been saved. The cost of debris removal alone as of from rapidly moving hurricanes. Robust wetlands pre- November 2005 was more than the preventive cost serve their buffering capability and contribute to the of upgrading the levees and restoring the wetlands. effectiveness of the levees protecting New Orleans and In the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, many other areas by maintaining vertical elevation in the questions remain to be answered. Might the tragedy presence of relative sea level rise. Although various have been prevented if the technical community had “rules of thumb” have been developed for gauging conveyed realistic, convincing scenarios of the impend- the effectiveness of wetlands in reducing storm surges ing disaster? Or, was the political community unwilling and waves, this is a complicated process that depends to take proactive action to avoid certain disaster because on the translational speed of the hurricane, among of the uncertainty of its timing? More important, will other factors. appropriate steps be taken to avoid preventable disasters However, deferring wetland restoration because of in the future? a quantitative uncertainty of their effectiveness would be I believe a program to identify vulnerable areas ill advised. With further wetland degradation and con- throughout the United States is warranted. Once these tinued relative sea level rise, future hurricane-generated areas have been identified, the associated risks and fail- waves and surges in the New Orleans area are certain to ure consequences can be ranked objectively and the be larger and more destructive. The degree of protection costs of disaster prevention evaluated. Finally, the agen- will certainly diminish with time as the wetlands degrade, cies and organizations responsible for the safety and and restoration from an even more degraded condition financial future of our nation should establish schedules will be more difficult and more costly than maintaining for upgrading infrastructure and risk management plans present conditions. to avoid future disasters. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the associated tragedies have raised several questions for the engineer- References ing, scientific, and political communities, especially the Coleman, J.M. 1988. Dynamic changes and processes in the best way to protect New Orleans from a recurrence of Mississippi River Delta. Geological Society of America flooding. The design of a new levee system could ben- Bulletin 100(7): 999–1015. efit substantially from lessons learned from recent Gagliano, S.M., and J.L. van Beek. 1999. The Third Delta events. First, partitioning the areas at risk with addi- Conveyance Channel Project: Proposed Mississippi River tional levees would make it less likely that a single fail- Diversion Channel and Subdelta Building in the Barataria- ure would cause widespread flooding. Second, for areas Terrebonne Area of Coastal Louisiana. Section 6 of where ground elevations are reasonably high, low sur- Appendix B of Coast 2050: Toward a Sustainable Coastal rounding levees should be considered to isolate these Louisiana. Baton Rouge, La.: Louisiana Department of areas from flooding. Existing roads and other infra- Natural Resources. structure could provide rights of way for this purpose. Gagliano, S.M., E.B. Kemp III, K.M. Wicker, and K.S. Wilten- muth. 2003. Active Geological Faults and Land Change Conclusion in Southeastern Louisiana. Prepared for the U.S. Army A general question for the engineering and political Corps of Engineers. Baton Rouge, La.: Coastal Environ- communities is how to identify areas of extreme vulner- ments Inc. ability and address these vulnerabilities before disasters Gould, H.R. 1970. The Mississippi Delta Complex. Pp. 3–30 occur. It was well known that New Orleans was vulner- in Deltaic Sedimentation: Modern and Ancient, J.P. able to hurricanes of magnitudes that had occurred in the Morgan, ed. SEPM Special Publication 15. Tulsa, Okla.: past and would recur in the future. In fact, if Hurricane Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists. Ivan in 2004 had maintained its course, it is likely that Kesel, R.H. 2003. Human modifications to the sediment severe flooding of New Orleans would have occurred regime of the lower Mississippi River flood plain. Geomor- then. Thus, the scientific/engineering question was not phology 56: 325–334. whether, but when, such a disaster would occur. Louisiana Coastal Wetlands Conservation and Restoration The 42 BRIDGE
Task Force and the Wetlands Conservation and Restora- NRC (National Research Council). 2005. Drawing tion Authority. 1998. Coast 2050: Toward a Sustainable Louisiana’s New Map: Addressing Land Loss in Coastal Coastal Louisiana. Baton Rouge, La.: Louisiana Depart- Louisiana. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press. ment of Natural Resources. NWRC (National Wetlands Research Center). 2005. USGS Morton, R.A., N.A. Buster, and M.D. Krohn. 2002. Subsur- Reports Preliminary Wetland Loss Estimates for Southeast- face controls on historical subsidence rates and associated ern Louisiana from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Available wetland loss in south central Louisiana. Gulf Coast Asso- online at: http://www.nwrc.usgs.gov/releases/pr05_007.htm. ciation of Geological Societies Transactions 52: 767–778. USACE (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers). 2004. Scoping Morton, R.A., G. Tiling, and N.F. Ferina. 2003. Causes of Report: Louisiana Coastal Area (LCA) Ecosystem Restora- hot-spot wetland loss in the Mississippi Delta Plain. Envi- tion Study. New Orleans: USACE, New Orleans District. ronmental Geosciences 10(2): 71–80 (chapters 2 and 7). No policies or standards are in place for individual water sectors or for water resources as a whole.
Restoring Coastal Louisiana: Planning without a National Water Policy
Gerald E. Galloway
Hurricane Katrina focused the nation’s attention on the fragility of our built environment and, perhaps, on the limitations of engineering. As peo- ple in New Orleans and the rest of coastal Louisiana struggle to deal with the aftermath of Katrina and her sister hurricane, Rita, we all worked together to respond to the immediate needs of the victims, develop plans for short-term recovery of the communities and their inhabitants, and set a Gerald E. Galloway is Glenn L. Mar- direction for the future use of lands devastated by nature’s forces and the tin Institute Professor of Engineer- compromise of the levee systems that were supposed to protect them. As a ing, University of Maryland, and nation, we moved forward quickly with the first task and are moving now to assist with short-term recovery. But we appear to be stumbling as we an NAE member. attempt to develop long-term plans for the region. Among other things, Katrina sent us a wake-up call about the water policy issues facing coastal Louisiana and the nation. Unfortunately, unless you con- sider the jumble of conflicting, outdated federal laws, regulations, and proce- dures that deal with water, a national policy, the United States is operating without a water policy that would help us establish goals, objectives, and pri- orities to meet the significant challenges of reconstructing coastal Louisiana and address other challenges in the future.
Coastal Louisiana Coastal Louisiana sits at the end of a natural funnel that carries the waters of the Mississippi River Basin into the Gulf of Mexico, draining 41 percent The 44 BRIDGE
drilling platforms. Most of the region was protected from massive flooding of the Mississippi River by a carefully developed flood-control system that efficiently moved Mississippi River waters past New Orleans and, during critical periods, diverted some of the rising waters around New Orleans though three floodways that sent them on other paths to the Gulf. Hurricane Betsy, which hit New Orleans in 1965, showed clearly, however, that the back door to New Orleans, Lake Pontchartrain, was open and that storm surges moving into the area through Lakes Pontchar- train and Borgne would flood low lying areas north and east of the original settlement. This led to congressional authorization for hurricane protection and the construction, over the next 20 years, FIGURE 1 The Mississippi River Basin. of several projects designed to protect the area against 0.5 percent to 0.33 percent annual chance hurricane of the coterminous United States and parts of two events.2 Given that coastal areas in the Netherlands provinces of Canada (Figure 1). The quality and quan- and Japan are protected against the 0.01 percent event tity of these flows are determined by natural and human- (10,000 year), many considered the 0.5 to 0.33 level of induced actions far from Louisiana. protection too low. People have lived on the banks of the Mississippi at New Orleans since 1718 and before that were scattered Post-Katrina across the large deltaic plain south of the city (Figure 2). When Katrina ripped into the Gulf Coast, several People originally lived along the Mississippi on the levees and floodwalls failed, and many more were over- higher ground, the natural levees. Faced with periodic topped. Levees protecting the city of New Orleans rises in the river, they gradually increased their protec- against the Mississippi remained intact. tion against flooding by building levees on top of the Immediately after the hurricane, attention was focused natural levees. The Mississippi Delta provided an on rebuilding levees. The president of the United States extensive buffer that reduced the impact of hurricanes stood in downtown New Orleans and declared, “Protect- on the city; the distance from the Gulf and the nature ing a city that sits lower than the water around it is not of the wetland terrain worked together to limit the size easy, but it can, and has been done.” He went on to of storm-created surges that moved toward the city from promise that “. . . the Army Corps of Engineers will work the Gulf of Mexico.1 Over time, the original settlement . . . to make the flood protection system stronger than it of New Orleans grew into the backwater wetlands north has ever been.” But what does that mean? of the natural levees by filling lowlands (land below sea While the president was speaking in New Orleans, level) between the Mississippi River and Lake others were raising the issue of protection for the rest of Pontchartrain. By the end of the twentieth century, coastal Louisiana and the need for restoration of the most of the lowlands were occupied. delta wetlands. For more than two decades, people who As the extraction of energy from the coastal region lived in, worked in, or enjoyed the natural wonders of became more feasible, the oil and gas industry moved the deltaic plain had been pointing out the yearly loss throughout the delta, crisscrossing it with channels of 40 square miles of wetlands and the shrinking coast- for pipelines and boat access to remote extraction sites. line that was daily reducing the flood protection for The coastline itself became home to a significant pro- greater New Orleans, delta communities, the oil and gas portion of the nation’s petroleum industry, offering ports, industry, and the commercial fishermen who work in processing plants, and support facilities for off-shore oil
2 The 0.5 percent annual chance event is frequently cited as having a 1 According to anecdotal data, every mile of marsh reduces storm surge 200-year recurrence interval; the 0.33 percent, a 300-year interval; by three inches (Working Group, 2006). and the 1 percent, a 100-year interval. SPRING 2006 45
the Gulf and contribute $2.8 billion to the state and support navigation, flood control, irrigation, and national economy (USACE, 2004). hydropower in those basins (Kesel, 1989). After Katrina, there were also concerns about getting At the same time, nutrients in the waters flowing the world-linked navigation industry back in business. from the rich farmlands of the Midwest have created Southern Louisiana, the nation’s largest port complex, a hypoxic dead zone where the Mississippi enters the Gulf annually handles nearly 200 million short tons of cargo. of Mexico (NOAA, 2006). Upstream agricultural and It is also a transfer point for barges bringing millions of industrial activity has sent pollutants into the Mississippi tons of bulk commodities from farmlands, mines, and and has threatened the quality of the water supply for factories throughout the Midwest and the terminus of communities in the lower Mississippi Valley. In fact, the the 12,300-mile Mississippi River inland waterway sys- Environmental Protection Agency has identified surface tem. Shipping in Louisiana depends on having deep- water and groundwater quality in the delta as subjects of draft channels from Baton Rouge to the Gulf and a well concern. Both New Orleans and the delta also suffer from maintained inland waterway system (USACE, 2005). natural and human-induced subsidence that lowers the landscape; at the same time, accelerating sea level rise is Dealing with Multiple Challenges covering more and more wetland areas and moving back The restoration of wetlands, protection from floods, the shoreline (Working Group, 2006). and the maintenance of navigation are not stand-alone It would be logical to deal with all of these problems issues. Much of the deterioration of the wetlands has in an integrated way so the solution to one problem is taken place because Mississippi River sediment, which balanced against its impact, positive or negative, on for thousands of years had been spread across the delta the others. The ultimate solution must deal concur- forming one delta lobe after another, is being chan- rently with all of these issues. Long before Katrina, neled into the Gulf of Mexico by the levees that line there were pleas that hurricane protection be increased much of the Mississippi from Cairo, Illinois, to the to a level in keeping with the threat, and Congress had Gulf. These levees keep the water off of the land and, authorized a study to look into increasing protection. together with dikes and concrete revetments, main- In addition, both federal and state agencies were devel- tain deep channels that support navigation. In addi- oping plans for the restoration of coastal Louisiana, tion, the once-rich sediment load of the river has been and an AMERICA’S WETLAND campaign to bring cut nearly in half over the last half-century by large the coastal restoration challenge to the attention of the dams built on the Missouri and Arkansas Rivers to public had already begun. When the hurricane hit, legislation for a Louisiana coastal-area restoration project was awaiting action in the Office of Manage- ment and Budget; similar legislative initiatives were under way in Washington and Baton Rouge to enhance the navigation system and address ongoing water quality issues. But these actions were proceed- ing on parallel paths with little or no coordination. The goals of each action were being developed on the fly with no master plan of how these efforts would FIGURE 2 Louisiana Gulf Coast. relate to each other. The 46 BRIDGE
Establishing Direction years later, when much of the nation was hit by disas- Decisions about restoring coastal Louisiana and New trous floods, Congress passed the 1936 Flood Control Orleans must be based on a comprehensive vision Act, stating that “. . . destructive floods upon the rivers embedded in national policies. Programs and standards . . . constitute a menace to national welfare; it is the developed for New Orleans and the Mississippi Delta sense of Congress that flood control is a proper activity may well have to be applied to programs in other parts of the Federal Government.” The act went on to posit of the country. In Congress, precedents do matter. that “. . . the Federal Government should improve or Unfortunately, neither visions nor policies nor standards participate in improvements . . . for flood control pur- have been established for individual water sectors or for poses if the benefits to whomsoever they accrue are in water resources as a whole. excess of the estimated costs . . .” (33 USC 701). The approach to water policy has varied over time The 1928 and 1936 acts provided a clear national pol- and, with few exceptions, has focused on water sectors icy, and federal agencies quickly took on the mission of as opposed to water as an integrated whole. More than flood control. They understood this mission to be keep- 125 years ago, Congress made known its goal of sup- ing floodwaters away from people by building structures 3 porting navigation on the Mississippi River when it to prevent flood damage. Given these marching orders, formed the Mississippi River Commission and chartered USACE set out to protect communities from the largest it to “. . . improve and give safety and ease to navigation probable flood that might occur in the river basin under . . . and promote and facilitate commerce, trade, and the consideration, a flood that generally is larger than a postal service” (33 USC 647). Over the years, Congress 0.2 percent annual chance event. has authorized the construction of lock and dam navi- Similar broad, water-related legislation was passed in gation systems on many other rivers. The Reclamation the mid-twentieth century to deal with hydropower, the Act of 1902 put forward a vision for encouraging settle- formation of a Tennessee Valley Authority, and the pro- ment of the arid West and the use of western lands for tection of endangered species and a number of related agriculture. Putting aside questions about the uses of environmental issues. The National Environmental water, the vision of 1902 did, in fact, look beyond a five- Policy Act, National Flood Insurance Act, Clean Water or ten-year horizon to establish a program in keeping Act, and Safe Drinking Water Act provided sectoral with a policy, accomplished a defined goal, and brought goals for the water community. people and water to the West. In an effort to bring together water-resource activities and establish standards for federally supported water- development activities, Congress passed the Water Re- sources Planning Act of 1965 (42 USC 1962), which Water policy has focused established river-basin commissions to undertake com- prehensive, multi-objective planning. The law estab- more on water sectors than on lished a federal Water Resources Council that was charged with coordinating government water policies water as an integrated whole. and promulgating “principles and standards” to guide the development of water resources. In 1973, the Water Resources Council released Principles and Standards for In 1927, the lower Mississippi Valley was hard hit by water-resources development, which required that fed- a “flood of record” that killed hundreds of people and eral agencies take into account national and regional displaced thousands. Congress responded with the economic development, environmental quality, and Flood Control Act of 1928 (PL 70-391), which assigned social effects in their planning (USWRC, 1973). the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the A Change in Course Mississippi River Commission the mission of prevent- ing a repetition of the event, indicated that the control Although efforts were being made to broaden the basis of floods was “. . . in the interests of national prosperity, for considering water projects, pressures on the federal the flow of interstate commerce, and the movement of the United States mails . . . ,” and acknowledged that 3 Because floods are natural events that will continue to occur, flood con- this was a province of the federal government. Eight trol can only reduce the effects of floods on the population. SPRING 2006 47
budget and a raft of studies about government ineffi- In addition to the policy drought, there is a growing ciency led to the tightening of federal standards for cost- serious backlog of maintenance and upgrades of the benefit analyses and a focus on the economic component nation’s infrastructure, as is apparent from internal gov- of analyses to the detriment of other factors. In 1981, the ernment reports. The American Society of Civil Engi- Reagan administration provided no funds for the Water neers (ASCE), in its fifth Report Card on the condition Resources Council and abolished the river basin com- of the nation’s infrastructure that included water, gave missions. In place of Principles and Standards, the admin- the nation’s infrastructure a grade of D (ASCE, 2005). istration issued Principles and Guidelines, which stated The cost of addressing the backlog of maintenance and that the “. . . Federal objective of water and related land required upgrades, much of it water related, is more than resources project planning is to contribute to national eco- $1.0 trillion. But the backlog has received little atten- nomic development [emphasis added] consistent with pro- tion (or funding). tecting the Nation’s environment” (USWRC, 1983). In 1986, Congress and the administration greatly increased the cost-sharing requirement for states and localities requesting that federal water projects be built in Since 1983, there has their regions. Although this ensured that the local spon- sors would be invested in the projects, it also gave local been no central direction governments the right to have more say in how projects might be developed and to object to aspects of pro- or coordination of water- jects, such as environmental restoration, that they might related activities. see as meeting federal goals as opposed to local needs. By the end of the 1980s, the water-resources share of the federal budget had been severely reduced. The USACE water budget had been cut nearly in half, and Examining the Problem the Bureau of Reclamation had moved into an opera- The last comprehensive look at how we manage our tions and maintenance mode. The net result of 30 years water was undertaken in 1973 by a National Water of focusing attention on economic benefit-cost analy- Commission (NWC, 1973), and no major technical ses, cost-sharing, and the virtual elimination of compre- assessment of the status of water has been done since hensive planning led to an almost exclusive focus on 1976. Flood-damage reduction programs were addressed individual projects that met the national economic- in a 1994 study (Interagency Floodplain Management development test. Review Committee, 1994), but little was done in Between 1965 and 2005, in the flood-control arena, response to the report. A recent report of the U.S. Com- levels of protection provided by new projects were mission on Ocean Policy (2004) has received similar designed less to protect against the large events envi- treatment in Washington. sioned in the 1930s than to provide the most favorable Since 1983, when the Water Resources Council was benefit-cost ratios; little consideration was given to effectively abolished, there has been no central direc- the non-quantifiable social and human safety costs tion to or coordination of federal water efforts among of the lack of protection. the many departments that deal with water issues. Con- Because new projects do not fully consider the envi- gress remains locked in a turf-conscious committee sys- ronmental and social consequences of a lack of protec- tem that does not encourage coordination. Except for tion, most of them hover at the 1 percent (100-year) enforcing water quality standards, there is little federal level of protection, the level that exempts those pro- guidance, other than budgetary or ad hoc initiatives, on tected by the project from the mandatory purchase other water issues. requirements of the National Flood Insurance Program. Given the present policy vacuum and the reluctance So as New Orleans and coastal Louisiana moved into on the part of Congress and the administration to sup- the twenty-first century in search of a higher level of port comprehensive planning, New Orleans and coastal protection for area residents, they were up against a fed- Louisiana will have to develop, in coordination with eral government operating on an ad hoc basis with no federal agencies, their own vision for the future and set standards. move ahead in a way that brings together solutions to The 48 BRIDGE the many water challenges facing the region. This com- Authority to carry out the planning and supervision of prehensive plan must address all aspects of coastal the overall program (Working Group, 2006). Louisiana’s water challenges. Avoiding Temptation •A flood-damage reduction strategy must be developed The temptation will be to fall back on previous expe- that provides a high level of protection for the people rience and relationships and deal with the future devel- of New Orleans and key centers in the deltaic plain by opment of the region as a series of individual, unrelated building higher and stronger levees, constructing surge activities. However, if those responsible can use this gates similar to the ones used on coastal Netherlands, time as an opportunity to demonstrate the efficacy of and restoring the coastal wetlands that protect the comprehensive planning, goal setting, and policy devel- region from hurricanes. The strategy must also con- opment, their efforts to deal with the plight of coastal sider land use along the coast and limits on redevel- Louisiana may provide a much-needed impetus for the opment where occupancy might once again result country as a whole to move toward the development of in tragedy. truly national water policies. • The plan must take advantage of natural processes to reverse the receding coastline and restore coastal wet- References lands and the environmental vitality of this incred- ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers). 2005. ASCE ible natural resource. 2005 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure. Available online at: http://sections.asce.org/louisiana/directory.htm. • The overall plan must meet the needs for flood con- Interagency Floodplain Management Review Committee. trol and navigation while concurrently increasing the 1994. Sharing the Challenge: Floodplain Management movement of sediments and fresh water from the Mis- into the 21st Century: Report of the Interagency Flood- sissippi into wetland areas. A recent report by a com- plain Management Review Committee to the Administra- mittee of the National Research Council (2005) tion Floodplain Management Task Force. Washington, reviews plans for restoration and suggests ways the D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. program might be improved. Kesel, R.H. 1989. The role of the Mississippi River in wet- • There must be a strategy to develop state and federal land loss in southeastern Louisiana, U.S.A. Environmen- support to address the ongoing issues related to tal Geology 13(3): 183–193. improving the water quality in the Mississippi, as well NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra- as local water quality in the delta. tion) National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science. 2006. Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Assessment. Available online at: • The comprehensive plan should include a review of http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/products/pubs_hypox.html#Intro. the need for maintenance and upgrades to existing NRC (National Research Council). 2005. Drawing infrastructure for navigation, flood-damage reduc- Louisiana’s New Map: Addressing Land Loss in Coastal tion, environmental remediation, and water supply Louisiana. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press. and treatment. It will be important that new work be NWC (National Water Commission). 1973. New Direc- integrated with structures that can survive well into tions in U.S. Water Policy; Summary, Conclusions, and the twenty-first century. Recommendations from the Final Report of the National • An institutional structure should be developed, in Water Commission. Arlington, Va.: National Water partnership with the federal government, to prepare Commission. and oversee integrated plans and execute these activ- USACE (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers). 2004. Louisiana ities, establish priorities, and develop innovative Coastal Area (LCA), Louisiana Ecosystem Restoration funding mechanisms. Study. New Orleans: USACE, New Orleans District. USACE. 2005. Waterborne Commerce of the United States: A working group of scientists and engineers, many Part 5: National Summaries. Alexandria, Va.: USACE, with close ties to coastal Louisiana, has recently reviewed Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center. the challenges faced by the region and recommended not U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy. 2004. An Ocean Blue- only specific restoration activities, but also new print for the 21st Century: Final Report. Washington, approaches to ensure an integrated approach. The group D.C.: U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy. has suggested the establishment of a Coastal Louisiana SPRING 2006 49
USWRC (U.S. Water Resources Council). 1973. Water and Resources Council. Related Land Resources: Establishment of Principles and Working Group for Post-Hurricane Planning for the Louisiana Standards for Planning. Federal Register 38: 24784, Coast. 2006. A New Framework for Planning the Future 248222–248223. of Coastal Louisiana after the Hurricanes of 2005. Cam- USWRC. 1983. Economic and Environmental Principles bridge, Md.: University of Maryland Center for Environ- and Guidelines for Water and Related Land Resources mental Science. Implementation Studies. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Water The 50 BRIDGE
NAE News and Notes
NAE Newsmakers
Norman R. Augustine, retired exemplary leadership in aeronautics Ohio State University will be chairman and CEO, Lockheed Mar- teaching and research, the develop- awarded the E.V. Murphree Award tin Corporation, will receive the ment of state-of-the-art aerodynamic in Industrial and Engineering National Academy of Sciences testing techniques, and outstanding Chemistry for “pioneering contri- (NAS) most prestigious award, the public service.” butions to fluidized bed technology.” Public Welfare Medal, during Charles B. Duke, vice president The award will be presented at the the NAS Annual Meeting in April and senior research fellow, Xerox national meeting of the American 2006. The medal is being awarded Innovation Group, Wilson Center Chemical Society in March 2006. in honor of Dr. Augustine’s “contri- for Research and Technology, has He also received the Joseph Sulli- butions to the vitality of science in been awarded the American Physi- vant Medal (JSM) at the 2005 fall the United States by bringing to cal Society 2006 George E. Pake commencement of Ohio State Uni- industry and government a better Prize. Granted annually, the Pake versity. JSM, the highest honor understanding of the crucial role Prize honors individuals for their bestowed by the university upon one that fundamental scientific research work combining original research of its faculty members or alumni, is must play in our long-term security and leadership in industrial given once every five years in recog- and economic prosperity.” research and development. Dr. nition of eminent achievement. Zdeneˇk P. Bazˇant, McCormick Duke was cited for “groundbreaking Professor Fan was also elected to the Institute Professor and W.P. Murphy theoretical contributions to the Mexican Academy of Sciences in Professor of Civil Engineering and understanding of tunneling in solids September 2005. Materials Science at Northwestern and inelastic scattering of low-ener- Edwin N. Lightfoot Jr., Emeritus University, was awarded the gy electrons in solids and for out- Hilldale Professor of Chemical Engi- Theodore von Kármán Medal by standing contributions to Xerox neering, Department of Chemical the American Society of Civil Engi- Corporate Research, both as an Engineering, University of Wiscon- neers (ASCE) in recognition of his intellectual and a research manager.” sin, was one of eight individuals distinguished achievement in engi- Bonnie Dunbar, president and honored with the 2004 National neering mechanics. Dr. Bazˇant was CEO, Seattle Museum of Flight, is Medal of Science. Dr. Lightfoot was cited “for substantive contributions this year’s recipient of the Society of recognized for “vigorous and sus- to the understanding and solution of Women Engineers (SWE) 2005 tained leadership in biochemical and a multitude of problems in engineer- Achievement Award. Dr. Dunbar is biomedical engineering, particularly ing mechanics involving structural being recognized for her visionary in the areas of blood oxygenation, stability, behavior of concrete, and contributions to ceramic tiles for the oxygen diffusion into tissue, mathe- uncertainty and scale effects in space shuttle and her biomedical matical modeling of biological reac- materials and structures.” research. “Dr. Dunbar’s career is a tion pathways, bioseparations, and Eugene E. Covert, T. Wilson Pro- testament to her incredible contri- studies of diabetic responses.” The fessor of Aeronautics, Emeritus, butions and influence to the field medal was presented to Dr. Lightfoot Massachusetts Institute of Technol- of engineering,” says Ronna Robert- by President Bush in a ceremony on ogy, is the recipient of the 2005 son, SWE president. “She has made February 13, 2006. Daniel Guggenheim Medal. The huge advances in commercial and Kurt E. Peterson, chief exec- medal will be presented by the Amer- government aerospace research utive officer, SiTime, received the ican Institute of Aeronautics and and development.” Best of Small Tech Award for Astronautics (AIAA) in Wash- Liang-Shih Fan, Distinguished Lifetime Achievement from Small ington, D.C., on April 25, 2006. University Professor and C. John Times Magazine for his more than Dr. Covert will be honored “for Easton Professor in Engineering at 30 years as a founder, researcher, SPRING 2006 51
and entrepreneur in microelectro- Dr. Ritchie was cited for his Federation of Materials Societies at mechanical systems (MEMS). “immeasurable impact on the com- a reception at the National Press Dennis Ritchie, member of the puting world with the UNIX oper- Club in Washington, D.C., on technical staff, Lucent Technol- ating system and programming December 7. The award is given to ogies, has been awarded the 2005 language inventions.” individuals who have advanced the Industrial Research Institute Al Romig Jr., senior vice pres- use of materials and the multidisci- Achievement Award. The award is ident, deputy laboratories director, plinary field of materials science given for outstanding individual cre- Integrated Technology Programs, and engineering generally and who ativity and innovations that con- Sandia National Laboratories, will have contributed to the application tribute to the development of receive the National Materials of materials science to national industry and the benefit of society. Advancement Award from the problems and policy.
Class of 2006 Elected
In February, NAE elected 76 new Research Center, San Jose, Califor- development higher priorities in the members and 9 new foreign associ- nia. For the development of tech- oil industry. ates, bringing the number of U.S. niques for extracting information Gregory B. Baecher, professor of members to 2,216 and the number from very large databases. civil and environmental engineer- of foreign associates to 186. Elec- Cristina H. Amon, Raymond J. ing, University of Maryland, Col- tion to NAE honors individuals who Lane Distinguished Professor and lege Park. For the development, have made outstanding contribu- director, Institute for Complex Engi- explication, and implementation of tions to “engineering research, prac- neered Systems, Carnegie Institute probabilistic and reliability-based tice, or education, including . . . of Technology, Carnegie Mellon approaches to geotechnical and significant contributions to the University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylva- water-resources engineering. engineering literature” and to “new nia. For advances in heat transfer Egon Balas, Thomas Lord Uni- and developing fields of technology, and thermal design of portable elec- versity Professor of Operations . . . major advancements in tradi- tronics and for contributions to Research, Department of Mathe- tional fields of engineering, [and] engineering education. matical Sciences, Carnegie Mellon innovative approaches to engineer- Mary Pikul Anderson, professor, University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylva- ing education.” A list of newly Department of Geology and Geo- nia. For contributions to integer elected members and foreign associ- physics, University of Wisconsin, programming and its applications to ates follows, with primary affilia- Madison. For leadership in the the scheduling and planning of tions at the time of election and development of groundwater- industrial facilities. brief descriptions of principal flow models. Mark A. Barteau, Robert L. Pig- accomplishments. Dimitri A. Antoniadis, Ray and ford Professor and chair, Department Maria Stata Chair of Electrical of Chemical Engineering, University New Members Engineering, Department of Electri- of Delaware, Newark. For advancing Ilesanmi Adesida, interim dean, cal Engineering and Computer Sci- the fundamental understanding of College of Engineering, University ence, Massachusetts Institute of surface chemical-reaction mecha- of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. For Technology, Cambridge. For contri- nisms and for the design and inven- contributions to the nanometer- butions to microelectronics in field- tion of new catalysts. scale processing of semiconductor effect devices and for silicon process Toby Berger, Irwin and Joan structures and applications in high- modeling. Jacobs Professor of Engineering, Cor- performance electronic and opto- R. Lyndon Arscott, management nell University, Ithaca, New York. electronic devices. consultant, Danville, California. For contributions to the theory and Rakesh Agrawal, IBM Fellow For making health, safety, environ- practice of lossy data compression. and senior manager, IBM Almaden mental protection, and sustainable Madan M. Bhasin, senior The 52 BRIDGE scientist, Union Carbide Corpora- through planning and operational School of Engineering and Applied tion, a subsidiary of Dow Chemical analyses of military forces, systems, Science, University of California, Company, South Charleston, West and force-employment concepts. Los Angeles. For work on boiling Virginia. For the development Archie R. Clemins, owner and heat transfer and contributions to of efficient catalysts for the pro- president, Caribou Technologies nuclear reactor thermal hydraulics duction of ethylene oxide and for Inc., Boise, Idaho. For the creation and safety. contributions to the fundamen- and initial fielding of the U.S. Daniel W. Dobberpuhl, president tal understanding of catalysts. Navy’s transformational use of infor- and chief executive officer, P.A. Manuel Blum, Bruce Nelson mation, which has enabled net- Semi Inc., Menlo Park, California. Professor of Computer Science, centric operations. For the innovative design and im- Computer Science Department, Danny Cohen, Distinguished plementation of high-performance, Carnegie Mellon University, Pitts- Engineer, Sun Microsystems Inc., low-power microprocessors. burgh, Pennsylvania. For contribu- Menlo Park, California. For contri- Susan J. Eggers, Microsoft Pro- tions to abstract complexity theory, butions to the advanced design, fessor of Computer Science and inductive inference, cryptographic graphics, and real-time network pro- Engineering, University of Wash- protocols, and the theory and appli- tocols of computer systems. ington, Seattle. For contributions cation of program checkers. Robert Paul Colwell, indepen- to the design and evaluation of Samuel Wright Bodman, secre- dent consultant, Portland, Oregon. advanced processor architectures. tary of energy, U.S. Department of For contributions to turning novel Menachem Elimelech, Roberto Energy, Washington, D.C. For lead- computer architecture concepts into C. Goizueta Professor of Environ- ership and innovation in materials viable, cutting-edge commercial mental and Chemical Engineering, science and technology and for out- processors. Yale University, New Haven, Con- standing cabinet-level service to the Gary L. Cowger, vice president, necticut. For contributions to the U.S. government. Global Group, General Motors theory and practice of advanced fil- William J. Boettinger, fellow, Corporation, Detroit, Michigan. tration technologies for the treat- National Institute of Standards and For contributions to the develop- ment and reuse of potable water. Technology, Gaithersburg, Mary- ment and implementation of sys- Richard G. Farmer, faculty land. For the application of rigorous tems and methods that have research associate, Department of principles of thermodynamics and dramatically improved flexibility, Electrical Engineering, Arizona kinetics to the design and control quality, and productivity in auto- State University, Tempe. For solv- of critical industrial materials and mobile manufacturing. ing problems in the dynamic opera- processes. Robert A. Dalrymple, Willard tion of electric power systems, Adrian R. Chamberlain, man- and Lillian Hackerman Professor including subsynchronous reso- ager, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Denver, of Civil Engineering, Department of nance and system stabilization. Colorado. For innovations in the Civil Engineering, Johns Hopkins Katharine G. Frase, vice president mobility, aesthetic, safety, and envi- University, Baltimore, Maryland. of technology, IBM Corporation, ronmental aspects of transporta- For contributions to theories Somers, New York. For engineering tion systems. and their application to coastal and contributions, inlcuding the use of Josephine Cheng, IBM Fellow ocean engineering. lead-free materials and the develop- and vice president, IBM China L. Berkley Davis, chief engineer, ment of other electronic packaging Development Laboratories, Beijing. Systems/Accessories, General Elec- materials and processes. For sustained leadership and contri- tric Company, Schenectady, New Gary Harold Glover, professor butions to relational database tech- York. For innovations leading to of radiology and director, Radiolog- nology and its applications to a wide the development and worldwide ical Sciences Laboratory, Stanford range of digital operational systems. implementation of low-NOX- University, Stanford, California. W. Peter Cherry, chief analyst, emission gas turbines for electric- For research and engineering in the Science Applications International power generation. development of computed tomog- Corporation, Vienna, Virginia. For Vijay K. Dhir, Distinguished Pro- raphy and magnetic resonance contributions to national security fessor and dean, Henry Samueli imaging. SPRING 2006 53
David J. Goodman, professor of University, Baltimore, Maryland. Group leader, Ove Arup & Partners, electrical and computer engineer- For contributions to statistical lan- San Francisco, California. For ing, Polytechnic University, Brook- guage processing with applications advancing the state of practice and lyn, New York. For contributions to to automatic speech recognition. for the innovative design of soft- the theory and practice of wireless M. Frans Kaashoek, professor, ground engineering and deep communications and digital signal Department of Electrical Engineer- foundations. processing. ing and Computer Science, Massa- John M. Kulicki, chief executive Leslie Greengard, professor of chusetts Institute of Technology, officer, president, and chief engineer, mathematics, Courant Institute Cambridge. For contributions to Modjeski and Masters Inc., Harris- of Mathematical Sciences, New computer systems, distributed sys- burg, Pennsylvania. For the design York University, New York City. tems, and content-distribution of major bridges and for leadership For work on the development of networks. in the development of load- and algorithms and software for fast Linda P.B. Katehi, dean of engi- resistance-factor design specifications. multipole methods. neering, Purdue University, West Sau-Hai (Harvey) Lam, Edwin Michael D. Griffin, adminis- Lafayette, Indiana. For contributions Wilsey ’04 Professor Emeritus of trator, National Aeronautics and to three-dimensional integrated cir- Mechanical and Aerospace Engi- Space Administration, Washington, cuits and on-wafer packaging and to neering, Princeton University, D.C. For technical leadership of the engineering education. Princeton, New Jersey. For contribu- Delta 180/181/183 flight experi- Pradeep K. Khosla, dean of engi- tions to aerospace engineering in the ments that led to the first quanti- neering and Phillip and Marsha areas of plasma flows, combustion, tative measurements of space Dowd Professor, Carnegie Mellon turbulence, and adaptive controls. intercept physics. University, Pittsburgh, Pennsyl- James C.M. Li, professor, Depart- George M. Homsy, professor of vania. For contributions to design ment of Mechanical Engineering, mechanical and chemical engineer- and sensor-based control in robotic University of Rochester, Rochester, ing, University of California, Santa systems for the assembly of high- New York. For contributions to Barbara. For innovative experi- precision electronics and for leader- micromechanics and mesoscopic mental and theoretical studies of ship in engineering education. mechanisms in materials and to the multiphase and interfacial flow phe- David B. Kirk, chief scientist, commercialization of amorphous nomena and for the development of NVIDIA Corporation, Santa Clara, metals. educational materials in fluid California. For work on high- John H. Linehan, vice presi- mechanics. performance graphics for personal dent, Whitaker Foundation, Davorin D. Hrovat, corporate computers. Arlington, Virginia. For research technical specialist, Ford Research Martin Klein, president, Martin on the pulmonary mechanics and Laboratory, Dearborn, Michigan. Klein Consultants, Andover, Massa- metabolism of critical bioactive For contributions to the develop- chusetts. For the development of agents and for innovations in bio- ment of automotive controls that underwater imaging systems that engineering education and profes- have led to improvements in perfor- have contributed to ocean explo- sional development. mance, comfort, and safety. ration and the recovery of high- Verne L. (Larry) Lynn, consul- Stephen B. Jaffe, retired Distin- value objects. tant, Naples, Florida. For outstand- guished Scientific Adviser, Exxon- Thomas L. Koch, Daniel E. ’39 ing leadership and vision in the Mobil Research and Engineering and Patricia Smith Chair and direc- development and application of Company, Paulsboro, New Jersey. tor, Center for Optical Technolo- unmanned aerospace vehicles, sen- For the development of computer gies, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, sors, and systems. models describing complex petroleum- Pennsylvania. For contributions to Krzysztof Aleksander Maty- processing chemistry and kinetics optoelectronic technologies and jaszewski, J.C. Warner Professor and for contributions to the opti- their implementation in optical of Chemistry and director, Center mization of refining operations. communications systems. for Macromolecular Engineering, Frederick Jelinek, Julian Sinclair Demetrious C. Koutsoftas, asso- Chemistry Department, Carnegie Smith Professor, Johns Hopkins ciate principal and Geotechnical Mellon University, Pittsburgh, The 54 BRIDGE
Pennsylvania. For expanding the Department of Bioengineering, University, College Station. For capabilities of controlled/living poly- University of California, San Diego. contributions to the fundamental merizations and developing ATRP, a For scholarship, technological understanding and control of shear robust catalytic process for the radi- advances, and entrepreneurial activ- flow and boundary-layer transition. cal polymerization of monomers. ities in metabolic engineering. Eric Schmidt, chairman of the M. Douglas McIlroy, adjunct pro- Jean-Yves Parlange, professor of Executive Committee and chief fessor, Department of Computer Sci- biological and environmental engi- executive officer, Google Inc., ence, Dartmouth College, Hanover, neering, Cornell University, Ithaca, Mountain View, California. For New Hampshire. For fundamental New York. For fundamental contri- the development of strategies for contributions to the development of butions to the formulation of water the world’s most successful Internet computer operating systems and pro- flow and solute transport in soils and search engine company. gramming languages. groundwater. Ricardo B. Schwarz, fellow, Paul V. Mockapetris, chairman Arogyaswami Joseph Paulraj, Materials Science and Technology and chief scientist, Nominum Inc., professor of electrical engineering Division, Los Alamos National Lab- Redwood City, California. For con- (research), Stanford University, oratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico. tributions to the Internet, including Stanford, California. For contribu- For contributions to the fundamen- pioneering and standardizing the tions to the theory and practice of tal understanding of the synthesis Domain Name System. MIMO smart-antenna wireless and behavior of metallic glasses. Albert F. Myers, corporate vice technology. Surendra P. Shah, Walter P. Mur- president, Strategy and Technology, Nicholas A. Peppas, Fletcher phy Professor, Department of Civil Northrop Grumman Corporation, Stuckey Pratt Chair in Engineering, and Environmental Engineering, Los Angeles, California. For contri- University of Texas, Austin. For and director, Center for Advanced butions to the fly-by-wire control contributions to the development of Cement-Based Materials, North- system for NASA research aircraft biomedical and drug-delivery appli- western University, Evanston, and for leadership in the develop- cations of polymer networks and Illinois. For work on advanced ment of the flight-control system for hydrogels. cement-based materials and for pro- the B-2 Stealth aircraft . Priyaranjan Prasad, Ford Tech- moting interdisciplinary research Devaraysamudram R. Nagaraj, nical Fellow and manager, Safety and education on concrete materials. research fellow, Cytec Industries Research Department, Ford Research Alvy Ray Smith, consultant, Inc., Stamford, Connecticut. For Laboratory, Dearborn, Michigan. For Seattle, Washington. For the devel- contributions to the development advances in automotive safety and opment of digital imaging, composit- and commercialization of novel impact biomechanics that have led ing, and painting that have led to reagents that have advanced the sci- to safer vehicles. fundamental changes in the graphic ence of froth flotation. Lanny A. Robbins, research fel- arts and motion picture industries. Robert M. Oliver, chairman of low, Dow Chemical Company, Ching Wan Tang, Distinguished the board, ANSER Corporation, Midland, Michigan. For the devel- Research Fellow, Research and Arlington, Virginia. For leadership opment of novel commercial separa- Development, Eastman Kodak Com- in the development of financial tion and purification processes for pany, Rochester, New York. For engineering and for the application environmental control that have the invention of the organic light- of operations research to public greatly improved the removal of emitting device and organic bilayer problems. trace impurities. solar cell, the bases of modern or- Roberto Padovani, executive Hans Thomas Rossby, professor ganic electronics. vice president and chief technology of oceanography, Graduate School Alan I. Taub, executive director, officer, QUALCOMM Inc., San of Oceanography, University of Research and Development, Gen- Diego, California. For innovations Rhode Island, Narragansett. For the eral Motors Corporation, Warren, in wireless communication, particu- development of deep-ocean instru- Michigan. For contributions to the larly the evolution of CDMA for ments for ocean observing systems. development of innovative elec- wireless broadband data. William S. Saric, professor of trical materials and automotive Bernhard O. Palsson, professor, aerospace engineering, Texas A&M technologies and leadership in SPRING 2006 55
the globalization of automotive Dusan Zrnic, senior scientist, semiconductor industries in research. National Severe Storms Laboratory, Finland. Ali Galip Ulsoy, William Clay Norman, Oklahoma. For the devel- Andrea Rinaldo, professor of civil Ford Professor of Manufacturing, opment of potent radar methods that engineering, University of Padova, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. have greatly improved operational Padova, Italy. For contributions For research on the dynamics and weather detection and warning and toward the understanding of the control of axially moving elastic advanced meteorological research. structure and organization of river materials and their implementation basins and hydrologic transport in automotive and manufactur- New Foreign Associates processes. ing systems. Charles Anthony Richard Man Mohan Sharma, Emeritus Vladimir N. Vapnik, fellow, Hoare, senior researcher, Microsoft Professor of Eminence, Mumbai NEC Laboratories America Inc., Research, Cambridge, United King- University Institute of Chemical Princeton, New Jersey. For insights dom. For fundamental contribu- Technology, Mumbai, India. For into the fundamental complexities tions to computer science in the contributions in multiphase re- of learning and for inventing practi- areas of algorithms, operating sys- actions leading to the rational cal and widely applied machine- tems, and programming languages. design of reactive separations and learning algorithms. Evert Hoek, independent con- leadership in the development of Vaclav Vitek, professor, Materials sulting engineer, North Vancouver, the Indian chemical industry. Science and Engineering Depart- British Columbia, Canada. For Anthony P.F. Turner, head, ment, University of Pennsylvania, major contributions to the develop- Cranfield University, Silsoe, Bed- Philadelphia. For work in the devel- ment and application of rational fordshire, United Kingdom. For the opment of the atomistic modeling of design procedures for engineered development of technology for glu- crystalline solids and their applica- systems in rock. cose sensors, environmental moni- tion to materials engineering. Jörg Imberger, professor of envi- tors, and synthetic recognition Tommy M. Warren, director, ronmental engineering and chair, molecules. Casing Drilling Research, Testco Centre for Water Research, Univer- Kuang-Di Xu, president, Chinese Corporation, Houston, Texas. For sity of Western Australia, Nedlands, Academy of Engineering, Beijing. pioneering inventions in drilling Australia. For contributions to and For contributions to the efficient technology. international leadership in the envi- manufacturing of quality steels with G. Paul Willhite, Ross H. Forney ronmental fluid dynamics of lakes, minimal environmental impact. Distinguished Professor and chair; reservoirs, estuaries, and coastal seas. Miranda G.S. Yap, executive codirector, Tertiary Oil Recovery Markus V. Pessa, professor and director and professor, Bioprocessing Project; and codirector, Kansas Uni- research director, Optoelectronics Technology Institute, Singapore. versity Energy Research Center, Research Centre, Tampere Uni- For outstanding achievements in University of Kansas, Lawrence. For versity of Technology, Tampere, education, research, and manage- research, technology, and education Finland. For outstanding contribu- ment in the field of mammalian cell outreach in tertiary oil-recovery tions to optoelectronic devices and culture. processes. for leadership in establishing new The 56 BRIDGE
Report of the Foreign Secretary
by CAE officers and staff. At CAS in international relations, to discuss we met with Vice President Li, with areas of common interest and invite whom we had a broad discussion, suggestions. ranging from education to issues On December 11 and 12, the Inter- related to interdisciplinary research. national Advisory Board to the For- We also met with the leadership and eign Secretaries of the Academies some distinguished faculty of held its semiannual meeting to Tsinghua University; we discussed advise the secretaries on future in- issues of common interest in engi- ternational activities. The Decem- neering education and research, as ber 12 meeting was devoted largely George Bugliarello well as U.S. restrictions on foreign to presentations and discussions by students. We then visited some of speakers on three topics: zoonotic A number of noteworthy events the university’s impressive environ- epidemics (the growing number of have taken place since my last mental engineering and networks human infectious diseases from con- report. I am happy to report that laboratories and noted the enormous tacts between humans and animals), NAE members have elected nine expansion of the campus. Later dur- natural disasters, and the Academies’ new Foreign Associates: one each ing our visit, NAE foreign associates Rapid Urbanization Project (funded from Australia, Canada, China, Fin- Dr. Song Jian (former CAE pres- by the Moore Foundation). land, India, Italy, and Singapore, ident) and Dr. Wang Dianzuo (CAE NAE member Jerome Rivard, on and two from the United Kingdom. vice president) hosted a dinner for a behalf of NAE, worked with the Before the holidays, President further exchange of views. U.S.-Mexico Foundation for Science Wulf and I traveled to China for In December, Dr. Paula Dobrian- (FUMEC) to organize a tri-national meetings at the Chinese Academy of sky, deputy secretary of state; Dr. meeting on automotive electronics Engineering (CAE) and Chinese George Atkinson, science advisor to in Michigan and Windsor, Ontario. Academy of Sciences (CAS) to dis- the secretary of state; and Anthony The meeting was held on Novem- cuss collaborative projects. Presi- Rock, acting assistant secretary for ber 28–December 2 (see p. 58). dent Wulf and CAE President Xu the Bureau of Oceans and Interna- Kuangdi (a newly elected foreign tional Environmental and Scientific associate) renewed the agreement Affairs, met with the presidents and for collaboration between our acade- foreign secretaries of the National George Bugliarello mies in a formal ceremony attended Academies, as well as other experts Foreign Secretary SPRING 2006 57
NAE Regional Meeting on Energy in the 21st Century
significant part of the mix, and attitudes. She estimated it would renewable technologies will occupy take 25 years to make these changes. a small niche; (3) demand will be Rodger McKain, president of
reduced by economics or CO2 poli- SOFCo-EFS Holdings LLC and cies, but (4) “CO2 emissions (and chairman of the Ohio Fuel Cell concentrations) will continue to rise Coalition, predicted that, in the absent dramatic global action.” near term, fuel cells will be widely Subsequent speakers elaborated used for portable, stationary, and on the themes of Koonin’s talk. Paul auxiliary power but will not be Portney, departing president of consequential for vehicle use for Trevor O. Jones, chairman and Resources for the Future, spoke on another 25 years. founder, BIOMEC Inc., and NAE the profound implications (especially Scott M. Klara, manager, Carbon member. climate changes) of energy use by the Sequestration Program, and deputy United States and other world pow- director, Office of Coal and Power A National Academy of Engi- ers for local, regional, national, and, R&D, National Energy Technology neering regional conference, “En- indeed, the global environment. In Laboratory, presented a global per- ergy: A 21st Century Perspective,” fact, he said, everything from run-of- spective on carbon-based fuels. He hosted by Case Western Reserve the-mill economic issues to national argued that coal, the most plentiful University in Cleveland, Ohio, security issues will be affected by resource both globally and in the on June 2, 2005, drew more than energy policy. United States, will remain an eco- 1,200 attendees from 17 states and Lawrence Papay, NAE member nomical and environmentally com- the District of Columbia and seven and retired sector vice president for patible, stable source of energy. This countries, as well as 1,000 web- integrated solutions, Science Appli- will be possible, he said, because of cast viewers. cations International Corporation, clean coal technologies driven by
Steven Koonin, chief scientist, concluded that nuclear power will regulations of CO2 and other emis- British Petroleum, and former be an essential and growing energy sions and the need for new power provost at the California Institute of resource, especially in light of global plants in the next decade. Technology, gave the keynote climate change and restraints on car- Samuel F. Baldwin, chief technol- address, “Technological Aspects of bon emissions. He also noted that ogy officer, Office of Energy Effi- Energy for the 21st Century.” He policy changes concerning the ciency and Renewable Energy, U.S. noted that “Global energy demand is reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel Department of Energy, described set to grow by over 60 percent over would mitigate the problems of achievements to date and ongoing the next 30 years [with] 74 percent nuclear fuel disposal. research in (1) energy efficiency in of the growth . . . anticipated to be in Joan Ogden, co-director, Hydro- buildings, industry, and transporta- transitional economies and develop- gen Pathways Program, Institute of tion and (2) renewable energy, such ing countries.” Koonin concluded Transportation Studies, University as biomass, wind, and solar sources. that: (1) “[h]ydrocarbons will con- of California, Davis, addressed the The conference concluded with a tinue to dominate transportation” issue of a hydrogen economy. speakers’ panel moderated by Ira with some improved efficiencies and Although conversion to hydrogen Flatow, host of NPR’s “Science Fri- emissions, but technical and eco- would have major societal benefits, day” show. The majority of speakers nomic hurdles will delay or prevent she said, the shift to hydrogen will agreed that both coal and nuclear the adoption of hydrogen-fueled require significant breakthroughs in power will be in our energy future. vehicles; (2) coal and gas will still technologies for fuel cells and stor- They also agreed that, until there provide most heat and power, age, production, and distribution is a crisis, our energy usage and poli- although nuclear power will be a facilities, as well as changes in cies are not likely to change. The 58 BRIDGE
The conference was cochaired by and program responsibilities were Case Western Reserve University. NAE members Trevor O. Jones, shared by NAE members John C. Papers from the conference will be chairman and founder of BIOMEC Angus, Professor Emeritus, Depart- published in the September issue of Inc., and Arthur H. Heuer, Kyocera ment of Chemical Engineering, The Bridge and on the NAE website. Professor of Ceramics, Case Western and P. Hunter Peckham, professor Additional information is available Reserve University. Organizational of biomedical engineering, both of at: http://www.energy05.org/index.html.
Tri-national Meeting on Industrial Competitiveness in North America
North American automotive indus- evolving technology that will have a try is the decline in competitiveness huge impact on the global trans- of the “Big 3” automakers and their portation industry. The first focus suppliers. Reasons for the decline in area will be on strengthening acade- market share include decreasing mic, industrial, and government technical competitiveness in engi- research and development capabili- neering, design, and manufacturing; ties and recommending steps for col- out-of-control labor costs; a corpo- laborative, interdisciplinary projects. rate structure dominated by bureau- To explore the possibility of North cracy; and production overcapacity. American centers of excellence, Jerome G. Rivard, retired chief The group agreed that three some participants visited the Auto21 engineer, Ford Motor Company, major challenges must be addressed: Program at the University of Wind- and NAE member. (1) lack of awareness on the part of sor, Ontario, and the NSF WIMS government of the problems facing (wireless integrated microsystems) A meeting in Dearborn, Michi- the industry; (2) near-term thinking Engineering Research Center at the gan, of the Mexican Academy of of investment bankers and stock University of Michigan. Engineering, the National Acad- market people who worry only A second focus of the action plan emy of Engineering, and the U.S.- about the next quarterly earnings; is to recommend changes in curric- Mexico Foundation for Science and (3) lower educational standards ula and the teaching of the sciences, (FUMEC) focused on the future of and the lack of motivation for mathematics, and engineering. By North American competitiveness young people to pursue careers in focusing on improving education for and steps to improve technical math, science, and engineering. the advancement of transportation cooperation between Canada, Mex- Addressing these long-term, wide- electronics and recommending spe- ico, and the United States. After a spread problems will require strong cific actions to align education and general session on November 28, leadership in government, industry, industry needs, the group hopes to the group spent several days meet- and academia, but change will not come up with an approach that can ing with local universities, research come easily, and the consequences be used as a model for change in institutes, and private companies to to our society are likely to be severe. other areas. get a better understanding of their The next phase of this tri-national NAE member Jerry Rivard repre- problems and to identify potential initiative is to solidify an action sented NAE in helping to organize areas of cooperation. plan. The group decided to focus its the meeting and plan the program. The biggest problem facing the efforts on automotive electronics, an SPRING 2006 59
Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Graduate Fellows
science and engineering education and funding. A passionate partici- pant in the arts, Melissa was a chore- ographer and performer as an undergraduate and graduate student. Nicole Ann Reynolds (NAE/ CDEW) recently completed requirements to receive her M.S. in pharmacology and experimental therapeutics from Tufts University. Melissa Dupree Nicole Ann Reynolds Her thesis research was focused on the proteolytic cleavage of Pro- Melissa Dupree (NAE/CASEE), and connect the kinetic, metabolic, Cholecystokinin by Prohormone who received a B.S. in materials and structural analyses published in Convertase 5. She received her engineering from Brown University, the literature to actual whole-cell in B.S. in biochemistry from Univer- is currently completing a Ph.D. in vitro response. Throughout her col- sity of Maryland-Baltimore County. bioengineering at the University of lege years, Melissa has been a tutor, Her hobbies include reading, taking Pennsylvania. In her dissertation, instructor, and mentor in the arts dance classes, and going to the which is focused on the develop- and sciences through various organi- movies. Nicole is interested in sci- ment of a mathematical model zations and the public schools. Her ence policy analysis and hopes that describing the proliferative effect of career goals are to be involved in the her fellowship will help her decide fibroblast growth factor 2 on bone advancement of biological science if science policy is the right career cells, she will attempt to evaluate and to encourage improvements in choice for her.
Call for Awards Nominations
Every year NAE salutes engineer- NAE Awards Each recipient receives a gold ing leaders whose lifetime work has The Founders Award honors an medallion, a hand-lettered certifi- advanced the human condition or NAE member or foreign associate cate, and a $2,500 cash prize. who have made innovative changes who has exemplified the ideals and The Charles Stark Draper Prize is in engineering and technology edu- principles of NAE through profes- awarded for innovation and reduc- cation. For more than 40 years, sional, educational, and personal tion to practice of an advancement NAE has recognized these out- achievement and accomplishment. in engineering or technology that standing engineers by awarding five The Arthur M. Bueche Award is contributes to the welfare and free- prizes (Founders Award, Arthur given to an engineer who has been dom of humanity. The Fritz J. and M. Bueche Award, Charles Stark actively involved in determining Dolores H. Russ Prize recognizes a Draper Prize, Fritz J. and Dolores H. U.S. science and technology pol- widespread engineering achieve- Russ Prize, and Bernard M. Gordon icy, promoting U.S. technological ment that has contributed to the Prize) worth more than $1.5 million development, and improving rela- advancement of the human condi- biennially. We invite you to parti- tions among industry, government, tion. The prize, which is currently cipate in this tradition by nominat- and universities. The Founders and focused on bioengineering, encour- ing outstanding engineers for next Bueche Awards are presented at the ages collaborations between engi- year’s awards. NAE Annual Meeting in October. neers and the medical and biological The 60 BRIDGE disciplines. The Bernard M. Gordon J. and Dolores H. Russ Prize is April 7, 2006. A list of previous Prize for Innovation in Engineering and awarded biennially. The prizes, recipients can be found on our web- Technology Education honors educa- which include a $500,000 cash site (www.nae.edu/awards). Mem- tors whose innovative programs award, a gold medallion, and a bers and foreign associates have have contributed to the quality of hand-lettered certificate, are award- received nomination materials by the engineering workforce by culti- ed during National Engineers Week mail. Nonmembers may obtain vating leadership skills. The focus is at the NAE Annual Awards Dinner. materials from the NAE Awards on innovations in curricular design, Nominators of the winning recipi- Office at (202) 334-1628 or teaching methods, and technology- ents are invited to attend. [email protected] or downloaded enabled learning. The prize is from our website. shared equally between the recipi- To Submit a Nomination Nominations should be mailed or ent(s) and their institution. The Nominations for the 2006 faxed to: NAE Awards, National Charles Stark Draper Prize and Founders and Bueche Awards and Academy of Engineering, 500 Fifth Bernard M. Gordon Prize are the 2007 Draper, Gordon, and Russ Street, N.W. (#1010), Washington, awarded annually, and the Fritz Prizes will be accepted through DC 20001, Fax: (202) 334-2290.
Message from the Vice President and Chair of the Development Committee
Source 2004 2005
Individuals* $1,332,551 $1,843,781
Foundations $438,000 $83,500
Corporations $40,750 $1,343,173
Other $63,138 $624,132
Total $1,874,439 $3,894,586
*Includes deferred gifts Sheila E. Widnall that meet critical, national needs States based on the development In this issue of The Bridge, we rec- through their comments at the of industries made possible by new ognize the generous support of NAE Annual Meeting, National Meet- technologies. The American Com- members, friends, corporations, and ing, and regional meetings, as well as petitiveness Initiative commits foundations. The list of NAE mem- through calls and correspondence. $5.9 billion in FY 2007, and more bers is notable—30.7 percent made A recent example of NAE’s direct than $136 billion over 10 years, to donations during 2005. Total fund- impact on society is the Academies’ increase investments in research raising was also impressive. The report, Rising Above the Gathering and development, improve educa- chart compares sources of gifts for Storm: Energizing and Employing tion, and encourage entrepreneur- 2004 and 2005. America for a Brighter Economic ship and innovation. The report As member and corporate giving Future, which influenced the Amer- was completed in less than six has increased, NAE has proportion- ican Competitiveness Initiative months and was paid for from ately increased its public and pro- announced by President Bush in his unrestricted funds. gram activities. Members have State of the Union Address in Jan- The impact of this report and expressed their approval of this uary. The report offers integrated NAE’s increased visibility on criti- increased visibility and the estab- recommendations for creating, cal issues—supported largely by lishment of independent programs high-quality jobs in the United members’ contributions—can SPRING 2006 61
contribute to America’s economic eracy, encouraging diversity in the far risen to the challenge. On behalf strength and global leadership by engineering workforce, supporting of the NAE officers, councillors, and supporting continued technological reform in engineering education— staff, thank you! innovation and ultimately improv- is only possible with support from Sincerely, ing the lives and livelihoods of gen- private donors. In 2006, NAE will erations of Americans to come. continue making special requests to Much of NAE’s current work— members (through the Annual Sheila Widnall identifying, analyzing, and report- Fund) to donate to the indepen- NAE Vice President ing on emerging technological dent, unrestricted fund. NAE Development issues, promoting technological lit- Clearly, NAE members have so Committee Chair
National Jordan J. Baruch Olga Kirchmayer Jillian Sackler Warren L. Batts Frederick A. Klingenstein Bernard G. Sarnat Academy of Stephen D. Bechtel Jr. Daniel E. Koshland Jr. Sara Lee Schupf Engineering C. Gordon Bell William W. Lang Ted Turner Elwyn R. Berlekamp Gerald D. Laubach Leslie L. Vadasz 2005 Private Contributions Diane Bernstein Tillie K. Lubin P. Roy Vagelos The National Academy of Norman Bernstein Whitney MacMillan Alan M. Voorhees* Engineering gratefully ac- Elkan R. Blout William W. McGuire John C. Whitehead knowledges the following David G. Bradley Burton J. McMurtry Wm. A. Wulf members and friends who Donald L. Bren Richard L. Menschel Alejandro Zaffaroni made charitable contributions Sydney Brenner Ruben F. Mettler during 2005. Their collec- Fletcher L. Byrom Dane A. Miller Golden Bridge Society tive, private philanthropy James McConnell Clark G. William Miller In recognition of NAE mem- helps to advance NAE's ser- Roman W. DeSanctis George P. Mitchell bers who have made cumula- vice and impact as advisor to George C. Eads Ambrose K. Monell tive contributions of $20,000 our nation. Richard Evans Gordon E. Moore to $99,999 or planned gifts Harvey V. Fineberg Richard M. Morrow of any size. Einstein Society George M.C. Fisher Philip Needleman In recognition of members Harold K. Forsen Gerda K. Nelson Andreas Acrivos and friends who have made William L. Friend Ralph S. O’Connor William F. Allen Jr. lifetime contributions of Eugene Garfield Peter O’Donnell Jr. Gene M. Amdahl $100,000 or more to the T.H. Geballe Kenneth H. Olsen William A. Anders National Academies. Names William T. Golden Doris Pankow William F. Ballhaus Jr. in bold are NAE members. Corey S. Goodman Jack S. Parker Paul Baran Bernard M. Gordon C. Kumar N. Patel Thomas D. Barrow John Abelson Jerome H. Grossman Percy Pollard Roy H. Beaton Bruce Alberts Corbin Gwaltney Robert A. Pritzker Franklin H. Blecher Jack R. Anderson Margaret A. Hamburg Allen E. Puckett Erich Bloch John A. Armstrong William M. Haney III Simon Ramo Harry E. Bovay Jr. Holt Ashley Michael Held David Richards Lewis M. Branscomb Richard C. Atkinson William R. Jackson Family Walter L. Robb George Bugliarello Norman R. Augustine Robert L. James Hinda G. Rosenthal Spencer H. Bush* William F. Ballhaus Sr. Anita K. Jones Anne P. Rowe William Cavanaugh III Barbara M. Barrett Thomas V. Jones John W. Rowe Robert A. Charpie Craig R. Barrett Kenneth A. Jonsson Dolores H. Russ John M. Cioffi Eleanor F. Barschall Yuet W. Kan William J. Rutter W. Dale Compton
*Deceased The 62 BRIDGE
Stephen H. Crandall Henry M. Rowan James N. Gray Malcolm R. Currie Lance A. Davis Brian H. Rowe Martin C. Hemsworth Edward E. David Jr. Ruth M. Davis Henry Samueli Robert J. Hermann Lance A. Davis W. Kenneth Davis* Warren G. Schlinger Irwin M. Jacobs Charles M. Geschke E. Linn Draper Jr. Roland W. Schmitt Anita K. Jones Joseph W. Goodman Mildred S. Dresselhaus Robert C. Seamans Jr. Jeong H. Kim Robert W. Gore Robert J. Eaton Arnold F. Stancell John W. Landis William H. Joyce Daniel J. Fink Chauncey Starr William W. Lang Robert E. Kahn Robert C. Forney H. Guyford Stever Gerald D. Laubach Paul G. Kaminski Donald N. Frey Morris Tanenbaum Frank T. Leighton David M. Lederman Richard L. Garwin Peter B. Teets Johanna M.H. Levelt Frank W. Luerssen William H. Gates III Daniel M. Tellep Sengers Richard M. Morrow Charles M. Geschke Leo J. Thomas Gordon E. Moore Ronald P. Nordgren Martin E. Glicksman Gary L. Tooker Norman A. Nadel Jack S. Parker William E. Gordon Ivan M. Viest Franklin M. Orr Jr. Donald E. Petersen Robert W. Gore Andrew J. Viterbi Lawrence T. Papay John W. Poduska Sr. James N. Gray Willis H. Ware Simon Ramo Michael P. Ramage Paul E. Gray Johannes Weertman Walter L. Robb Ronald L. Rivest Robert J. Hermann Julia Weertman Henry M. Rowan Donald R. Scifres David A. Hodges Robert H. Wertheim Henry Samueli Laurence C. Seifert Edward E. Hood Jr. Albert R.C. Westwood Warren G. Schlinger Leo J. Thomas Edward G. Jefferson Robert M. White Chauncey Starr Willis H. Ware Trevor O. Jones Sheila E. Widnall Peter B. Teets Johannes Weertman Robert E. Kahn Edward Woll Daniel M. Tellep Julia Weertman Thomas Kailath A. Thomas Young Andrew J. Viterbi Thomas Young Jeong H. Kim Alan M. Voorhees* James N. Krebs Catalyst Society Edward Woll Challenge Society John W. Landis In recognition of NAE mem- Wm. A. Wulf In recognition of NAE mem- Frank T. Leighton bers and friends who con- bers and friends who con- Johanna M.H. Levelt tributed $10,000 or more to Friends tributed $2,500 to $4,999 to Sengers the National Academies in Barbara M. Barrett the National Academies in Frank W. Luerssen 2005. Robert W. Lang 2005. Kenneth G. McKay Dolores H. Russ Van C. Mow NAE Members NAE Members George E. Mueller John A. Armstrong Rosette Society Richard E. Adams Dale D. Myers Holt Ashley In recognition of NAE mem- Neil A. Armstrong Norman A. Nadel Norman R. Augustine bers and friends who con- Roy H. Beaton Robert M. Nerem William F. Ballhaus Jr. tributed $5,000 to $9,999 to Robert Ray Beebe Ronald P. Nordgren Paul Baran the National Academies in Andrew Brown Simon Ostrach Craig R. Barrett 2005. Joseph V. Charyk Lawrence T. Papay Jordan J. Baruch W. Dale Compton Zack T. Pate Stephen D. Bechtel Jr. NAE Members Stephen H. Crandall Donald E. Petersen C. Gordon Bell William F. Allen Jr. Mildred S. Dresselhaus Michael P. Ramage Elwyn R. Berlekamp Thomas D. Barrow Gerard W. Elverum Jr. George B. Rathmann Harry E. Bovay Jr. Barry W. Boehm Samuel C. Florman Eberhardt Rechtin A. James Clark Oliver C. Boileau Harold K. Forsen Charles Eli Reed Robert J. Eaton Lewis M. Branscomb Louis V. Gerstner Jr. George A. Roberts Daniel J. Fink John M. Cioffi Paul R. Gray William L. Friend James R. Katzer *Deceased *Deceased SPRING 2006 63
Pradman P. Kaul Jeffrey P. Buzen Edward E. Hagenlocker Dennis J. Picard Kent Kresa Robert P. Caren Delon Hampton William F. Powers Charles C. Ladd Corbett Caudill Wesley L. Harris Robert A. Pritzker James F. Lardner William Cavanaugh III Siegfried S. Hecker Donald E. Procknow C. Dan Mote Jr. Edmund Y.S. Chao John L. Hennessy Nathan E. Promisel* Van C. Mow Chau-Chyun Chen David A. Hodges Edwin P. Przybylowicz George E. Mueller Hsien K. Cheng Thom J. Hodgson Subbiah Ramalingam Dale D. Myers Paul Citron Lester A. Hoel George B. Rathmann John Neerhout Jr. G. Wayne Clough Charles O. Holliday Buddy D. Ratner Robert M. Nerem Joseph M. Colucci Edward E. Hood Jr. Joseph B. Reagan Robert J. Parks Robert W. Conn John R. Howell Eric H. Reichl Linda S. Sanford Natalie W. Crawford George W. Jeffs Kenneth L. Reifsnider Maxine L. Savitz Lawrence B. Curtis G. Frank Joklik Richard J. Robbins Daniel I.C. Wang Glen T. Daigger Thomas Kailath George A. Roberts Albert R.C. Westwood Lee L. Davenport John G. Kassakian Bernard I. Robertson Ruth A. David Leonard Kleinrock Anatol Roshko Friend Carl de Boor Robert M. Koerner Gerald F. Ross Kristine L. Bueche Pablo G. Debenedetti Don R. Kozlowski Brian H. Rowe Raymond F. Decker James N. Krebs Jonathan J. Rubinstein Charter Society Thomas B. Deen Lester C. Krogh Thomas L. Saaty In recognition of NAE mem- Robert H. Dennard Doris Kuhlmann-Wilsdorf Andrew P. Sage bers and friends who con- Ralph L. Disney Richard T. Lahey Jr. Vinod K. Sahney tributed $1,000 to $2,499 to Nicholas M. Donofrio Shih-Ying Lee Steven B. Sample the National Academies in Elisabeth M. Drake Ronald K. Leonard Roland W. Schmitt 2005. James J. Duderstadt Fred J. Leonberger Frank J. Schuh Edsel D. Dunford Carroll N. Letellier Robert C. Seamans Jr. NAE Members George J. Dvorak Hans W. Liepmann Masanobu Shinozuka Andreas Acrivos Delores M. Etter Frederick F. Ling Daniel P. Siewiorek Laurence J. Adams Thomas E. Everhart John G. Linvill Ernest T. Smerdon Clarence R. Allen Thomas V. Falkie Jack E. Little Robert M. Sneider* Lew Allen Jr. Michael Field Robert G. Loewy Bob Spinrad John C. Angus G. David Forney Jr. J. David Lowell Joel S. Spira Minoru S. Araki Robert C. Forney Thomas S. Maddock Robert F. Sproull Wm. H. Arnold Charles A. Fowler Robert W. Mann Arnold F. Stancell Thomas W. Asmus Jacques S. Gansler David A. Markle Raymond S. Stata Ken Austin Elsa M. Garmire James F. Mathis Beno Sternlicht Clyde Baker William H. Gates III Robert D. Maurer H. Guyford Stever Earl E. Bakken Joseph G. Gavin Jr. Sanford N. McDonnell Stanley D. Stookey David K. Barton Alexander F. Giacco James C. McGroddy Ronald D. Sugar Robert F. Bauer Paul H. Gilbert Kishor C. Mehta Jerome Swartz Wallace B. Behnke Richard D. Gitlin Richard A. Meserve John E. Swearingen Franklin H. Blecher Norman A. Gjostein James J. Mikulski Morris Tanenbaum David B. Bogy Eduardo D. Glandt James K. Mitchell Richard L. Tomasetti Seth Bonder Lawrence R. Glosten Benjamin F. Montoya Paul E. Torgersen H. Kent Bowen Earnest F. Gloyna John R. Moore Charles H. Townes Alan C. Brown Arthur L. Goldstein Neil E. Paton John W. Townsend Jr. Harold Brown William E. Gordon Celestino R. Pennoni James A. Trainham III George Bugliarello Paul E. Gray Arno A. Penzias Hardy W. Trolander James R. Burnett Elias P. Gyftopoulos Thomas K. Perkins *Deceased The 64 BRIDGE
Robert H. Wagoner Howard R. Baum Edgar M. Cortright Zvi Galil Kuo K. Wang Zdenek P. Bazant Eugene E. Covert Nicholas J. Garber Milton H. Ward Georges Belfort John H. Crawford Edwin A. Gee John D. Warner Leslie A. Benmark Douglass D. Crombie Ronald L. Geer William L. Wearly Leo L. Beranek James W. Dally John H. Gibbons Willis S. White Jr. Robert R. Berg David E. Daniel Elmer G. Gilbert George M. Whitesides Arthur E. Bergles Morton M. Denn Jerome B. Gilbert Eugene Wong Wilson V. Binger Joseph M. DeSimone George J. Gleghorn Edgar S. Woolard Jr. Ilan Asriel Blech Charles A. Desoer Alan J. Goldman Richard N. Wright Nicolaas Bloembergen Robert C. DeVries Richard J. Goldstein William D. Young Jack L. Blumenthal George E. Dieter Steven A. Goldstein Abe M. Zarem Alfred Blumstein Frederick H. Dill Solomon W. Golomb Mark T. Bohr Ricardo Dobry Roy W. Gould Friend Geoffrey Boothroyd John E. Dolan William A. Gross Evelyn S. Jones George H. Born Albert A. Dorman George I. Haddad Lillian C. Borrone Irwin Dorros Jerrier A. Haddad Other Individual Rafael L. Bras Earl H. Dowell Carl W. Hall Donors P.L. Thibaut Brian David A. Duke William J. Hall In recognition of NAE mem- Peter R. Bridenbaugh Floyd Dunn Howard R. Hart Jr. bers and friends who con- Corale L. Brierley Lloyd A. Duscha Henry J. Hatch tributed up to $999 to the James A. Brierley Elizabeth B. Dussan Alan J. Heeger National Academies in 2005. Frederick P. Brooks Jr. Peter S. Eagleson Adam Heller Kermit E. Brown Lewis S. Edelheit Martin Hellman NAE Members Jack E. Buffington Christine A. Ehlig- Robert W. Hellwarth H. Norman Abramson L. Gary Byrd Economides John A. Herbst Linda M. Abriola James D. Callen Farouk El-Baz Arthur H. Heuer Jan D. Achenbach Joe C. Campbell Bruce R. Ellingwood James Hillier William G. Agnew John M. Campbell Sr. Richard E. Emmert Gerald D. Hines Hadi A. Akeel Federico Capasso Joe Engelberger Narain G. Hingorani Frances E. Allen E. Dean Carlson Fazil Erdogan George J. Hirasaki Charles A. Amann Melvin W. Carter John V. Evans John P. Hirth John E. Anderson Don B. Chaffin Lawrence B. Evans William C. Hittinger John G. Anderson Douglas M. Chapin Robert R. Everett David G. Hoag John L. Anderson Vernon L. Chartier James R. Fair Allan S. Hoffman Frank F. Aplan Nai Y. Chen Robert M. Fano David C. Hogg Kenneth E. Arnold Anil K. Chopra Eugene J. Fasullo Charles H. Holley James R. Asay Sunlin Chou James A. Fay Roland N. Horne Irving L. Ashkenas Andrew R. Chraplyvy Joseph Feinstein Thomas P. Hughes Rupert L. Atkin Jack V. Christiansen Robert E. Fenton Arthur E. Humphrey David Atlas Richard C. Chu Fred N. Finn J.S. Hunter Jamal J. Azar Edmund M. Clark Essex E. Finney Jr. Izzat M. Idriss Arthur B. Baggeroer John L. Cleasby Millard Firebaugh Sheldon E. Isakoff Donald W. Bahr Louis F. Coffin Jr. Edith M. Flanigen Donald G. Iselin W.O. Baker* James M. Coleman Robert B. Fridley Tatsuo Itoh Richard E. Balzhiser Richard A. Conway Eli Fromm Rakesh K. Jain Edward J. Barlow Esther M. Conwell E. Montford Fucik Robert B. Jansen Frank S. Barnes Fernando J. Corbato Douglas W. Fuerstenau Edward G. Jefferson John W. Batchelor Ross B. Corotis Elmer L. Gaden Paul C. Jennings Dale R. Corson Theodore V. Galambos James O. Jirsa *Deceased SPRING 2006 65
Amos E. Joel Jr. I. Harry Mandil Bradford W. Parkinson Mischa Schwartz Barry C. Johnson William F. Marcuson III David A. Patterson Hratch G. Semerjian Donald L. Johnson Robert C. Marini Donald R. Paul Robert J. Serafin Marshall G. Jones Hans Mark J. Randolph Paulling F. Stan Settles Aravind K. Joshi James J. Markowsky H.W. Paxton Michael R. Sfat Biing-Hwang Juang Craig Marks P.H. Peckham Maurice E. Shank John L. Junkins Edward A. Mason Alan W. Pense Don W. Shaw Joseph M. Juran David K. Matlock Emil Pfender Herman E. Sheets Eugenia Kalnay Hudson Matlock Julia M. Phillips Freeman D. Shepherd Ivan P. Kaminow William C. Maurer Owen M. Phillips Thomas B. Sheridan Melvin F. Kanninen Tony Maxworthy Frank E. Pickering Reuel Shinnar Raphael Katzen Walter J. McCarthy Jr. Thomas H. Pigford Michael L. Shuler James C. Keck William J. McCroskey R. Byron Pipes Neil Siegel Leon M. Keer John C. McDonald Karl S. Pister William H. Silcox Howard H. Kehrl William McGuire Robert Plonsey Arnold H. Silver C. Judson King Kenneth G. McKay Victor L. Poirier Marwan Simaan Albert S. Kobayashi Ross E. McKinney William R. Prindle Peter G. Simpkins Riki Kobayashi Robert M. McMeeking Ronald F. Probstein Jack M. Sipress U. Fred Kocks Eugene S. Meieran Charles W. Pryor Jr. R. Wayne Skaggs Bernard L. Koff David Middleton Robert A. Pucel Franklin F. Snyder Max A. Kohler Angelo Miele Paul E. Queneau Soroosh Sorooshian Robert G. Kouyoumjian Jerome H. Milgram Henry H. Rachford Jr. Fred N. Spiess Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Warren F. Miller Jr. Eugene M. Rasmusson Edgar A. Starke Jr. Way Kuo Joan L. Mitchell Robert H. Rediker Gunter Stein James L. Lammie Sanjit K. Mitra Charles Eli Reed Theodore Stern Benson J. Lamp Dade W. Moeller Cordell Reed Kenneth H. Stokoe II David A. Landgrebe D. Bruce Montgomery Eli Reshotko Richard G. Strauch Carl G. Langner Richard K. Moore Herbert H. Richardson Valerian I. Tatarskii Robert C. Lanphier III E.P. Muntz Bruce E. Rittmann Charles E. Taylor Louis J. Lanzerotti Earll M. Murman Jerome G. Rivard Lewis M. Terman Ronald G. Larson Haydn H. Murray Lloyd M. Robeson R.B. Thompson Chung K. Law Thomas M. Murray Theodore Rockewell Jerome J. Tiemann Alan Lawley Gerald Nadler Robert K. Roney James M. Tien Edward D. Lazowska Hyla S. Napadensky Arye Rosen William F. Tinney James U. Lemke Albert Narath Ken Rosen Neil E. Todreas Margaret A. LeMone Venkatesh Narayanamurti William B. Russel Alvin W. Trivelpiece Mark J. Levin Marshall I. Nathan Alfred Saffer Richard H. Truly Herbert S. Levinson Stuart O. Nelson Jean E. Sammet Howard S. Turner Kenneth Levy Joseph H. Newman Gurmukh S. Sarkaria Donald R. Uhlmann Salomon Levy Robert M. Nowak Peter W. Sauer Moshe Y. Vardi Paul A. Libby Wesley L. Nyborg Thorndike Saville Jr. Gregory S. Vassell Ralph A. Logan David Okrent George W. Scherer Anestis S. Veletsos Joseph C. Logue Daniel A. Okun Geert W. Schmid- Charles M. Vest Noel C. MacDonald Charles R. O’Melia Schoenbein Walter G. Vincenti John D. Mackenzie Alan V. Oppenheim William R. Schowalter Harold J. Vinegar Malcolm MacKinnon III David H. Pai William F. Schreiber Raymond Viskanta William J. MacKnight Anthanassios Z. Albert B. Schultz John J. Vithayathil Christopher L. Magee Panagiotopoulos Henry G. Schwartz Jr. Thomas H. Vonder Haar Frederick J. Mancheski Frank L. Parker Lyle H. Schwartz Irv Waaland The 66 BRIDGE
Jeffrey Wadsworth Paul Berg Hinda G. Rosenthal Dollie Cole Steven J. Wallach Franklin H. Blecher James F. Roth W. Dale Compton C. Michael Walton Elkan R. Blout Sheila A. Ryan Nancy E. Conrad Rong-Yu Wan Daniel Branton Paul R. Schimmel Howard E. Cox Jr. Darsh T. Wasan Robert L. Brent Stuart F. Schlossman Charles R. Denham Warren M. Washington Morrel H. Cohen Rudi Schmid Charles W. Duncan Jr. John T. Watson Colleen Conway-Welch Kenneth I. Shine George C. Eads Wilford F. Weeks Ellis B. Cowling Robert Louis Sinsheimer James L. Ferguson Robert J. Weimer Ruth M. Davis Dale F. Stein Harvey V. Fineberg Sheldon Weinig Paul M. Doty Esther S. Takeuchi John Brooks Fuqua Max T. Weiss Mildred S. Dresselhaus Ivan M. Viest Raymond E. Galvin Jasper A. Welch Jr. Merlin K. DuVal Willis H. Ware Eugene Garfield Jack H. Wernick Ernest L. Eliel Robert H. Wertheim Jack M. Gill Jack H. Westbrook Emanuel Epstein John Archibald Wheeler Ronald L. Graham John J. Wetzel II William K. Estes Wm. A. Wulf Ruth H. Grobstein Marvin H. White Richard Evans Charles Yanofsky Jerome H. Grossman Robert M. White Robert C. Forney Michael Zubkoff Norman Hackerman Robert M. White Paul H. Gilbert William M. Haney III Dennis F. Wilkie Norman H. Giles Presidents’ Circle Samuel F. Heffner Jr. Ward O. Winer Martin E. Glicksman Donors from the private sector Jane Hirsh John J. Wise George Gloeckler whose contributions are dedi- M. Blakeman Ingle Holden W. Withington Michael Held cated to promoting greater Christopher Ireland M. Gordon Wolman Richard B. Johnston Jr. awareness of science and tech- Robert L. James Savio L. Woo Anita K. Jones nology in our society and a bet- Howard W. Johnson David A. Woolhiser Jerome Kagan ter understanding of the work Kenneth A. Jonsson Israel J. Wygnanski Samuel Karlin of the National Academies. Alice Kandell Eli Yablonovitch John W. Landis William F. Kieschnick T.L. Youd William W. Lang Jack R. Anderson William I. Koch Laurence R. Young Edithe J. Levit Barbara M. Barrett Jill Howell Kramer Lotfi A. Zadeh Jane Menken Craig R. Barrett John H. Krehbiel, Jr. G. Lewis Meyer Thomas D. Barrow Gerald D. Laubach Friends Gordon E. Moore Warren L. Batts Richard J. Mahoney Frances P. Elliott Arno G. Motulsky Berkley Bedell Robert H. Malott Merrill Meadow Van C. Mow Diane Bernstein Thomas A. Mann Mary O. Mundinger E. Milton Bevington Davis Masten Heritage Society Gerda K. Nelson Elkan R. Blout John F. McDonnell In recognition of members Norman F. Ness E. Cabell Brand Burton J. McMurtry and friends who have con- Ronald P. Nordgren John I. Brauman Charles H. McTier tributed to the future of the Gilbert S. Omenn George Bugliarello Kamal K. Midha National Academies through Zack T. Pate Malin Burnham G. William Miller life income, bequests, and Daniel W. Pettengill Dan W. Burns George P. Mitchell other estate and planned gifts. Frank Press Fletcher L. Byrom Joe F. Moore Names in bold are NAE Simon Ramo Louis W. Cabot Robert W. Morey Jr. members. Allen F. Rhodes Wiley N. Caldwell David T. Morgenthaler Alexander Rich George W. Carmany III Darla Mueller Andreas Acrivos Frederic M. Richards David R. Challoner Patricia S. Nettleship Gene M. Amdahl Henry W. Riecken Ralph J. Cicerone Peter O’Donnell Jr. Norman R. Augustine Richard J. Robbins James McConnell Clark Jack S. Parker Stephen D. Bechtel Jr. Michael T. Clegg SPRING 2006 67
Frank Press Sheila E. Widnall Cummins Lockheed Martin Robert A. Pritzker Margaret S. Wilson DuPont Company Corporation Allen E. Puckett Wm. A. Wulf ExxonMobil Foundation Microsoft Corporation Peter H. Raven Ford Motor Company Northrop Grumman John S. Reed Corporations, Founda- GE Foundation Corporation Charles W. Robinson tions, and Other Orga- GE Plastics Ohio University Neil R. Rolde nizations General Motors David and Lucile Packard Hinda G. Rosenthal American Council of Corporation Foundation Stephen J. Ryan Engineering Companies Geosynthetic Institute PJM Interconnection Jillian Sackler S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation Heinz Family Foundation Sigma Xi, the Scientific Harvey S. Sadow Bell Family Foundation Hitachi Global Storage Research Society Barbara A. Schaal BP Foundation Technologies Southern Nuclear Sara Lee Schupf Charles Stark Draper Indo-US Science and Operating Company H.R. Shepherd Laboratory Technology Forum Stratford Foundation Georges C. St. Laurent Jr. ChevronTexaco Ingersoll-Rand Company Teagle Foundation Deborah Szekely Corporation Intel Corporation United Engineering Robert H. Waterman ConocoPhillips Intel Foundation Foundation Kenneth E. Weg Consolidated Edison W.M. Keck Foundation WGBH Educational Susan E. Whitehead Company of New York Foundation
Calendar of Meetings and Events
March 3–4 Indo-U.S. Frontiers of Engineering April 19 NAE Regional Meeting May 9–10 NRC Governing Board Meeting Symposium University of California, May 11–12 NAE Council Meeting Agra, India Santa Barbara Charlottesville, Virginia March 14 NRC Executive Committee Meeting April 20 NAE Regional Meeting University of California, Berkeley All meetings are held in the National Academies April 6 NAE Regional Meeting buildings, Washington, D.C., unless otherwise University of Michigan April 27 NAE Regional Meeting noted. For information about regional meetings, April 11 NRC Executive Committee Meeting University of Virginia, Charlottesville contact Sonja Atkinson at [email protected] or May 4–6 German American Frontiers of (202) 334-3677. Engineering Symposium Murray Hill, New Jersey
In Memoriam
RUTHERFORD ARIS, 76, Re- WILLIAM O. BAKER, 90, retired JAMES B. COULTER, 85, retired gents Professor Emeritus, Depart- chairman, Bell Laboratories, Lucent secretary, Maryland Department of ment of Chemical Engineering and Technologies, died on October 31, Natural Resources, and retired engi- Materials Science, University of 2005. Dr. Baker was elected to NAE neering director, U.S. Public Health Minnesota, died on November 2, in 1975 for contributions leading to Service, died on September 9, 2005. 2005. Dr. Aris was elected to NAE in the use of synthetic polymers in Mr. Coulter was elected to NAE in 1975 for contributions to the litera- communications equipment, syn- 1988 for contributions to the plan- ture of chemical engineering on con- thetic rubber, ablation heat shields, ning, design, and management of trol theory and optimization and on and rocket propellants. environmental resources systems. the theory of reaction and diffusion. The 68 BRIDGE
KENNETH W. HAMMING, 87, Pratt and Whitney-United Tech- and Defense Sector, died on April 25, retired senior partner, Sargent and nologies Corporation, died on Janu- 2005. Dr. Solomon was elected to Lundy, died on December 21, 2005. ary 7, 2006. Mr. Moore was elected NAE in 1967 for contributions to Mr. Hamming was elected to NAE to NAE in 1986 for contributions the design and development of in 1974 for leadership in the design to the technology of rapid solidifi- space and weapon systems. of large-scale fossil-fuel and nuclear cation and to the development of power plants. materials for gas-turbine engines. DAVID TABOR, 92, Professor Emeritus of Physics, Cavendish Lab- HEINZ HEINEMANN, 92, Dis- NATHAN E. PROMISEL, 97, oratory, Cambridge University, died tinguished Scientist, D.C. Projects retired executive director, National on November 26, 2005. Professor Office, E.O. Lawrence Berkeley Materials Advisory Board, Na- Tabor was elected to NAE as a for- National Laboratory, died on tional Research Council, and eign associate in 1995 for contribu- November 23, 2005. Dr. Heine- retired engineering consultant, tions to the theory of tribology, mann was elected to NAE in 1976 died on December 15, 2005. Dr. hardness, and surface physics. for the conception and development Promisel was elected to NAE in of new petroleum processes and con- 1978 for his leadership in materials GERALD F. TAPE, 90, retired tributions to the advancement of development for aircraft and president, Associated Universities catalysis. national materials policy. Inc., died on November 20, 2005. Dr. Tape was elected to NAE in 1986 EMMETT M. LEITH, 78, professor RONALD S. RIVLIN, 90, Profes- for distinguished leadership in the of electrical and computer engineer- sor Emeritus, Lehigh University, national and international develop- ing, University of Michigan, died on died on October 4, 2005. Dr. Rivlin ment and control of nuclear energy. December 23, 2005. Dr. Leith was was elected to NAE in 1985 for for- elected to NAE in 1982 for contri- mulating the large deformation elas- ALAN M. VOORHEES, 83, chair- butions to holography and to the ticity theory and for verifying and man of the board, Summit Enter- field of optical data processing. applying the theory extensively to prises Inc., died on December 17, general nonlinear continua in the 2005. Mr. Voorhees was elected to T.Y. LIN, 91, chairman, Lin Tung- areas of viscoelasticities, electro- NAE in 2000 for the discovery and Yen China, died on November 15, magnetics, and thermodynamics. application of quantitative relation- 2003. Dr. Lin was elected to NAE ships between urban land uses and in 1967 for contributions to the the- ROBERT M. SNEIDER, 76, presi- traffic flows. ory and use of prestressed concrete. dent, Robert M. Sneider Exploration Inc., died on October 29, 2005. Dr. JOHN V. WEHAUSEN, 92, Pro- BRUCE T. LUNDIN, 86, retired Sneider was elected to NAE in 2000 fessor Emeritus of Engineering director, NASA Lewis Research for teaching and demonstrating the Science, Department of Naval Center, died on January 24, 2006. importance of synergistic geological, Architecture and Offshore Engi- Dr. Lundin was elected to NAE in geophysical, and engineering in the neering, University of California, 1976 for leadership in aeronautical exploration and development of Berkeley, died on October 6, 2005. propulsion research and the devel- hydrocarbon accumulations. Dr. Wehausen was elected to NAE opment of launch vehicles. in 1980 for using applied mathemat- GEORGE E. SOLOMON, 79, ics to solve engineering problems in JOSEPH B. MOORE, 79, retired retired executive vice president and ship design. director, Materials Engineering, general manager, TRW Electronics SPRING 2006 69
Publications of Interest
The following reports have been Public Water Supply Distribution Sys- Managing Construction and Infrastruc- published recently by the National tems: Assessing and Reducing Risks: ture in the 21st Century Bureau of Academy of Engineering or the First Report. This is the first of two Reclamation. Since the Bureau of National Research Council. Unless reports on water quality issues asso- Reclamation of the U.S. Depart- otherwise noted, all publications are ciated with public distribution sys- ment of Interior was formed more for sale (prepaid) from the National tems and their potential risks to than 100 years ago, it has brought Academies Press (NAP), 500 Fifth consumers. Distribution systems, water, electricity, and recreational Street, N.W., Lockbox 285, Wash- which are critical components of facilities to millions of people in the ington, DC 20055. For more infor- drinking water utilities, present western United States. Attention mation or to place an order, contact significant operational and public has now been turned to the opera- NAP online at
managing radioactive wastes from Advances in Technology and the and evolving environmental regu- spent nuclear fuel at sites in Idaho, Prevention of Their Application lations in mind, the recommen- South Carolina, and Washington. to Next Generation Biowarfare dations focus on helping DOD This interim report evaluates stor- Threats. The purpose of the work- (1) preserve existing system capabil- age facilities at the Savannah River shop was to gather information ities, (2) increase access to currently site in South Carolina, with a par- about global perspectives on current available PrCBs, and (3) ensure ticular focus on DOE’s plans to seal advances in technology. Experts access to future PrCB technology. the tanks with grouting. The report from around the world were asked to NAE member Dennis F. Wilkie, finds that the tanks do not necessar- present “snapshots” of the current retired chief of staff, IESS, Motorola ily have to be sealed shut as soon as global science and technology land- Corporation, was a member of the the bulk of the waste has been scape, the forces driving globaliza- study committee. Paper, $18.00. removed. Postponing permanent tion and technology transfer, and closure would allow more time for new capabilities that may emerge An Assessment of the National Institute the development and application of from globalization, particularly the of Standards and Technology Measure- emerging technologies for removing generation and application of dual- ment and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal and immobilizing residual waste, use knowledge in the life sciences. Years 2004–2005. The National without increasing risks to the envi- The information summarized in Institute of Standards and Technolo- ronment or delaying final closure of these five “snapshots” is the basis for gy (NIST) Measurements and Stan- the “tank farms.” The report also a consensus study on the subject that dards Laboratories (MSL) provide recommends alternative strategies will be released in 2006. technical leadership in measurement for addressing the lack of tank space NAE member C. Kumar N. and standards infrastructure and at the site, focused research and Patel, chairman, Pranalytica Inc., ensure the availability of essential development activities to reduce was a member of the study commit- reference data and measurement the amount and improve the im- tee. Paper, $33.50. capabilities. At NIST’s request, the mobilization of residual waste in National Research Council con- the tanks, and testing of some of the Linkages: Manufacturing Trends in Elec- ducts biennial assessments of the assumptions used in evaluating tronics Interconnection Technology. In technical quality, merit, and effec- long-term risks. the past two decades, the U.S. tiveness of the seven MSL laborato- NAE member Frank L. Parker, Department of Defense (DOD) has ries. The assessments also evaluate Distinguished Professor of Environ- been moving toward commercial- the relevance of each program and mental and Water Resources Engi- military integration in manufactur- how well facilities, equipment, neering, Vanderbilt University, ing. At the same time, the printed and personnel are configured to ful- chaired the study committee. Other circuit board (PrCB) industry has fill its mission. This report includes NAE members on the study commit- been moving steadily off shore. To an overall assessment of MSL and tee were Hadi A. Abu-Akeel, senior help DOD promote understanding detailed assessments of the seven vice president and chief engineer of the importance of high-quality, laboratories. (retired) and technical advisor, trustworthy PrCBs for weapons and NAE member Kenneth H. FANUC Robotics America Inc., other defense systems, DOD Keller, Charles M. Denny Jr. Profes- and Milton Levenson, consultant requested that the National Acade- sor of Science, Technology and Pub- and retired vice president, Bechtel mies conduct a study to identify and lic Policy, University of Minnesota, International. Paper, $18.00. assess key issues affecting PrCBs for chaired the study committee. NAE military use. This report includes a member Eugene Sevin, independent An International Perspective on Advanc- discussion of how DOD can ensure consultant, Lyndhurst, Ohio, was a ing Technologies and Strategies for continued access to reliable PrCBs; committee member. Paper, $33.00. Managing Dual-Use Risks: Report of a an assessment of DOD’s vulnerabil- Workshop. This National Research ity to the global PrCB supply chain; Superfund and Mining Megasites: Council/Institute of Medicine report and suggestions for securing the Lessons from the Coeur d’Alene River provides a summary of a workshop design and manufacture of PrCBs. Basin. The Coeur d’Alene River sponsored by the Committee on With reasonable cost constraints Basin has long been one of the most The 72 BRIDGE productive silver, lead, and zinc min- NAE member Corale Brierley, a propagating fire, even if the pool ing areas in the United States. Over principal, Brierley Consultancy were severely damaged. Dry casks time, high levels of metals (includ- LLC, was a member of the study have advantages over cooling pools, ing lead, arsenic, cadmium, and zinc) committee. Paper, $75.00. but pools are necessary at all operat- have accumulated in the local envi- ing nuclear power plants to store ronment, and elevated levels of lead Safety and Security of Commercial Spent recently discharged fuel. The com- have been found in the blood of chil- Nuclear Fuel Storage: Public Report. In mittee concludes that it would dren in communities near the metal- response to a request from Congress, be difficult for terrorists to steal refining and smelter complex. In the Nuclear Regulatory Commission enough spent fuel to construct a sig- 1983, the Environmental Protection and the U.S. Department of Home- nificant radiological dispersal device Agency (EPA) listed a 21-square mile land Security sponsored a National but suggests that additional studies area in northern Idaho as a Superfund Academies study to assess the safety be conducted. site; in 1998, EPA extended the and security risks of spent nuclear NAE member Louis J. Lanzerotti, boundaries of the site to include fuel stored in cooling pools and dry Distinguished Professor for Solar- other areas in the 1,500-square mile casks at commercial nuclear power Terrestrial Research, New Jersey Coeur d’Alene River Basin. The first plants. In this unclassified public Institute of Technology, chaired the phase of EPA’s plan to clean up the summary of a more detailed, classi- study committee. NAE members contaminated area will cost an esti- fied report, a committee of experts Robert P. Kennedy, consulting engi- mated $359 million over a period of explores the probability of terrorists neer, RPK Structural Mechanics 30 years. In this report, an indepen- using spent fuel for a radiological dis- Consulting; Richard T. Lahey Jr., dent committee of experts concludes persal device and concludes that Edward E. Hood Professor of Engi- that the scientific and technical prac- attacks on spent fuel pools would be neering, Rensselaer Polytechnic tices used by EPA to make decisions difficult but not impossible. A fire in Institute; Frederick J. Moody, inde- about human health risks at the a pool, for example, could release pendent consultant; and Loring Coeur d’Alene River Basin Super- large amounts of radioactive mater- A. Wyllie Jr., senior principal, fund site are generally sound. How- ial. However, rearranging spent fuel Degenkolb Engineers, were members ever, the committee has substantial in the pool during storage and pro- of the committee. Paper, $30.00. concerns about long-term plans for viding emergency water spray sys- environmental protection. tems would reduce the likelihood of
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