Katrina: the Cost of Growth Over Environment
THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE, November 27, 2009 (see end of story for authors)
We’re being sued in New Orleans. Not us exactly, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It seems we made some poor decisions about a shipping channel, even though we may have known better. Thanks to environmental damage caused by our channel, Hurricane Katrina flooded thousands of homes, and now some of their owners have taken us to court.
Our case is not going well. In a groundbreaking decision, Judge Stanwood J. Duval Jr. recently ruled that Corps mismanagement was directly responsible for much of the flooding. We’re now on the hook for $700,000 — a pittance compared to what we’ve already spent — but the decision also sets the stage for thousands of additional claims. [Read rest of story]