More Enviro Litigtion Implicated In Damage

I've written earlier about Save Our Wetlands' culpability in Katrina's damage, because it sued to stop an offshore barrier that would have effectively stopped storm swell.

Now the Competitive Enteriprise Institute is fingering American Rivers and the Sierra Club for suing to stop levees.

Groups including American Rivers and the Sierra Club sued in federal court in 1996 to prevent the Army Corps of Engineers from proceeding with a planned upgrade to 303 miles of levees in Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas. An Army Corps spokesman observed at the time that a failure of the levees in question “could wreak catastrophic consequences on Louisiana and Mississippi which the states would be decades in overcoming.” The lawsuit succeeded in delaying the project for two years while further environmental impact studies were completed.

Environmental opposition to federal dam and levee projects in recent years has championed a state of “natural” river flows, even when it appears that that goal will conflict with protecting the safety of people from potential flooding. Hopefully in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, flood management policy will always favor the “safe” policy over the “natural” one.

The levees in question were upriver and wouldn't have come into play in this crisis -- but to turn a blind eye after what we've seen in NOLA is ridiculous. It's time to dial back the environmental influence to an acceptable level -- one that puts people first, but protects the environment.

Last night late I posted on the scarey thought that the greenies may sue soon to stop the pumping. It's a couple posts down, or just click here.