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94–996 PDF 2015

S. HRG. 114–39 

PROVIDING NECESSARY FLOOD PROTECTION 

TO PROTECT COASTAL COMMUNITIES 

FIELD HEARING 

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION 

AND INFRASTRUCTURE 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON 

ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

MAY 15, 2015—NEW ORLEANS, LA 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

( 

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys 
(II) 

COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS 

ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma, Chairman 

DAVID VITTER, Louisiana 

JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming 

SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia 

MIKE CRAPO, Idaho 

JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas 

JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama 

ROGER WICKER, Mississippi 

DEB FISCHER, Nebraska 

MIKE ROUNDS, South Dakota 

DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska 

BARBARA BOXER, California 

THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware 

BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland 

BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont 

SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island 

JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon 

KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND, New York 

CORY A. BOOKER, New Jersey 

EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts 

RYAN JACKSON, Majority Staff Director 

BETTINA POIRIER, Democratic Staff Director 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE

DAVID VITTER, Louisiana, Chairman 

JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming 

SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia 

MIKE CRAPO, Idaho 

JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas 

JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama 

ROGER WICKER, Mississippi 

DEB FISCHER, Nebraska 

JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma (ex officio) 

BARBARA BOXER, California 

THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware 

BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland 

BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont 

SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island 

JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon 

KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND, New York 
(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

Page 

MAY 15, 2015 

WITNESS PANEL 1 

Hansen, Colonel Richard, Commander, New Orleans District, U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers ............................................................................................... 1 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 5 

WITNESS PANEL 2 

Monzon, John R., P.E., M. ASCE, Regional Director, Southeast Louisiana 

Flood Protection Authority—West ...................................................................... 15 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 18 

Murphy, Todd P., President, Jefferson Chamber of Commerce ........................... 21 

Turner, Robert A., P.E., CFM, Regional Director, Southeast Louisiana Flood 

Protection Authority—East ................................................................................. 22 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 25 

Laska, Shirley, Ph.D., Professor Emerita, University of New Orleans ............... 40 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 43 

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL 

Statement of Dr. Ariana Sutton-Grier, University of Maryland ......................... 52 

(1) 

PROVIDING NECESSARY FLOOD PROTECTION 

TO PROTECT COASTAL COMMUNITIES 

FRIDAY, MAY 15, 2015 

U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS, SUBCOMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE, New Orleans, LA. 

Senator VITTER. At this point, we’re going to move to our witnesses, to sort of the Field Hearing portion of the program, so let 

me invite Colonel Hansen to come up. He is our first panel, sort 

of the Federal panel, and then after a discussion with Colonel Hansen, we will have another panel of witnesses. 

Colonel Richard Hansen is the District Commander and District 

Engineer of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers here in the New Orleans District. He became that 62d District Commander on May 

23rd, 2013, and on assuming command, he became responsible for 

one of the largest civil works programs in the country at over $300 

million annually. 

Colonel Hansen is in charge of executing and maintaining South 

Louisiana’s Comprehensive and Integrative Flood Control Ecosystem Restoration and Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction Projects, which we were talking about earlier. 

Colonel, welcome, and thanks for your work and thanks for your 

testimony today. 

STATEMENT OF COLONEL RICHARD HANSEN, COMMANDER, 

NEW ORLEANS DISTRICT, U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS 

Colonel HANSEN. Thank you, Chairman Vitter, and the members 

of the subcommittee. Again, I am Colonel Richard Hansen, Commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District. 

Thank you for this opportunity to provide a status on the construction and maintenance of systems to reduce the risk associated 

with extreme coastal weather events. 

I’d like to provide you with an update on the progress and status 

of our efforts during the last 10 years, the remaining work, and the 

coordinated efforts of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and its 

Federal, State and local partners, to ensure that we are prepared 

and ready to respond during the 2015 hurricane season. I will 

begin with a discussion of the response following Hurricane 

Katrina. 

Immediately following Hurricane Katrina, the Corps assessed the 

damages from the storm, and working closely with State and other 

Federal agencies, took a comprehensive look at the organization to 
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determine how best to improve our approaches to storm risk reduction. We incorporated the lessons learned from that assessment 

into our design criteria, construction techniques, as well as our preparedness and response procedures. 

The results included addressing risk reduction with more robust 

designs, use of cutting edge science and technology, incorporation 

of better materials, gaining insight from local, national and international experts in building a robust emergency preparedness and 

response network. 

Additionally, the passage of supplemental appropriations totaling 

over $14 billion represented full up-front funding for protective 

measures in Southeastern Louisiana. This allowed the Corps to efficiently design and construct this multifaceted system in one of the 

Nation’s most complex environments. 

The Corps has strengthened or improved nearly 133 miles of levees, floodwalls, gated structures and pump stations to form a perimeter system. 

Construction of features, such as the Inner Harbor Navigation 

Canal Surge Barrier in Lake Borgne, the Seabrook Floodgate Complex, closures at the mouths of the three outfall canals, and the 

Gulf Intracoastal Waterway West Closure Complex, have pushed 

the line of defense outside the city and removed almost 70 miles 

of interior levees and floodwalls from exposure to storm surge. 

We have provided the necessary data to the Federal Emergency 

Management Agency and they are currently revising their Flood 

Insurance Rate maps to reflect the system as being accredited to 

defend against the 100-year storm surge event, or a storm that has 

a 1 percent chance of occurring in any given year. 

It is with confidence that I appear before you today and state 

that the level of storm damage risk reduction in the New Orleans 

metropolitan area has never been greater. 

Each day this risk is even further reduced as we push to complete the final remaining features of the system. I’d like to highlight a couple of the endeavors currently under way, specifically, 

the construction of the Permanent Canal Closures and Pumps and 

the current effort to improve system resiliency through levee armoring. 

In June 2013, we initiated construction of the Permanent Canal 

Closures and Pumps, the system’s final major structural complex. 

Since that time, we have made substantial progress. As of this 

month, the design is nearly 94 percent complete, and construction 

and procurement are 57 percent complete. 

We are on schedule to be complete at 17th Street, Orleans Avenue and London Avenue during the 2017 hurricane season. Once 

complete, the three new structures will be a sustainable replacement for the interim closure structures that currently provide the 

100-year level of risk reduction. 

These new stations combined will have a total pumping capacity 

of nearly 182,000 gallons per second. Additionally, adaptability has 

been incorporated into the design for the structures, should other 

options be authorized and funded for construction in the future. 

Until these permanent features are complete, the Corps is committed to ensuring that the interim closure structures will perform 
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as designed through a comprehensive operations and maintenance 

program. 

I’d also like to highlight our armoring program work. One of the 

lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina is the need for greater resiliency in the system. In terms of elevation, the system is designed 

to defend against surge levels associated with a 100-year level 

storm. We also understand that it is necessary to build a level of 

resiliency so that the system will withstand the impacts of overtopping from an even more intense storm. 

To date, we have awarded five task orders for the placement of 

high performance turf reinforcement matting on earthen levees in 

the system. 

Since 2006, the Corps has continued to incorporate lessons 

learned from Hurricane Katrina and improve how we do business, 

not only in design and construction of the HSDRRS, but also in 

operational and contingency planning. 

In partnership with Federal, State and local leaders, we conduct 

annual structural assessments of the system. In conjunction with 

each hurricane season, the Corps and its partners operationally 

test all major structures and conduct joint hurricane exercises here 

in New Orleans, as well as at our Division Headquarters in Vicksburg, Mississippi. 

The purpose of the exercises is to test the well-planned command 

and control procedures, our technical steps for responding to a 

storm event, the procedures and triggers for closing and reopening 

major structures, as well as the partnership and synchronized efforts among Federal, State and local agencies. 

Our partners in these extensive planning efforts are the U.S. 

Coast Guard, the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, the 

New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board, the Jefferson Parish 

Drainage Department, the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security 

and Emergency Preparedness, the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authorities, and their supporting districts, and the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. 

The first of these field tests for this hurricane season was successfully conducted by the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection 

Authority—West on April 30, 2015. 

As I meet with stakeholders, partners, media and the public, I 

am often asked about my greatest concern and vulnerability in the 

system. My greatest concern and what could also be considered a 

vulnerability is the risk of complacency of residents because this 

monumental system is now in place. 

No matter how high or how big we build, no system can fully 

eliminate risk. And it’s because of this residual risk that we continue to communicate with the general public in an open and transparent manner. 

Each year, the Corps and all of our regional partners come together for an event at the start of hurricane season to collectively 

emphasize shared responsibilities at all levels. 

And it’s important that everyone has an emergency evacuation 

plan in place. Listen to your local officials and evacuate if an order 

is called. This event, this press conference, will be scheduled for 

May 27, 2015. 
4 

Again, we’re fully confident that the Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System will perform as designed just as it did 

during Hurricane Isaac. 

Today, the system is in great shape and our non-Federal partners are doing a tremendous job with their operations and maintenance programs to keep the system prepared for response to a tropical weather event. 

So, in closing, we are meeting the Nation’s commitment to the 

citizens of Southeast Louisiana. We accomplish this by sharing responsibility and working collaboratively, relying heavily on our 

non-Federal partners, and on extensive collaboration with the general public. 

I must emphasize that the Corps absolutely could not have done 

this work on its own. It was a team effort among Federal, State 

and local government, levee authorities, levee boards, academia, industry, non-government organizations, peer reviewers and other 

stakeholders. 

Any additional work that is needed to reduce risk in coastal Louisiana should consider all methods of risk reduction: land use zoning, building codes, flood insurance, evacuation plans, hazard mitigation plans, wise use of flood plains, structural, and the appropriate combination of other non-structural measures. 

The Corps is working on numerous civil works projects to support navigation, ecosystem restoration, and flood risk management 

in coastal Louisiana. 

Recently, we executed a cost share agreement with the Louisiana 

Department of Transportation and Development to evaluate the 

feasibility of deepening the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge to 

the Gulf of Mexico, as well as an agreement with the Port of Lake 

Charles to implement the Dredge Material Management Plan, 

which will provide additional placement capacity to allow the continued maintenance dredging of the Calcasieu Ship Channel. 

For coastal restoration, we have partnered with Plaquemines 

Parish to begin construction of the first Louisiana Coastal Area 

Beneficial Use of Dredged Material Project, which will create and 

restore marshlands in West Bay, with material dredged, as part of 

our Mississippi River Maintenance Program, and it will also provide a natural buffer against future coastal storms. 

Finally, we are also working on additional flood risk management efforts, such as the Comite River Diversion Project in the 

Baton Rouge area and the Southwest Coastal Louisiana Integrated 

Flood Risk Reduction and Coastal Restoration Study. 

Addressing the needs of this important region, especially in the 

area of managing flood risk, will require the shared efforts of our 

local, State and Federal partners. The men and women of the U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, are residents of 

South Louisiana. Their friends and families live here; they maintain active roles in their communities. For them, working with our 

partners to ensure a promising future in coastal Louisiana is not 

just a professional responsibility; it is a personal commitment. 

Mr. Chairman, thank you for allowing me to testify before you 

this morning. I will be happy to answer any questions you may 

have. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Colonel Hansen follows:] 
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Senator VITTER. Thank you, Colonel. Thanks for your work and 

that of all of your colleagues in the Corps. Thanks for all of your 

ongoing leadership and work, and thanks for being here today. 

You mentioned that you think the greatest vulnerability, danger 

of our new system is complacency. After that, in terms of if you 

look at the physical post-Katrina system, what would you say are 

the three top vulnerabilities or gaps of any kind and what is the 

Corps doing to address those? 

Colonel HANSEN. Well, Senator, first, I will say that the Corps 

greatly values your leadership in the development and passage of 

the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014. That 

does represent significant progress in advancing many water resources projects around the country, including here in the Greater 

New Orleans area. 

Correct, I did mention complacency among citizens, that we don’t 

want to develop a feeling or a belief that you can stay in the city 

for any Category 1 or any Category 2 hurricane; you don’t have to 

evacuate until they reach a Category 3. That would be an incorrect 

way of thinking. Any hurricane could be dangerous regardless of its 

category. 

For example, Hurricane Isaac was a Category 1 storm, but very 

wide and very slow moving. It pushed a lot of surge in front of it. 

There’s a lot more factors to wind speed than category. 

But, Senator, to talk about other vulnerabilities, as you mentioned in the slide you showed, in your presentation, we are presently armoring many miles of the earthen levees around the system. 

Of that 133-mile perimeter, approximately 80 miles are earthen 

levees, and one of the lessons learned from Katrina is that levees 

need to be resilient to potential overtopping. So we are going back, 

now that those levees have been constructed, and we are beginning 

to place high performance turf matting and then grass over the top 

of those levees. 

And our tests have shown that—we tested cross-sections of grass 

with that matting, at 40 times what we had said is the initial limit 

for overtopping, and we found no failure and no sign of erosion in 

levees that were protected with that armoring mat. So armoring 

makes levees much more resilient to an even larger storm, a 300- 

year storm, a 500-year storm. 

So delaying that armor, if we do not move forward with that armoring, it does represent somewhat of a vulnerability. The system 

is capable of performing to a 100-year level storm, but if there were 

an even larger storm and the system was not armored, the levees 

could be potentially subject to damage from erosion from significant 

overtopping. 

Senator, it’s difficult to categorize or kind of rank other 

vulnerabilities, but obviously maintaining the system long-term requires a system-wide approach and really sharing of resources 

throughout the system. 

You know, if levee lifts in one area need to be performed before 

another area—right now levee districts are limited in their ability 

to share resources and share funds, and that is going to, in a degree, is going to limit the system-wide approach to maintenance in 

the future, so I would consider that somewhat of a vulnerability. 
11 

You know, beyond that, I know that, you know, you’re going to 

want to talk about the West Closure Complex and the surge barrier. Some of these large structures are very big. They are expensive to operate and maintain, and it takes resources on behalf of, 

you know, the non-Federal sponsor, the local levee districts and the 

Federal Government. And so, you know, the question is whether 

those resources will continue to be adequate in the future to maintain those structures, and I’ll say that we have to continue to operate as a team and be committed to approaching that, you know, 

with the best plan possible. 

Senator VITTER. Great. Well, that leads to our discussion of that 

O&M issue, and I appreciate your kind words about the WRRDA 

2014 bill that I helped draft and pass, but you can tell your superiors that rather than kind words, what I really want is simply the 

Corps to follow the law in regard to that. And we’ve had this meeting and discussion many times, but the Corps isn’t. 

I mean, WRRDA 2014 has crystal clear language that the Corps 

has a responsibility to perform operation and maintenance on the 

IHNC Surge and Barge Sector Gates, on the West Closure Complex 

and on the Harvey Canal Sector Gates, and that the cost share is 

65 Federal and 35 local. 

I have a few questions about this, but let me start with this. Is 

there anything in that WRRDA language that you think is unclear 

or ambiguous? 

Colonel HANSEN. Well, Senator, the WRRDA 2014 legislation is 

clear in assigning responsibility to the Secretary of the Army for 

operating and maintaining the structures that you named, and that 

is the correct list from our analysis, at 65 percent Federal and 35 

percent non-Federal expense. 

Senator VITTER. OK. So the obvious next question is why isn’t— 

we’re less than 2 weeks away from the start of hurricane season. 

So why isn’t the Corps doing that? 

Colonel HANSEN. Senator, the Corps has not ignored the authorization and plans to comply with the statute should operations and 

maintenance funding be provided. You know, specific appropriated 

funds were not provided for this purpose, but we’ve had this discussion as—and, you know, Congress did provide the Corps with an 

additional $1 billion in discretionary operations and maintenance 

funding for 2015. 

And, Senator, again, the Corps of Engineers and all the non-Federal sponsors and stakeholders that operate projects across the 

country are very grateful for that additional funding. It helps the 

Corps address critical backlog maintenance needs across the country, including here in Louisiana. 

But this national backlog and deferred maintenance of structures and facilities and navigation channels across the country is $140 

billion, so even with the additional $1 billion in discretionary funding—and, again, it’s very useful and very welcomed—there are very 

hard choices to make and many, many critical needs still remain 

unfunded. And, regrettably, with demands exceeding the limited 

resources, no funds were allocated for the Federal share of the 

O&M for the HSDRRS fuel tax waterway structures. 

Regarding a path forward, if discretionary O&M funding is provided to the Corps in Fiscal Year 2016, I cannot commit the Corps 
12 

to a particular decision, but the critical nature of these structures 

is well understood and it will receive very careful consideration. 

Senator VITTER. So basically your answer is, we’re not doing it, 

even though it’s clearly our responsibility, because we don’t have 

the money to do it? 

Colonel HANSEN. Senator, as you know, the two steps that are 

required are the authorization and the funding, and, again, within 

that discretionary funding that was provided, you know, with the 

immense backlog of maintenance in structures, this was one of the 

needs that was not able to be funded. 

Senator VITTER. So you know how the process works. The Corps, 

through the administration, submits a proposed budget to Congress. Did the Corps ask for that money? 

Colonel HANSEN. Senator, I am not, you know, fully aware of 

every step in the budget process. I know it was actively considered 

in the fiscal year ’15 work plan allocation of that O&M funding, but 

I can’t offer, you know, whether or not it was in the 2015 budget. 

The implementation guidance of that particular section of WRRDA 

did arrive late enough in the 2016 President’s budget development 

process and it was not included. 

Senator VITTER. So, again, I’m trying to cut through to the core, 

the responsibility is crystal clear that it’s at the Corps. The Corps 

has not even asked for the money, and to piggyback on your comments about the billion dollars, the Corps was given an extra billion dollars for various O&M needs. And I know you have way 

more O&M needs than that. But you were given a billion dollars, 

with no direction, and the Corps chose not to use a penny of it for 

this mandated responsibility, is that correct? 

Colonel HANSEN. That is accurate, Senator. 

Senator VITTER. OK. Well, I just think that’s inexcusable, and I 

know it’s a decision by your superiors, and I know that the district 

actively asked for the money, but the responsibility is crystal clear, 

and for the Corps not to meet the responsibility, not to even ask 

for the money to meet the responsibility, and to be given a billion 

dollars which could be used for the responsibility, and not to use 

a penny, I think, is ridiculous, quite frankly. 

So, as you know, we’re not going to drop this issue, and I can 

tell you, if I have anything to do with it, as the next Governor, my 

direction, in January, is going to be very simple to the local authorities. It’s going to be to drop off the keys to these three structures at the Corps office, literally, drop off the keys. We will send 

you a monthly check for our 35 percent and it’s going to be on you. 

So y’all have between now and January to figure it out, but that’s 

what’s going to happen. 

Let me move to levee lifts, which is another really important 

issue. Before Katrina, in the construction of our protection system, 

future levee lifts to bring the system back up to required height, 

after subsidence, was part of the design, was part of the authorization. 

That was not built into the design and authorization of this new 

system, so that now, as subsidence happens, and we need to periodically do levee lifts—and that’s normal; I mean, that’s part of any 

levee system, as you know—the Corps is saying, ‘‘Oh, not on us. It 

has to be a 100 percent State and local burden.’’ That was never 
13 

the case before. It’s always been built into the system. It’s always 

been the same cost share, which is 65 percent Federal, 35 percent 

State. So why did that change with this new system? 

Colonel HANSEN. Senator, again, a very important issue, and 

Congress directed the Corps of Engineers to build a comprehensive 

risk reduction system for the Greater New Orleans Area that 

would provide a 100-year level risk reduction and could be accredited by FEMA, under the National Flood Insurance Program, and 

the Corps accomplished that and completed initial attainment by 

September 2011, and then in February 2014, the system was formally accredited by FEMA, and FEMA is in the process of updating 

the Digital Flood Insurance Rate maps that are applicable to the 

National Flood Insurance Program. 

And, Senator, you are correct, the authorizing legislation for that 

system and for that project was silent on future levee lifts. 

And then, Senator, again, you know, with your leadership with 

the Water Resources Reform and Development Act passage, Section 

3017 of that Act does provide additional guidance on future levee 

lifts for the Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System. 

It does require that the Secretary of the Army determine that future levee lift work, to address all the steps that caused the levee 

to settle, consolidation, settlement and subsidence, that if future 

levee lift work is technically feasible, environmentally acceptable 

and economically justified. 

And as you know, Senator, that requires a decision document. In 

this case, it would be a General Re-Evaluation Report, and that 

would be conducted with investigation funds, under a cost-sharing 

agreement. 

Senator VITTER. OK. Basically, to summarize for folks here, that 

means we have to go through all of this rigmarole study that’s 

going to be long and drawn out and may not even get to a ‘‘yes,’’ 

to do regular levee lifts that, prior to Katrina, were always built 

into the system. 

And so what we have going on is normal subsidence that is 

bringing the system below the design level, below the 100-year 

level, with no appropriate plan involving the Corps to remedy that, 

on a regular basis, and, again, this is really unacceptable. 

To date, isn’t it true that the Corps has performed some lifts on 

levees within the system, like in St. Bernard Parish? 

Colonel HANSEN. Senator, in constructing a levee, you know that 

there’s a lot more to a levee reach than just the earthen levee 

itself. Oftentimes, there are some loose gates, you know, concrete 

slope paving in sections of floodwall, and so in the—and then we 

establish a good quality turf or a strong turf on the levee before 

we turn it over to the non-Federal sponsor. 

And you’re right, Senator, the conditions that cause levees to settle are very dynamic here in south Louisiana. There have been 

cases where, as we go through the several-year construction process of a large levee and get to the point of establishing turf and 

we go out and do our surveys, we find that it has settled small 

amounts below the initial design elevation. 

And so in those cases, Senator, before—we have always made 

sure that before we turn a levee over to the non-Federal sponsor, 
14 

to the State and the levee district, that it is above the design 

grade. 

So there have been cases where we went out, we have gone back 

out and done limited lifts. In 2012, the Corps actually did lifts on 

eight different reaches before turning them over to the non-Federal 

sponsor. Once that turnover process is complete, then it falls into 

the category, Senator, as we’re discussing now. 

Senator VITTER. OK. Well, again, I just want to highlight the 

concern. Over time we have this subsidence, and as it stands now, 

the Corps is walking away from any responsibility to help us keep 

the system at the design level. That was never the case before, 

never, ever. It was always built into the design and authorization 

that the Corps, 65/35, same cost share as normal, would do those 

regular lifts to keep the system up to its design level. 

OK. I think, Colonel, that goes through my main areas that I 

wanted to focus on. We have a second panel, so I do want to give 

them ample opportunity, but thanks very much for being here 

today. 

Colonel HANSEN. Well, thank you, Senator, and again, thanks for 

your leadership. 

[Applause.] 

Senator VITTER. And if I could ask our second panel to come up 

and be seated, and as they do, I will be introducing them. 

We’re really pleased to have four experts and individuals from 

the local area. First, Mr. John Monzon, P.E., Regional Director of 

the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority—West. That’s 

the main levee board on the westbank and John is the head of it. 

Prior to serving in that capacity, John was Operations Division 

Chief with the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, which was responsible for oversight and technical review of 

all of this work at the State level, and he was also CPRA liaison 

between the levee districts and the Corps for levee accreditation. 

We also have Todd Murphy, President of the Jefferson Parish 

Chamber of Commerce. Todd has served as the President for the 

past 3 years and represents businesses in the largest parish in the 

New Orleans region, in terms of population, a number of businesses and a number of jobs. Prior to leading the Chamber, Todd 

served as Senior Vice President of Omni Bank and Iberia Bank for 

13 years, where he guided new business development and government relations. 

Bob Turner is Regional Director of the Southeast Louisiana 

Flood Protection Authority—East, so that’s sort of the main levee 

board on the east bank. And Bob is a Registered Professional Civil 

Engineer with 30 years’ experience in engineering. In 2007, Bob 

was appointed to his position and charged with oversight of flood 

protection for all or part of five parishes surrounding Lake Pontchartrain and the governance of the Orleans, East Jefferson and 

Lake Borgne Basin Levee Districts. Bob has an extensive background in hurricane and flood protection. 

And last, but certainly not least, is Shirley Laska, Ph.D., Professor Emerita, Sociology, at UNO. Dr. Laska is a Profession, 

Emerita, of Sociology and Founding Past Director of the Center For 

Hazards Assessment Response and Technology at UNO. It’s called 

UNO-CHART. She’s been conducting applied research on natural 
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and technological hazards and disaster response for 30 years and 

her work includes studies on residential flood mitigation, hurricane 

response, coastal land loss effects, coastal fisheries and many other 

topics. 

Thank you all for being here. More importantly, thanks for all 

of your ongoing work in this area, and we’ll hear 5-minute testimony from each of you, in the order that I introduced you, starting 

with John. 

STATEMENT OF JOHN R. MONZON, P.E., M. ASCE, REGIONAL 

DIRECTOR, SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA FLOOD PROTECTION 

AUTHORITY—WEST 

Mr. MONZON. Good morning, Senator Vitter—— 

Senator VITTER. Good morning. 

Mr. MONZON [continuing]. Chairman Vitter, and members of the 

committee. Thank you for giving me this opportunity this morning. 

As you stated earlier, I am the Regional Director of the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority—West. We are in charge 

of two levee districts on the Westbank, of the Greater New Orleans 

area, namely the Algiers and West Jefferson Levee Districts. 

The SLFPA-West oversees the operation and maintenance of over 

100 miles of westbank and vicinity levees, including 33 miles along 

the Mississippi River and 67 miles of hurricane protection levees. 

The Westbank Hurricane Protection Project began in 1986, when 

Congress secured authorization and funding to have the United 

States Army Corps of Engineers build the Westbank Hurricane 

Protection Levees, starting at Westwego to the Harvey Canal. 

The entire Westbank and Vicinity System was incomplete at the 

time that Katrina made landfall on the shores of Louisiana. If Hurricane Katrina had shifted over to the west and made its way up 

Barataria Bay, the entire westbank would have flooded. 

Based on lessons learned from levee and floodwall failures in the 

New Orleans area that were caused by storm surge, the Corps of 

Engineers received appropriations from Congress to design and 

build the HSDRRS features on the Westbank and Vicinity Projects. 

In the nearly 10 years since Hurricane Katrina has passed, the 

Westbank and Vicinity Projects are now nearly complete and the 

citizens inside this system have the best level of hurricane protection they have ever experienced. 

While there were some good outcomes from the construction of 

the Westbank and Vicinity HSDRRS projects, there were a couple 

of hardships along the way. 

One of the hardships was caused by the June 1st, 2011 deadline 

to finish the HSDRRS. There were contractors that were aware of 

this deadline and used it to their advantage when negotiating 

change orders. In some cases, the deadline created sloppy construction practices and an environment where quality control was lacking. 

Such was the case on the WBV 14c.2 Project where the contractor stretched the limits of blending in the soil specifications and 

caused an inordinate amount of woody debris in the levees. Eventually the Corps did agree to a task force that investigated the effects 

of the woody debris in the levees. 
16 

On the positive side, as a lesson learned, the task force recommended a compromise in which parts of the levee that had the 

most woody debris were capped with additional clean clay. It also 

recommended that the soil specifications be amended to limit the 

amount of organic material and better define the allowable blending process. 

Some of the sloppy construction could have been averted if the 

construction contracts would have included provisions for a timely 

halt in construction in order to give the non-Federal sponsor and 

local sponsors an opportunity to seek corrective measures from the 

Corps. Also, contracts should have had a considerable retainer, in 

the amount of 10 percent or above, and those retainers should not 

have been paid until the Federal and non-Federal sponsors were 

satisfied that the contract is complete and finished according to 

plans and specifications. 

A second hardship that was encountered along the construction 

process was caused by the division of the HSDRRS projects between the Hurricane Protection Office, HPO, and the Protection 

and Restoration Office, the PRO. There were inconsistencies in construction practices and design waivers, such as the use of uncoated 

steel piles and the lack of cathodic connectivity between the piles. 

An expert review panel on the Greater New Orleans HSDRRS 

design guidelines concurred that the use of sacrificial steel is not 

a good practice in this region. 

Most of these issues occurred on the Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity projects managed by the HPO office and will arguably add 

maintenance costs over the life of the projects. For consistency, all 

future projects should be operated out of one office. 

Some well-intended specification changes during construction 

created other hardships. In order to build stronger earthen levees, 

the soil specifications were changed to increase the clay content 

and decrease the organic content. 

This created a problem in establishing a grass cover on the levees, because the clay was too hard to allow the root mass to become 

established and the soil did not contain enough organic material to 

encourage root growth. This became a problem because levees without grass cover are susceptible to erosion during rain events. In 

some cases, the contract was considered complete without adequate 

turf establishment. 

The projects were turned over to the non-Federal sponsor where 

the Corps had to take corrective measures with hired labor forces. 

This wound up costing more time and money. In the future, specification changes should be vetted by the non-Federal sponsor prior 

to wholesale changes. 

In conclusion, the Westbank and Vicinity is better prepared 

against storm surge from tropical events. The West Closure Complex has closed the entry point of storm surge into the Harvey and 

Algiers Canals and has reduced potential flooding in these basins. 

The cost to operate, maintain, repair, rehabilitate and replace 

this $1 billion facility is approximately $3 million per year. This is 

a heavy burden to the local sponsors without Federal participation. 

Most of the HSDRRS projects are complete, with the exception 

of some project modifications and armoring. The Corps was man-
17 

dated to provide resiliency to the system for storm events greater 

than the 100-year storm. 

The Corps chose to use armoring products to provide this level 

of resiliency, in lieu of additional height. These armoring products 

were tested at the University of Colorado and proved to be effective 

in providing erosion resistance from overtopping events. However, 

the system is still susceptible to overtopping and flooding will still 

occur, depending on the size of the storm. There are homes and 

places that will flood again. 

Moreover, the recently awarded armoring contracts have indicated that it will cost as much to armor the levees as it will cost 

to raise the levees an average height of 2 feet. 

The Corps has also indicated the future costs to lift and armor 

these levees will be the responsibility of the non-Federal sponsor. 

Future costs to lift and armor these levees should be cost-shared 

between the Corps and the non-Federal sponsor, as stipulated in 

the WRRDA bill, at a 65/35 percent cost share. 

We are hopeful that recent mandates in the 2014 WRRDA bill 

will bring some relief to the local sponsors as we begin to operate, 

maintain and repair, rehabilitate and replace the Westbank and 

Vicinity projects. 

Again, thank you for giving me this opportunity. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Monzon follows:] 
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Senator VITTER. Thank you very much, John. Now we’ll hear 

from Todd Murphy. 

STATEMENT OF TODD P. MURPHY, PRESIDENT, JEFFERSON 

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 

Mr. MURPHY. Thank you. Good morning, Senator Vitter—— 

Senator VITTER. Good morning. 

Mr. MURPHY [continuing]. And members of the Committee on the 

Environment and Public Works and, of course, the public, that 

have come out to this beautiful facility. 

My name is Todd Murphy, and for the last 3 years, I’ve served 

as President of the Jefferson Chamber of Commerce. As Senator 

Vitter mentioned, we represent businesses in the largest parish in 

the region, centrally located, in the middle of the region, and we 

represent the largest number in terms of population; number of 

businesses and number of jobs. 

As a lifelong resident of Jefferson Parish, I can attest to the climate of work and life before, during and, of course, after Hurricane 

Katrina. We thought we had stress every day, from everyday work 

routines and everyday challenges of life. Then comes a nearly 60- 

day evacuation, for most, from the area and many more months 

and years of inconvenience and aggravation to the life in which we 

knew. 

The people and businesses of the region simply prevailed through 

the adversity, and many got very creative in how to reopen business to best serve the public. 

[Off microphone] a professional banker at the time, our bank 

joined two dozen other banks to jointly open in locations that met 

the usually basic requirements of safety, accessibility, electricity, 

and, of course, air conditioning, which is necessary in mid-September in south Louisiana. 

Approved by the Louisiana Office of Financial Institutions and 

supported by local, State and Federal regulatory and security agencies, 14 locations were opened in our parish, each housing three to 

five respective banks. 

So a bank branch opened and operated at Bank A, and, for example, each teller line was a different bank. You had a Bank A, a 

Bank B, Bank C, Bank D, and we did this throughout the parish. 

Proper marketing was done through radio and signage to make 

sure all customers were properly provided for. This went on for 

about 4 weeks and was certainly an example of collaboration at its 

best. 

And I mention this because today, as we continue to watch 

storms and prepare for storms, industries like banking, like health 

care, like financial services, are all still collaborating and working 

to be prepared, working through our Chamber of Commerce in Jefferson Parish and other regional organizations to be prepared and 

to collaborate through these potential storms. 

In fact, as we would see in the years to come, our area would rely 

on collaboration, as noticed above, and, of course, the resiliency of 

its people. And the result has been an evolution of stronger, more 

efficient businesses built with loyal and passionate employees. 

The number of restaurants in our areas alone has more than 

doubled, and tourism and air travel have reached their respective 
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numbers, before Katrina. Retail, services and manufacturing are 

all strong. 

We still have storm threats, and as most recent as 2012, a 5-day 

evacuation. Yet, today we have more confidence in the levee system 

that has been rebuilt and understand the need to do more for the 

coastal communities. 

Water management is actually now Southeast Louisiana’s second 

largest industry sector, which has added more jobs than any other 

sector since 2010. The State of Louisiana and Greater New Orleans 

have been more proactive around the resiliency issue than perhaps 

any other region in the country. 

Moreover, a few points on this resiliency. Resiliency is an existential issue. Without proactive strategies to manage and combat 

environmental threats, the post-Katrina gains in the Greater New 

Orleans area from new real estate developments to jobs and industry will be lost. 

Ecosystem restoration is economic development. Diversifying an 

economically promising industry sector is arising from local firms’ 

constant response to local disasters. 

And finally, the success of Greater New Orleans equates to the 

success of the Nation. At the mouth of the Mississippi River, supporting one of the Nation’s largest deltas and most significant energy strongholds, Greater New Orleans strengths and weaknesses 

are felt nationally. 

As a clear outcome of the extraordinary manmade and natural 

disaster of the last decade, Greater New Orleans serves as a model 

for the country in innovative policies, plans, leadership, work force 

and industry development, and infrastructure investment around 

resiliency. 

In fact, Louisiana-based firms have received over $327 million in 

State and Federal prime contracts related to Hurricane Sandy response, recovery and rebuilding. 

I’d like to close by thanking Senator Vitter for this forum and 

members of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public 

works for allowing me to testify today on such short notice. 

It is critically important for the businesses and residents of this 

region and Louisiana to have adequate protection against catastrophic storms and storm surge so that we’re able to foster and 

grow a vibrant local and State economy. 

Thank you very much. 

Senator VITTER. Great. Thank you, Todd, very much. And next 

we’ll hear from Bob Turner, Regional Director of the Southeast 

Louisiana Flood Protection Authority—East. Bob, thanks. 

STATEMENT OF ROBERT A. TURNER, P.E., CFM, REGIONAL DIRECTOR, SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA FLOOD PROTECTION AUTHORITY—EAST 

Mr. TURNER. Good morning, Chairman Vitter. 

Senator VITTER. Good morning. 

Mr. TURNER. Thanks for the opportunity to be here today to talk 

about our flood defense system in advance of this year’s hurricane 

season, and also, you know, personally, I want to thank you for 

being such a strong advocate for flood protection in our area. 
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The new Federal levee system is far better than the system we 

had before Hurricane Katrina, and today I’m happy to report that 

it is being well-maintained and it is in good condition. 

But to keep the system performing to the level authorized by 

Congress, there is still plenty of work that needs to be done. You 

see, our levees were designed be periodically lifted to sustain required elevations through the life of the project. 

In a Corps memorandum, General Peabody wrote, and I quote, 

‘‘Without additional levee lifts, the expected consolidation, settlement and subsidence and sea level rise will cause levee reaches 

within the system to fall below the required elevation necessary to 

provide 1 percent risk reduction as early as 2016.’’ And he went on 

to say that the system will no longer meet NFIP accreditation criteria when the first levee reach settles below the required elevation. 

Now, it’s important to note that the Project Partner Agreement, 

signed by the Corps and the non-Federal sponsor, excludes such 

lifts from the maintenance responsibilities of the non-Federal sponsor. So it certainly stunned local partners when Corps attorneys 

claimed existing law did not allow the Corps to construct periodic 

levee lifts and share the cost with local partners, as had been done 

historically by the pre-Katrina Federal levee system. 

Surely, it was not the intent of Congress or the Corps to build 

a $14 billion Federal levee system such that it would provide the 

authorized level of protection for less than 5 years. 

More recently, provisions were included in WRRDA 2014 to address this critical issue. It authorizes the Corps to construct periodic levee lifts with a 35 percent non-Federal cost share, provided 

a General Re-Evaluation Report, or GRR, finds that the work is 

technically feasible, environmentally acceptable and economically 

justifiable. 

It is imperative that the GRR be completed as soon as possible, 

but we realize that Corps reports and congressional appropriations 

take time. But some of our levee segments in the system will fall 

below authorized heights within the next 2 to 3 years. 

So we are considering lifting some levee segments in advance of 

the Corps armoring effort to both maintain the required levee 

heights and avoid wasting tens of millions of dollars on armoring 

that must be removed and replaced as part of any levee lift. 

We would ask, at least, to receive project credits for the local 

funds that we use to lift those levees, before the required the Corps 

report is complete, and Federal funds can be appropriated for the 

needed lifts. 

WRRDA 2014 also designates responsibility to the Corps to operate and maintain the sector gate and barge gate across the Gulf 

Intracoastal Waterway, at the surge barrier, with a 35 percent cost 

share for the non-Federal sponsor. But the Corps has informed us 

that they will not begin operating and maintaining those structures 

until funds have been appropriated for that purpose. 

So in the absence of the Corps, we are taking care of those facilities for the time being. Local funds expended to fulfill the Federal 

responsibility to operate and maintain and repair those structures 

should be reimbursed by the Corps to the non-Federal sponsor, or 
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at least used to offset the 35 percent cost share required for the 

future work. 

Our new system is definitely large and most definitely complicated, so it’s not unusual for engineers to occasionally disagree 

on complex design decisions. 

For example, early in the design phase, the St. Bernard Parish 

T-walls, our non-Federal project team expressed concerns regarding 

the adequacy of the Corps design, of the steel pile foundation elements. But the Corps chose to proceed with construction without 

modifying that design. 

Then after completing construction, the Corps took a much more 

detailed look at that entire design, and although it has been determined that there is no immediate danger to the integrity of the Twalls, the Corps’ latest analysis indicates that problems with steel 

piles could develop in the future. 

So their current plan is to install monitoring equipment at multiple locations along the 23-mile floodwall to measure corrosion 

rates and the stresses in the steel pile foundation elements. 

A robust monitoring program will allow for advance notice of developing problems so that plans and funding can be put in place 

to correct any design deficiencies. 

And we agree that a monitoring program is needed, but we believe the Corps should be responsible for operating and maintaining the monitoring equipment and collecting and analyzing that 

data. Such costs and responsibilities should not be transferred to 

the non-Federal sponsor. 

So in closing, first of all, I would like to thank you and your staff 

for all the hard work and attention you have given to reducing 

flood risk in our region, and thank you for allowing me the opportunity to provide this testimony. 

There’s far more detail and supporting documentation in my 

written remarks, and I look forward to answering any questions 

you may have and assisting the committee in any way that you 

might find helpful. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Turner follows:] 
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Senator VITTER. Great. Thank you, Bob, very much. And last, but 

certainly not least, we’ll hear from Dr. Shirley Laska. 

STATEMENT OF SHIRLEY LASKA, PH.D., PROFESSOR EMERITA, 

UNIVERSITY OF NEW ORLEANS 

Ms. LASKA. We social scientists always feel comfortable being 

last, so it’s all good. Thank you, Senator Vitter, and the Environment and Public Works Committee for allowing me to make some 

comments this morning. 

Achieving better risk reduction from flooding for America’s coastal communities is a goal that can never be taken seriously enough. 

Coastal areas vary in flood risk, but each coastal community’s safety is critical because so many societal services and activities occur 

there and such large numbers of our citizens live within coastal 

communities. 

The takeaway from my brief comments is that each coastal area 

of interconnected communities must recognize the portfolio of efforts available to them to reduce their risk to flooding and must invest their time, energy and financial resources into these efforts. 

The second part of the takeaway is that the portfolio must be implemented as part of a system of risk reduction, not as separate activities, and we must grow as a society in understanding how the 

pieces fit together for the best risk reduction and how each of us 

can play a role. 

I know you are familiar with the idea of a system of protection. 

The Colonel was, of course, speaking about it this morning. We 

used to consider our system just one levee and all of its needed 

parts, the types of materials to construct it, the shape of it, the surface protection materials. We have improved our understanding of 

systems since Hurricane Katrina. 

Now the Corps is working to implement risk reducing systems 

that include multiple levees, flood walls and pumps, how they function together, and are now even adding non-structural methods 

into their systems. 

St. John and St. James Parishes, and Calcasieu Parish, in west 

Louisiana, are all participating with the Corps in planning projects 

that include elements other than large levees—such as ring levees 

around clusters of houses, culvert flaps to prevent back flow flooding, some home buyouts and elevating structures. 

Where the social scientists specializing in supporting flood risk 

reduction come in is to ‘‘flesh in’’ the system idea to include multiple activities that, taken together, thought about together, modified in conjunction with one another, create safer coastal communities. 

A recent report published by the National Academy of Science 

gives us a clear picture of what this idea means; ‘‘There is a clear 

need for a comprehensive, tailored approach to flood risk management behind levees’’—and I would change that to say ‘‘in conjunction with levees’’—‘‘that is designed and implemented at the local 

level, it involves Federal and State agencies, communities, and 

households, takes into account possible future conditions, and relies 

on an effective portfolio of structural measures, nonstructural 

measures, and insurance to reduce the risk to those behind levees.’’ 
41 

Of course, in this area, we would also include coastal restoration 

in that list. 

Unfortunately, we are a long way from achieving what is recommended by this study. Levees give us too much confidence that 

they are all that needs to happen and too much confidence that we 

have levees high enough to give us excellent protection. This complacency is called ‘‘the levee effect.’’ 

The protection of our New Orleans levee system today is 1 percent risk per year, as you have heard the others say. That gives 

us a 26 percent chance of flooding in the course of a 30-year mortgage. Even though we know these odds are still very seriously 

high, the warning falls back into our consciousness to a real small 

corner of our thinking and we simply get on with what’s happening 

here and now. I think the Colonel called it ‘‘complacency.’’ 

Those who are going to survive the next flood most effectively are 

those who don’t let that happen. All of us in this room who are 

‘‘locals’’ treasure Angelo Brocato’s Italian Ice Cream and Pastry. 

The store was badly flooded in Hurricane Katrina. The current 

owner, Mr. Brocato, II, can’t elevate his store on Carrollton Avenue 

because it is an historic building in a row of such. 

During a recent Walk and Learn event, held by the Building Resilience Workshop and the Stay Local Small Business Organization, Mr. Brocato shared his knowledge of flood insurance—how 

much to buy, what it will cover—and what he can do to protect his 

equipment beyond insurance, elevating it as much as possible and 

moving what he can’t into air-tight walk-in freezers. These efforts 

will enable him to be resilient. 

Mr. Gerry Fullington, the manager of Massey Sporting Goods 

store, on North Carrollton Avenue, on the Lafitte Corridor, also 

told the Walk and Learn group that his resiliency focuses on several activities: First, he always keeps his suppliers paid in full so 

that when he needs them to send replacement inventory quickly 

after a flood, they will. He also has a robust online business that 

will sustain the company while the stores are rebuilt the next time 

they flood. 

And finally, in the same neighborhood, the manager of the Gulf 

Coast Bank, Mr. Eric van Hoven, described how his staff shows all 

of the bank’s clients how to do all of their business with the bank 

electronically so that when another flood occurs, the customers will 

be able to take advantage of the bank’s full electronic banking services. 

Just these brief examples show the variety of risk reducing activities that three regular citizens of New Orleans have honed to 

reduce their business risks. They are paying attention to risk reduction, not letting it recede into their thinking and they have committed themselves to integrate different measures and to being 

part of the system of risk reduction in New Orleans. 

The president of the Greater Mid-City Merchants Association, 

Mr. Tim Levy, supported the Walk and Learn. We are hoping that 

such a co-teaching event will expand risk reduction commitments 

for all of their business owners so that when—and I didn’t say ‘‘if,’’ 

but I said ‘‘when’’—another disaster occurs, the headline of The Advocate and The Times Picayune newspapers will read: ‘‘Mid City 
42 

Businesses; Some of the First to Return in Large Numbers.’’ A 

similar goal exists for all business areas in the region. 

So creating a system of risk reduction effort for a metropolitan 

area is not rocket science. But unfortunately it is more difficult to 

achieve. We, as a society, don’t really believe that we need to engage in it continually. Even we, who live in a metropolitan area 

that is fraught with flooding challenges and that is at the edge of 

the most quickly subsiding and inundating coast in the entire 

world, we do not pay enough continual attention. 

I will just read now the other recommended items. They are in 

my printed presentation, and that will conclude my comments. 

We should take extreme care to use post disaster funds very 

carefully for risk reduction. We should not waste a cent. 

We should buy flood insurance. We should monitor Write Your 

Own companies to encourage agents to promote flood insurance. 

And, Senator Vitter, I know that’s one of your concerns. 

We should monitor banks with federally backed mortgages to require flood insurance on insured homes. That protects the entire 

community. 

We should get Federal subsidy for lower and middle income residents for skyrocketing insurance premium rates, as some of you 

mentioned earlier. 

We should recognize the importance and commit to paying local 

costs for operation and maintenance of levees. We spoke about that 

this morning. 

We should add additional elevations to the required building elevation. Some communities are doing it, but not enough. 

We should discontinue construction of slab-on-grade houses in 

surge risk areas and dense subdivisions because it’s difficult to elevate them if they get flooded. 

We should understand the reasoning and follow the NFIP construction requirements. 

We should work toward achieving more safety for critical and 

public buildings, in terms of elevation, because the funds acquired 

for rebuilding them will never come to us again. 

We should demand and have implemented by the government, 

and its contractors, efficient and effective post disaster recovery, including mitigation, and that was mentioned this morning. 

We should increase community and parish participation in the 

Community Rating System. 

And finally, we should take special consideration of restoring 

storm-safe housing for lower income residents, those who can the 

least afford to return because of their income. 

So these must all be taken and work together as a system with 

the residents, with the officials, the Federal level, with the Congress, in order for us to hope to achieve the goal of being able to 

stay in this place, which all of us so much love. Thank you, Senator 

Vitter. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Laska follows:] 
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Senator VITTER. Thank you very much, Shirley. Thank you very 

much. Just a couple of questions. First, let me start with John and 

Bob, since they’re in charge of these systems we’re talking about. 

Besides future levee lifts, which we’ve talked about, besides the 

Corps responsibility to run these big structures, which we talked 

about—put those on the side—what are the top, besides that, what 

are the top two or three potential gaps or vulnerabilities in the system that you all are particularly focused on? And each of you can 

speak in turn. 

Mr. MONZON. I think, in general, future funding, to be able to 

maintain and operate the system, in general. The earthen levees— 

the flood protection system on the westbank is made up mostly of 

earthen levees. We have some flood walls. We had some other features that are not in Federal navigable waterways, like the WCC. 

We have a sector gate and a pump station that we inherited from 

the HSDRRS projects at the Bayou Segnette complex. That is not 

part of the—that is not included in the WRRDA bill. 

So there are other—just making sure that we have enough funds 

to adequately operate and maintain, and repair and rehabilitate 

and replace these features. We cannot go back to the days of 

Katrina where things weren’t done just because we didn’t have the 

funding. So the funding will be critical for the westbank facilities 

in the future. 

Senator VITTER. OK. Bob. 

Mr. TURNER. Thank you, Senator. I agree request John with just 

about everything that he said. I think, you know, there’s a couple 

of things that we really need to be concentrating on here, from my 

perspective, even on the eastbank, and that is, keeping the system 

to the authorized level of protection. That is certainly—you know, 

has to be one of our most important priorities. 

And that’s going to be difficult to do if we can’t get the Corps to 

participate with, you know, lifting these levees, as they originally, 

I think, intended to do, as time progresses, because we know that 

the levees are going to subside, the sea level is rising, and we’re 

seeing the effects of that already. 

The other thing I think that we have, you know, we’re looking 

to try to do some changes to, regards the Inner Harbor Navigation 

Canal Corridor. 

And the way that the system is set up right now, whenever 

there’s a storm coming, all the vessels have to be evacuated from 

that corridor because the—a lot of the areas adjacent to the levees 

there still have the old I-walls that are still in place, and although 

they provide protection from normal water levels and high water 

levels, if they are impacted by a vessel, they’re going to fail, and 

so that could potentially put some water into areas wherever those 

failures occur. And so, you know, we’re still working with the Coast 

Guard and the Corps to try to do better planning with regards to 

that and trying to get those vessels out of there. 

We have also proposed some ideas on how to further reduce that 

risk by perhaps using some storage in the central wetlands to—just 

for a storm event, to further reduce that risk by lowering water levels in the corridor and in the wetlands, as a whole, and so those 

are the kind of things, I think, that we need to be looking at in 

the future. 
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Senator VITTER. OK. Thank you, Bob. And Todd, let me ask you, 

you and the Chamber work on economic development all the time. 

I’m curious. As you talk to business folks considering some project 

here, whether they are from outside the State or whether they’re 

more local, how often are you talking to them about their concerns 

about hurricane flood protection? 

Mr. MURPHY. In almost every occasion. It’s certainly a concern, 

you know, when people are looking to relocate or to expand. They 

are looking at the entire region from the standpoint of protection 

from storms, education, transportation, infrastructure, resources, 

work force. All of those come into play, but certainly, no one wants 

to expand or relocate only to have to pick up and run. 

Senator VITTER. And generally speaking, how often, what percentage of times is that a big factor leading to a decision? 

Mr. MURPHY. You know, I would say that it happens on occasion. 

I think that there’s so much that this area has to offer, that it certainly is a lure, if you will, to get companies here and to keep companies here. 

I mean, let’s face it, people come here and they get hooked, and 

it typically takes about two Jazz Fests for that to happen. 

So, you know, we have a wonderful area and a lot of natural resources that are just abundant. But I think it is a concern. We saw 

it after Katrina. We saw several of our companies move north, 

across the lake. They’re just simply tired of running. And so it is 

a concern. I think the confidence level has gotten better. Yet, everyone knows there is still much to be done. 

Senator VITTER. Right. OK. We’re going to wrap up. In closing— 

first of all, let’s give all of our great witnesses another round of applause. I really appreciate you all being here. 

[Applause.] 

Senator VITTER. Thank you for your testimony, thanks for all of 

your work. I also want to thank Messina’s, that runs this space, 

and the Walnut Room. They have put up with us this morning and 

have been really helpful. 

I want to thank AV Express, Todd and his team, Gulf South 

Media, and Jim Land, our videographer, for helping us today, and 

I want to thank our hosts, who let us use the building, the Authority that runs the airport and related facilities. Thank you all very 

much. 

And thanks to all of you for coming out. I hope you found this 

useful, but certainly, I don’t want it to be an isolated event. I want 

it to be a continuing conversation, so please keep this handout that 

you have handy. On the left-hand side of the page, in the blue column, is all of my contact information. 

Please use that as questions, ideas, suggestions or specific problems, like some of the insurance and other problems that we were 

talking about, come up, call me and my staff, get us involved. We 

work on that stuff all the time. And if you have those issues today, 

talk to us here at the table before you leave and we’ll get your information and we’ll get right to work on it. 

And again, this has all of my contact information, including our 

website, which has easy email access. 

As we close and as we go into hurricane season, which starts 

June 1st, I would just repeat what many of us have said. This pro-
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tection system is important. Coastal restoration is important. Mitigation programs, like raising structures, are important, but ultimately, probably what’s most important for each of us, as individuals and families, is personal and family preparedness. So take 

that into account and have a plan, as we approach June 1st. 

Thank you all very much for being here today. 

[Additional material submitted for the record follows:] 
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