"ever-dishonest and ever-incompetent U.S. Army Corps of Engineers"

[donsu]

http://www.grist.org/comments/interactivist/2006/09/25/pilkey/index.html?source=daily

The Coast Isn't Clear
Orrin H. Pilkey, shoreline expert, answers Grist's questions


-snip-

question: What environmental offense has infuriated you the most?

answer: I am most infuriated by the destruction of New Orleans at the hands of the ever-dishonest and ever-incompetent U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. We as a society have focused on the problems of inept recovery, but we should also focus on the root cause of the flooding: our greatest engineering disaster ever. The Corps, which runs rampant over the environment in so many ways, has finally fouled up in a huge and very visible way. They caused the flooding through a century and a half of orchestrating environmentally destructive policies on the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, leading to marsh loss on the Mississippi Delta, and then compounded the problem by building inadequate levies.

-snip-

question: If you could institute by fiat one environmental reform, what would it be?

answer: I would get the Army Corps of Engineers under control. This means I would get them out of the army, out of politics, out from under Congress, and keep them honest through strong oversight.

-snip-
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hear, hear, I'll second that