Report: N.O. flood controls unreliable

[Heidi]

Source: USA Today

Posted 34m ago

WASHINGTON — Huge flood-control pumps installed in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina don't protect the city adequately and the Army Corps of Engineers could have saved $430 million in replacement costs by buying proven equipment, a federal investigation finds.
The investigation by the federal Office of Special Counsel finds there was "little logical justification" for the corps' decision to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on the "untested" hydraulic pumps, which are meant to empty millions of gallons of water from the below-sea-level city during storm-related floods.

Citing the corps' $430 million plan to replace the hydraulic pumps by 2012, just five years after they were installed, the special counsel concludes that a "proven" direct-drive pump design would have been less prone to corrosion and breakdowns. Based on an independent engineering review, the counsel says direct-drive pumps could have been purchased "more quickly, more reliably and without planning for pump … replacement."



Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-08-25-pumps-new-orleans_N.htm

[Botany]

1. O.K. what bush buddy got the contract?

"There are still questions about the contracting, design and safety of these critical pump stations," Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said about the special counsel's report. ... "

[LuvNewcastle]

2. You beat me to it.

Looks like the same kind of graft that caused the problem in the first place. The same misappropriation of funds that they blamed on the Democrats.

[Lugnut]

3. We're of like mind.

It's usually a case of follow-the-money, isn't it?

[WriteDown]

4. Considering the amount of graft in NO...

Its likely a local job. Check out Mary and Daddy Moon.

[cap]

5. Nope, believe it or not, there is the hand of Bush in there

Jeb has an interest in a company that sold non-certified pumps to NO

[WriteDown]

6. Link? nt

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

7. Google is your friend

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17597203/

Defective pumps used to protect New Orleans
Corps of Engineers defends supplier, says pumps were better than nothing

NEW ORLEANS - The Army Corps of Engineers, rushing to meet President Bush’s promise to protect New Orleans by the start of the 2006 hurricane season, installed defective flood-control pumps last year despite warnings from its own expert that the equipment would fail during a storm, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

-- more details @ Link --

Ties to Jeb Bush
MWI is owned by J. David Eller and his sons. Eller was once a business partner of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in a venture called Bush-El that marketed MWI pumps. And Eller has donated about $128,000 to politicians, the vast majority of it to the Republican Party, since 1996, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

MWI has run into trouble before. The U.S. Justice Department sued the company in 2002, accusing it of fraudulently helping Nigeria obtain $74 million in taxpayer-backed loans for overpriced and unnecessary water-pump equipment. The case has yet to be resolved.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17597203/

[WriteDown]

8. After competitive bidding?

Then not much can be done. I wonder how many companies actually make those type of pumps though.