BAD PUMPS INSTALLED IN N.O. in rush to make Dubya's 2006 deadline.

[Mugsy]

CBS News is reporting:

(AP) The U.S. 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.

The 2006 hurricane season turned out to be mild, and the new pumps were never pressed into action. But the Corps and the politically-connected manufacturer of the equipment are still struggling to get the 34 heavy duty pumps working properly in a city still recovering from Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.

The pumps are now being pulled out and overhauled because of excessive vibration, Corps officials said.

(...)

(more)

[Selatius]

1. I bet you those fucking levees will fail if another storm comes through NOLA.

This is the level of service we can expect from this government until all the sludge and corruption is cleared out.

[RB TexLa]

3. wrong spot, sorry

[robinlynne]

2. bad pumps manufactured by company owned by Jeb Bush! see similar post here on DU.

[SpiralHawk]

15. The Bush Family Evil Empire of corrupt republicon cronies

it's vast

[RB TexLa]

4. The pumps have always failed n/t

[orleans]

5. so, i wonder how that $77 BILLION LAWSUIT is coming along?

Lawyers & Settlements reports that the city of New Orleans has filed a US$77 billion claim against the US Army Corps of Engineers seeking compensation for losses incurred after failed levees resulted in flooding of the city.

"In addition to the city's lawsuit, at least 34,500 other claims had also arrived in the New Orleans district office. In many cases, people are claiming that their homes survived Hurricane Katrina but were damaged in the flooding that followed the hurricane," said the report.

http://www.sandandgravel.com/news/article.asp?v1=9939

[UnyieldingHierophant]

13. Does the ACoE charge cities and localities when they come in and build this kind of stuff?

levies, dams, etc?

[robinlynne]

16. actually the Jeb Bush pumps were placed in POST katrina, but they were known to be faulty.

[acmavm]

6. No one will ever convince me that (if this is true, and I'm sure it is)

someone shouldn't be on the way to a penitentiary somewhere.

[UTUSN]

7. K&R, J. David Eller, Bush-El, Jeb Crow Shrub, $128K donations, $74M loans

from the same link:

***********QUOTE*******

.... 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. 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 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.

Because of the trouble with the New Orleans pumps, the Corps has withheld 20 percent of the MWI contract, including an incentive of up to $4 million the company could have collected if it delivered the equipment in time for the 2006 hurricane season.

Misgivings about the pumps were chronicled in a May 2006 memo provided to the AP by Matt McBride, a mechanical engineer and flooded-out Katrina victim who, like many in New Orleans, has been closely watching the rebuilding of the city's flood defenses. ....

**********UNQUOTE**********

[Octafish]

8. Selling junk should be illegal.

Selling junk that kills people should be a capital crime.

[UTUSN]

9. The BFEE have so MANY capital crimes, I don't have to tell YOU!!1

:hi:

[fooj]

14. Should we be surprised that a member of the BFEE

is connected to this in some way? :eyes:

KNOW YOUR BFEE! Thanks for teaching me that, Octafish!:hi:

[Mugsy]

10. C&L picks up the story, not DU.

I wish I knew why DU didn't find this story worthy of the front page but "Crooks & Liars" did. :(

[uppityperson]

11. k&r

[conscious evolution]

12. K & R

:kick:

[KamaAina]

17. I propose we install a backup system

send both Bush** boys, Heckuvajob Brownie, Michael Powell (did you even know we had a Katrina czar? I'd forgotten), Denny Hastert, etc., etc., down there with buckets next time and let them bail the city out by hand.

:sarcasm:

[rec_report]

18. K. & R. n/t