Time Magazine Article Casts Cynical Eye on Morganza "Leaky Levee"

August 7, 2007
By Robert Morris
Senior Staff Writer
Source: http://www.houmatoday.co

HOUMA, LOUISIANA - Time magazine released an August 1st 2007 cover story deriding Morganza as "providing a false sense of security to vulnerable towns while increasing their vulnerability," referring to the project as a commitment of "billions of dollars to protect middle-of-nowhere fishing towns."

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In the Morganza debate, some scientists and engineers, such as LSU Hurricane Center Deputy Director Ivor van Heerden, criticize the levee approach, saying the $900 million, 72-mile project will destroy area wetlands and provide residents with a false sense of security.

The Time article is planted firmly in the viewpoint of those who oppose the massive levee. Its author, Michael Grunwald, is a former Washington Post reporter who has won numerous awards for investigative reporting critical of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and its projects. Familiar with the New Orleans' flood-protection system, he covered the corps' culpability during the Hurricane Katrina levee breaches for The Post, and was then hired by Time.

"I do come into this with a point of view, but it's developed through eight years of reporting," Grunwald said in an interview with The Courier. He notes that the magazine allows him to advance his conclusions more aggressively than a newspaper would. "This is all factual, not a matter of opinion, but there is a little more of making judgments from the facts."

The point of his article, he said, is that the Morganza project, which is 15 years in the making, is part of the overall history of flawed engineering that dams the river, drained wetlands, inadequately protected population centers and allowed so many levee breaches in New Orleans. The scientists criticizing Morganza are the same that criticized New Orleans' destined-to-fail defenses, while the same agency that built New Orleans is now designing Morganza.

"I think Morganza is an example not just of a pre-Katrina project -- it's a pre-Katrina mentality," Grunwald said. "It assumes an endless supply of resources, it assumes you can do something for everybody, and it assumes you can do this without causing any economic harm. I argue that era should have ended Aug. 29," 2005.

Morganza is unrealistic because, during the decades it will take to be paid for and constructed, Terrebonne Parish will remain unprotected, Grunwald said. Meanwhile, the coast is going to continue to erode -- even without a storm -- and none of the down-the-bayou communities such as Chauvin or Dulac will survive anyway, he said.

Ultimately, the government needs to be more realistic about concentrating on the major population centers, such as Houma and New Orleans, and consider options such as home buyouts for those who live farther south, Grunwald said.

"It is going to be very tough when it's time to decide where to draw the line, but right now the leaders are pretending that decision doesn't have to be made. That's not only deceptive -- I think it's dangerous," Grunwald said. "We've got to do something for the people in Dulac, but building a wall around it may not be the thing."

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Time Magazine Article Casts Cynical Eye on Morganza "Leaky Levee"