Army Corps of Engineers

Remember the $3,014,170,389,176,410 sought from the Army Corps of Engineers for post-Katrina flood damage in New Orleans?

The judge has thrown out the case, and federal bean-counters are thanking their preferred deities for legislated grants of immunity. From the AP:

U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval ruled that the Corps should be held immune over failures in drainage canals that caused much of the flooding of New Orleans in August 2005.

The ruling relies on the Flood Control Act of 1928, which made the federal government immune when flood control projects like levees break.[...]

In his ruling, Duval said he was forced by law to hold the Corps immune even though the agency “cast a blind eye” in protecting New Orleans and “squandered millions of dollars in building a levee system … which was known to be inadequate by the Corps’ own calculations.”

But, Duval said, “it is not within the Court’s power to address the wrongs committed. It is hopefully within the citizens of the United States’ power to address the failures of our laws and agencies.”

There are times where governmental immunity from lawsuits seems like a good thing.  One of those times is when you’re looking at demands for ridiculously large awards.   Seen at MSNBC:

Hurricane Katrina’s victims have put a price tag on their suffering and it is staggering — including one plaintiff seeking the unlikely sum of $3 quadrillion.

The total number — $3,014,170,389,176,410 — is the dollar figure so far sought from some 489,000 claims filed against the federal government over damage from the failure of levees and flood walls following the Aug. 29, 2005, hurricane.

Of the total number of claims, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it has received 247 for at least $1 billion apiece, including the one for $3 quadrillion.[...]

For the sake of perspective: A mere $1 quadrillion would dwarf the U.S. gross domestic product, which Scott said was $13.2 trillion in 2007. A stack of one quadrillion pennies would reach Saturn.

Under the circumstances, I think it’s entirely appropriate for the Army Corps of Engineers to provide indemnification for losses arising from the subpar levees they had responsibility over.   However, a $3,000,000,000,000,000 claim seems just a tad excessive.

Seen in Insurance Journal:

A system of flood gates and pumps built since Hurricane Katrina to help alleviate flooding in several New Orleans neighborhoods may not be as much help as authorities first said.[...]

The maps showed that the improvements made to the city canals’ drainage systems would reduce flooding during a major storm by about 5.5 feet in Lakeview and nearby neighborhoods. The maps were based on a storm that has the likelihood of occurring at least once in 100 years.

But in a report released Nov. 7, Corps scientists estimated that the actual benefit the system would provide would be just 6 inches.

The discrepancy was tucked into the voluminous report’s appendices, and neither the Corps nor the scientists hired to conduct the study brought the changes to the public’s attention when the report was released. It wasn’t until New Orleans television station WWL-TV asked an engineer involved in the assessment about the discrepancy that it became known.

There are, of course, three major lessons to be learned:

1. Always check your math.
2. There’s a significant difference between addition and subtraction (the discrepancy was driven by a “minus” being placed where a “plus” should have been
3. When people’s lives and life savings’ are at stake, it’s probably a pretty good idea for the government agency doing major work to release technical data and permit independent review.