It looks as though the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers may be putting lives on the line again as they reconstruct the levees out of what is reportedly inferior soil. A New York Times article yesterday reported that “Robert G. Bea, a professor of engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and a leader of the group of independent investigators that is financed by the National Science Foundation, said the earth he had seen on the site ‘is no better than it was before.” Bea’s findings were corroborated by a soil erosion expert at Texas A&M University, Jean-Louis Briaud, who gave it the lowest ranking possible in terms of erodability.

Col. Lewis Setliff III, commander of the Task Force Guardian, the corps unit that is responsible for restoring the damaged flood protection system, said that he is "very confident in what we're building. It's certainly better than what was there before."

“Better than it was before” isn’t good enough. We need the best possible. Human lives are invaluable, or so say some of us. The type of soil used to build the levees is one of hundreds of considerations being made by the Corps. Their casual attitude to the questions raised by Professors Bea and Briaud is frightening, especially considering that they are the ones at fault for the catastrophic consequences of Hurricane Katrina.

I would like to propose that the rebuilding be taken out of their hands entirely. At least if a private entity were building there would be some transparency about funding and responsibility would be clearly demarcated. Let’s face it; responsibility is still a shifting ephemerous substance people like to call the “blame game” to avoid taking their share of responsibility. It’s a semantic game but the stakes are high. The oldest instance I know of anyone using the term is ironically Bush the Elder the wake of Hurricane Andrew.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, you are responsible for the best possible construction of those levees using the best possible soil. Further, I appeal to all administrative governmental powers to stop trying to cut corners behind the scenes (this includes you, President Bush). The cost of lives and the cost to taxpayers is far greater later when you try to pinch pennies in these early preventative stages.