Katrina breach sites nomination to national register sparks debate

A push to place levee breach sites from Hurricane Katrina on the National Register of Historic Places is cause for consternation at the federal agency that built the floodwalls that failed during the 2005 storm. It’s a potentially sensitive issue for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has been asked to OK the effort. Nobody denies the resulting floods caused death, destruction and misery on a historic scale; but there’s concern over whether the application could influence ongoing court cases about the corps’ responsibility and liability in the floods. “We would like to re-emphasize that the narrative needs to be carefully reviewed and edited to make sure that personal opinions and any contested facts are really not presented as fact,” corps official Mike Swanda told the state review board during a December meeting, according to a transcript. Also, corps spokesman Ken Holder says the agency wants to be sure the listing wouldn’t prohibit “any kind of future levee lift or anything that would protect the safety of the public.” One reason for including a property on the register is to make sure consideration of a property’s historic value is considered before it is demolished or altered. Mark Barnes, a consultant for the group seeking the ‘historic places’ designation called Levees.Org, says there is no need to worry. Placement on the register wouldn’t preclude alterations necessary for public safety, he says. The final decision rests with National Park Service, not the corps. But the corps, as the owner of one of the sites, gets to weigh in. Read the full story from The Associated Press here.