Sandy Rosenthal's Blog, page 4

Levees.org’s leaders speak to WVUE-TV Fox8 at the start of hurricane season

Levees.org founder Sandy Rosenthal and lead researcher H.J. Bosworth Jr talk to John Snell with WVUE-TV Fox8 news at the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the levee breaches.

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Founder Rosenthal speaks to Delegation Visitors from Europe

Recently, founder Sandy Rosenthal spoke with a delegation from Europe, as part of a project on “Transparency and Accountability in Government.”

At the Flooded House Museum, Rosenthal spoke with eight delegates from the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia.

Rosenthal spoke about the origins of Levees.Org, the reckoning that the investigations provided, and also hear about she continues to keep the “big guys” accountable through the Beat the Big Guys podcast.  The meeting took place at the Flooded House Museum in the Filmore Gardens neighborhood of New Orleans.

The presentation was organized through the Global New Orleans which is a nonprofit organization that arranges professional appointments and cultural activities for over 500 international leaders sent to New Orleans annually by the U.S. Department of State International Visitor Leadership Program and other programs.

As one of approximately 90 councils nationwide, and the only council in Louisiana, Global New Orleans aims to promote cross-cultural relationships and mutual understanding.

 

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Levees.org’s campaign to preserve the Blue Ribbon Committee is successful

Sandy Rosenthal in August of 2023

Recently, Levees.org mobilized its significantly large community to contact the Louisiana House Transportation committee members to ask them to say NO to HB633.

As you know, there is no evidence that the pre-Katrina levee board members behaved irresponsibly in their flood protection duties. Such accusations were debunked over a decade ago. The Army Corps of Engineers is responsible. Blaming the pre-Katrina levee boards is disrespectful to the people of New Orleans.

However, Levees.org prefers that an expert nominating committee selects the current levee board members rather than the governor. This is appropriate because the New Orleans District is the largest District of the Army Corps of Engineers in the nation.

If the levee maintenance is not done exactly per the Army Corps’ instructions, the levees can be decertified and no one can get flood insurance.

Therefore, we asked our members and the entire New Orleans community to click this link below and contact the LA House Transportation committee urging them to vote NO to HB633.

Founder Sandy Rosenthal traveled to Baton Rouge on Tuesday prepared to testify. But at the last moment, the sponsor of the bill, Rep Jacob Braud pulled his bill to amend it.

https://rallystarter.com/rally/2549/blue-ribbon-committees-should-select-public-servants

The campaign worked. This is a win.

Check back at this site to see if further actions are necessary.

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Blue ribbon committees should select New Orleans’ levee board members

Gregg Huber and Roy Arrigo August 2006

Please use the link below to contact the Louisiana House Transportation committee members to ask them to say NO to HB633.

LINK TO TAKE ACTION

As you know, there is zero evidence that the pre-Katrina levee board members behaved irresponsibly in their flood protection duties. Such accusations were debunked over a decade ago. The Army Corps of Engineers is responsible.

Blaming the pre-Katrina levee boards is disparaging and insulting to the people of New Orleans.

However, Levees.org prefers that an expert nominating committee selects the current levee board members rather than the governor. This is appropriate because the New Orleans District is the largest District of the Army Corps of Engineers in the nation.

If the levee maintenance is not done exactly per the Army Corps’ instructions, the levees can be decertified and no one can get flood insurance.

Therefore, we are asking you to click this link and contact the LA House Transportation committee urging them to vote NO to HB633. One click will contact all 16 members. And you can modify it if you like.

https://rallystarter.com/rally/2549/blue-ribbon-committees-should-select-public-servants

Please do this by 5p on Monday May 5th.

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Can Levee Board Members Force the Corps’ Hand?

Gregg Huber and Roy Arrigo. August 2006

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry wants to appoint the board members who serve on the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East, rather than let a blue-ribbon committee do it. What does this mean for the people of south Louisiana?

Prior to Hurricane Katrina––and now––the US Army Corps of Engineers is 100% in charge of design, construction and the instructions for maintenance.

After Katrina, legislation was passed to merge the Orleans Levee Board (OLB) with the Jefferson and Lake Borgne boards and also to create a nominating committee to select who serves. There was a public misconception that board members would “oversee” the Corps’ work.

The board members who served since Katrina quickly learned that they couldn’t legally do what they were expected to do. Board members can only make suggestions, and the Army Corps has a history of ignoring them.

The SLFPA-East’s job is to follow the strict directions provided by the Corps to operate and maintain the levees.

FACT: The Army Corps is the messiah when it comes to New Orleans’ flood protection.
FACT: The flooding was due to the Corps’ mistakes, not the pre-K Orleans Levee Board.
FACT: The governor cannot tell the Corps what to do any more than the levee boards can.

But there is something that the SLFPA-East can do. They have “screaming rights.” Board members can sound off and protest to local and congressional officials when they see any problem with the Corps’ plans.

For example, in 1982, the OLB was worried about the Corps’ glacial pace in building the hurricane protection and screamed their discontent to members of Congress. This resulted in the Government Accountability Office requesting the Secretary of the Army to take specific steps to resolve the issue with the Corps.

LeveesOrg prefers that the blue-ribbon committee selects levee board members rather than the current governor. We have reason to doubt that the governor’s appointees would protest any actions of the Corps.

Take it from someone who understands how all this works. Check out this testimony––recently published in the New Orleans Lens––from civil engineer Stephen Estopinal who served on the SLFPA-East for eight years from 2008 – 2016 while the current new system was being built.

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Founder Rosenthal meets with delegation from Brazil

Sandy Rosenthal meets with a delegation from the Rio Grande do Sul state of Brazil which had historic flooding in 2024 similar to New Orleans in 2005. Organized through Global New Orleans and the US Dept of State

This week, founder Sandy Rosenthal met with a delegation from the State of Rio Grande do Sul which had suffered catastrophic flooding last year on a scale similar to New Orleans in 2005. The visit, organized through U.S. Department of State, included some notable participants:

Rodrigo Huguenin, Director of the Department of Energy at the Secretariat of the Environment and Infrastructure for Rio Grande do Sul State; Joel Goldenfum, Executive Secretary of the Scientific Committee on Climate Adaptation and Resilience for Rio Grande do Sul State; and State Deputy Nadine Anflor of the Rio Grande do Sul state legislature.

Rosenthal explained why the city of New Orleans flooded during Hurricane Katrina and what steps have been taken since to prevent a repeat. The meeting took place at the Levee Exhibit Hall and Garden in the Filmore Gardens neighborhood of New Orleans.

The presentation was organized through the Global New Orleans which is a nonprofit organization that arranges professional appointments and cultural activities for over 500 international leaders sent to New Orleans annually by the U.S. Department of State International Visitor Leadership Program and other programs.

As one of approximately 90 councils nationwide, and the only council in Louisiana, Global New Orleans aims to promote cross-cultural relationships and mutual understanding.

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LeveesOrg Founder & Friends on Gov Jeff Landry’s Plan to Topple Levee Board Reform

Local celebrity Rudy Vorkapic (creator of The Levee), Stuart Lob (local engineer) and founder Sandy Rosenthal discuss the resignation of four East Levee Authority members upon the governor’s selection of its president and what this could mean for New Orleans’ levees and the people who live behind them.

https://levees.org/2/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/slingshot_-10-2.mp4

The podcast can be found here.

The unedited video version can be seen here.

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Levee Board Veteran Stephen Estopinal Speaks About Governor’s Plans

Immediately after the Hurricane Katrina flooding in New Orleans, pre-Katrina local levee board members were scapegoated for the catastrophe. One member who served from 1997 to 2001 was a Catholic nun, but they were all wrongly portrayed as corrupt.

It was the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that flooded New Orleans with its inferior design and construction.

This is back in the news because Louisiana’s governor wants the job of selecting New Orleans’ levee board members to be returned to the governor.

Hear about it from an expert – civil engineer Stephen Estopinal who served on the post-Katrina East Levee Authority for eight years, with two of them as its elected president.

Check out episode 122 of Beat the Big Guys podcast.

https://levees.org/2/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/SE2.mp4The post Levee Board Veteran Stephen Estopinal Speaks About Governor’s Plans first appeared on Levees.Org.

Past-Levee Authority Commissioner Stephen Estopinal on Recent Resignations

Four members of the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East (SLFPA-E) have resigned in protest over Governor Jeff Landry’s appointment of a levee commissioner.

The appointment openly disregards the levee board laws passed after Hurricane Katrina.

While the leadership at Levees.org disagrees with the Governor’s decision to flout the law, the leadership also insists it ‘just doesn’t matter.’

Because the SLFPA-E, even one populated with experts, cannot tell the Army Corps of Engineers what to do.

This is stated plainly by respected civil engineer Stephen Estopinal who served on the East Levee Authority for eight years (two as president) from 2008 – 2016, the most important years while the new system was being built.

More on the story here.

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The Advocate continues to live in the past

Katrina: Rear View Mirror. Cars were neatly deposited on the roofs of houses in Chalmette when the storm surge blasted through the community about 10 miles south of New Orleans///A street in Chalmette, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. Credit: Andy Levin/Polaris

Alex Lubben, a reporter for The Advocate, recently called me for commentary on Governor Jeff Landry’s plans to dismantle the SLFPA nominating committee created after Katrina.

I told Lubben that the levee board “reforms” passed 20 years ago were a distraction. I explained that the “reforms” drew attention away from the true culprit, the USACE. The flooding was due to federal engineering failure, not to anything the pre-Katrina levee boards did or didn’t do.

Lubben did not quote me. And instead he re-printed all the tired worn out statements that blamed the pre-Katrina levee boards for the flooding. And failed to mention the Army Corps of Engineers and its role.

Meanwhile, reporters for The Advocate continue to use something called “Katrina shorthand.” This is saying things like “Katrina ravaged New Orleans” rather than using words like “federal levee failure” when describing the flooding in New Orleans.

For the recent story by Lubben, click here.

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