USA: Senator Hosts Flood Protection Forum

U.S. Sen. David Vitter has announced that he’ll be hosting a Flood Protection Forum in New Orleans on Wednesday, April 4. The forum is open to the public.

“There has been far too much inefficiency with flood protection at the federal level – especially since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita – and we need to work together to start implementing necessary reforms that will cut costs and speed up critical flood control projects. I’ll continue to hold the Corps accountable particularly while I’m working to get a third party audit of where the billions of taxpayer dollars the Corps receives are being used,” said Vitter.

“I look forward to discussing these issues along with my panel on Wednesday, and hearing from folks in Southeast Louisiana,” Vitter added.

Last week Vitter met with representatives of the Government Accountability Office to fine tune his request to have them conduct an audit of the Corps’ practices from 2004 -2011. Vitter asked for the audit in December 2011.

Vitter has also recently introduced a bipartisan bill to reform the Corps by creating a pilot program aimed at eliminating red tape and expediting backlogged Corps projects by delegating more project management responsibility to state and local governments.

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Dredging Today Staff, April 3, 2012;