Debris Part 9

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 10
Part 11
Part 12
Part 13
Part 14

Good news on the project at the center of the debris problems on the west bank: WBV-14c.2. That project has had serious problems with concrete, wood, steel, and other flotsam in its dirt supply.

As I've posted in the past, the debris laden dirt was coming out of a borrow pit owned by the River Birch organization, a landfill firm currently at the center of a large federal investigation of Jefferson Parish politics.

This month, the Corps finally (after nearly a year) told the WBV-14c.2 contractor (Phylway) to stop using the cruddy River Birch pit and to switch to the much cleaner Willow Bend pit near Donaldsonville. It was announced as part of an inspection of the site on August 9, 2011:

"USACE recently instructed contractor (via email) to change borrow pit and start hauling in material from the Willow Bend Pit for the remainder of the borrow material for the site. A modification to the contract will be issued in the incoming days.

Approximately 30,000 cubic yards are left to be hauled in."

That same day, the inspectors were told about a rather large chunk of concrete that had been dug out of the existing levee. Remember that this project involves using the existing levee to build up a new, taller levee behind it:


When one looks a picture of the concrete, it doesn't look so bad:


Then when one sees the size of it compared to a truck, it's clear how huge it is:


That was sitting in the levee for years before Katrina struck.