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[Pages S3842-S3843]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS
The following petitions and memorials were laid before the Senate and
were referred or ordered to lie on the table as indicated:
POM--93. A concurrent resolution adopted by the Legislature
of the State of Louisiana urging the United States Congress
to reassess the entire levee and floodwall system in the
southeastern United States; to the Committee on Environment
and Public Works.
Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 111
Whereas, the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)
recently completed the Greater New Orleans Hurricane and
Storm Damage Risk Reduction System (HSDRRS) at a cost of over
fourteen billion dollars; and
[[Page S3843]]
Whereas, the HSDRRS system is a network of levees,
floodwalls, gated structures, and pump stations that form the
one hundred thirty-three mile Greater New Orleans perimeter
system, including three hundred fifty miles of interior
levees and floodwalls, and seventy miles of interior risk
reduction structures built to protect the Greater New Orleans
area after Hurricane Katrina; and
Whereas, the HSDRRS system is one of the largest public
works projects in world history, providing Greater New
Orleans with the world's largest surge barrier of its kind
(the IHNC-Lake Borgne Surge Barrier) and the largest draining
pump station in the world (the GIWW-West Closure Complex);
and
Whereas, even with all these recent improvements, the USACE
recently reported that the HSDRRS system may not be adequate
to protect New Orleans in as little as four years due partly
to the settling of the levees--a natural phenomenon that is
exacerbated by the soft soil in southern Louisiana; and
Whereas, the USACE, in announcing that it is studying
system improvements, also cited ``the global incidence of sea
level rise'' in a recent Federal Register as a contributing
factor for the inadequacy of the existing levees; and
Whereas, the USACE further stated in the Federal Register
that ``absent future levee lifts to offset consolidation,
settlement, subsidence, and sea level rise, risk to life and
property in the Greater New Orleans area will progressively
increase''. Therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Legislature of Louisiana memorializes
the Congress of the United States to reassess the entire
levee and floodwall system in the southeastern United States.
Be it further
Resolved, That a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
the secretary of the United States Senate and the clerk of
the United States House of Representatives and to each member
of the Louisiana delegation to the United States Congress.
____
POM-94. A petition from a citizen of the State of Texas
relative to prohibiting any employer from inquiring about
salaries of a candidate applying for employment; to the
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
____________________
