I have been following, with some amusement, the controversy over the nominations system for members of the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East.

During my eight-year tenure on SLFPA-E, the members of the board were the best of the best – people who were highly qualified to make decisions about coastal flooding, working material, right-of-way acquisition, subsidence and storm surge modeling. All served pro-bono.

What I discovered while serving on the SLFPA-E was that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) ruled all things. Our input on design, maintenance and modeling was not seriously considered by the Corps.

Here are a few examples:

Board members roundly criticized the design of the “T” wall—so-called because its cross-section looks like an inverted T—because there was no mechanism to replace soils beneath the ‘T” wall that would fall away because of subsidence.  (New Orleanians saw the effects of this problem when sinking land left houses elevated on their pilings like stilts.) Corps staffers assured us that this would be addressed in the final design of the 23-mile great wall of St. Bernard. It was not!

The Corps decided to install the sheet-piles beneath the “T” wall without protective coating. The entire board, to a man, objected to the use of untreated steel in a marine environment, which is contrary to engineering practices.  The board was ignored.

I can cite countless other examples of the Corps doing things its Corps way, and the opinion of the SLFPA-E be damned. Ask me about outfall canals, the open barge gates, storm-surge models, a promised peer-review of the system, and the board’s primitive property record-keeping. We pleaded and objected, but our concerns – though they came from highly qualified, carefully screened professionals –  were brushed aside.

I surmise, from published articles and op-eds, that many believe the present system provides expert professionals to serve on SLFPA-E. This is undoubtedly true.

But my amusement arises from the fact that the expertise of SLFPA-E members is irrelevant.

A reporter from The Advocate contacted me about the governor’s new approach to appointments before writing an article in The Advocate, but this opinion, expressed by me and others, was absent from the newspaper’s report. My good friend John Barry wrote an op-ed in which he believed such expertise can impact levee designs and maintenance. I disagree.

Before Katrina, the Orleans Levee Board could not, and likely was not given the opportunity to, comment on how the “I” wall levees were anchored by sheet piles shortened to 17 feet instead of the planned 40 feet. Our input is no different today: the present SLFPA-E board operates a levee system designed by the Corps, following strict procedure dictated by the Corps, with no say in the matter.

Any group of reasonably honest and intelligent people can comply with the responsibility of maintaining the flood system. Selecting talent that, in the private sector, commands hundreds of dollars an hour as consultants and then accepting their service pro-bono is a waste of talent. 

Whether the governor selects the members, a panel picks candidates, or we choose the first nine people coming out of church on Sunday, those members cannot affect the design or operational procedures of the flood reduction.

The Corps manuals must be followed, repairs and renovations will be designed by the Corps. And when required, adjustments to operating procedures will be dictated by the Corps.

Stephen Estopinal, a retired Professional Engineer (P.E.) and Professional Land Surveyor (P.L.S.), served on the SLFPA-E for eight years (2008-2016), acting as president for one year, from June 2014 to June 2015.