An environmentalist’s take on today’s news that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will no longer pay to rehabilitate levees after a flood:
“Today’s announcement by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that California has failed to ensure levees protecting most of the city of Sacramento and 15 other areas of the Central Valley are adequately maintained is a serious warning that Californians are at risk of flooding and will be on their own to pay for costly damages.”
“This event underscores the need for California to commit the resources to quickly address this problem, hopefully before the next big flood event.”
“While the California Department of Water Resources and the Central Valley Flood Protection Board recently adopted a new plan to improve flood protection, the Corps of Engineers findings makes clear the plan did not go far enough to address federal requirements to maintain the flood system, some of which the Corps of Engineers built and transferred to the state with a condition that they do so.”
–Monty Schmitt, senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council
