Levees.org is devoted to education on the facts associated with the 2005 catastrophic flooding of the New Orleans region.

The work of Levees.org is critical because after the levees failed, over 100,000 families were displaced from their support base and could not collectively confront the myths and misinformation that dominated the media after the flooding.

The catastrophic flooding of metro New Orleans was due to the failure of the levees and floodwalls which should have performed as storm surge protection, and also to the ongoing manmade destruction of protective forests and wetlands in south Louisiana which had historically performed as storm surge buffers.

Responsibility for the failure of the levees and floodwalls lies squarely with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers according to the US District Court of Eastern Louisiana and according to the federally authorized Hurricane Protection Decision Chronology, both released in 2008.

Responsibility for the destruction of south Louisiana’s wetlands is a shared one. Protective cypress groves and wetlands were ravaged in the past 50 years when canals were dredged for shipping and for oil and gas exploration. Meanwhile, the leveeing of the Mississippi River over the past 150 years by the U.S. government to benefit navigation has starved south Louisiana’s wetlands of nourishing silt leading to their progressive loss.

And so in October 2005, with a mission of education, Levees.org was founded by Sandy Rosenthal and her son Stanford, then 48 and 15 while exiled in Lafayette, Louisiana.

With 55% of the American people living in counties protected by levees, it’s important that Americans living outside the New Orleans region understand what really happened in south Louisiana during Katrina, and how they too could be in danger.

GOALS

FEDERAL LEGISLATION

Utilizing online letter campaigns, lobbying and ‘call-in’ days, Levees.org has pushed for federal legislation which will assure that what happened on August 29, 2005 will never happen again anywhere. 

In July 2006, Levees.org was critical in garnering US Senator Mary Landrieu’s support for the McCain / Feingold Corps Reform Amendments to the Water Resources Development Act.

Levees.org was highly instrumental in the August 2006 passage of the Domenici-Landrieu Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act, S. 3711 giving Louisiana its fair share of revenues from royalties from offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Prior to 2006, Louisiana received less than half a percent of the revenues.

In February 2007, after US Senator Mary Landrieu D-LA pledged her support, Levees.org launched its campaign demanding the 8/29 Investigation Act, a truly independent review of the flood protection failures – and the decision-making that led to those failures – during Katrina. Levees.org wrote the legislation with bipartisan input from both Louisiana’s junior and senior U.S. Senators. Levees.org succeeded in getting a bill filed in both the US House and Senate in 2009, but failed to get enough national support.

Backed by broad local support, Levees.org continues to demand the 8/29 Investigation Act. The study conducted several years after the fact will have the benefit of most complete data and the most extensive resources. And as noted by historian and author John Barry, “would have the benefit of fresh looks at the evidence collected for similar studies conducted in the immediate aftermath of the flooding.”

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS

Levees.org has recruited celebrities and local citizens to be spokespersons and has featured them in Public Service Announcements (PSAs). In 2007, two PSAs were released featuring actor John Goodman (cast of Roseanne) and also actor/producer Harry Shearer (voice of the Simpsons). In 2008, Levees.org released two PSA’s featuring local residents urging viewers to support the 8/29 Investigation Act.  (Click the video above for the two 30-second videos.)

LETTER WRITING TEAM

Levees.org believes in the media and in 2007, launched a letter-writing Team to contact and educate the editors of news sources whenever its reporters released incorrect information. Today this Team operates nationwide and is endorsed by actor, producer Harry Shearer.

Levees.org also issues “Seals of Approval’ to reporters who properly characterize the flooding in metro New Orleans as due to levee failure rather than blaming the flooding on Hurricane Katrina which ultimately protects the human beings involved. A story about this endeavor was written up in the New York Times in 2010.

YOUTUBE CAMPAIGNS

Utilizing the online video host YouTube, Levees.org educates citizens nationwide on the facts surrounding the 2005 flooding. By strategically timing uploaded videos with email blasts to its supporters asking them to watch the video and send to their friend, Levees.org nearly always succeeds in making it to the top-100 “viewed today” page of YouTube. One notable success was The Katrina Myth which Levees.org released during the Republican Convention in August 2008. The video was the #4th most viewed video in News and Politics for nearly a week. This is remarkable for a group of Levees.org’s size.

HISTORICAL PLAQUE PROGRAM

On August 23, 2010, Levees.org unveiled its first Louisiana State Historic Plaque on the property of the City of New Orleans.  This will be the first of many such plaques in Greater New Orleans.  Intended for both visitors and residents, the plaques, adorned with the beloved Brown Pelican, will explain why the flood protection failed and what were the consequences.

YOUNG AMBASSADORS PROGRAM

The Young Ambassador’s Program (YAP) was launched to train New Orleans’ young people to support, defend and stand up for their city and their region. Endorsed by New Orleans City Council President Arnie Fielkow, YAP’s first initiative is to give all of New Orleans’ middle and upper school students an opportunity to view the film “The Katrina Myth.” After an in-school screening, the YAP program provides a free DVD to each student to take it home to show their families.

BOOK REVIEWS

The founder, Sandy Rosenthal has reviewed several books on the flood protection failures in metro New Orleans after Katrina. The book reviews have been compiled by Louisiana Book News and can be viewed here.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Utilizing the tools of social media, Levees.org has expanded its influence into new methods of communication. Levees.org considers growing its ranks of Facebook and Twitter followers as important as collecting email addresses. Levees.org is a three year sustaining sponsor of Rising Tide, an annual bloggers conference.

The founder, Sandy Rosenthal regularly posts news articles on a blog with Levees.org and also on The Huffington Post and NOLA.com.

TODAY AND BEYOND

Today, Levees.org has nearly 25,000 supporters and satellite chapters in five states including New York, California, Florida, Oregon and Illinois. As stated at our kick off rally in January 2006, Levees.org shall not stop until the truth about the New Orleans flood becomes mainstream knowledge nationwide.

Click here for Board of Directors and Board of Advisors.
http://levees.org/contact/

Click here for Allied Organizations.
http://levees.org/allied-organizations/