Katrina Victims: Justice is Coming

Just when you despaired that the Army Corps could ever be reformed, we learn that President Obama has appointed a pro-environmentalist to oversee the Army Corps. The Obama administration has named Terrence "Rock" Salt as deputy assistant secretary of the Army overseeing the nation's civil works projects managed by the Corps. Salt is reported to be a longtime Everglades advocate.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com:80/storm/content/local_news/epaper/2009/02/26/0226salt.html

A retired Army colonel, Salt has two decades' experience working on the Everglades and Kissimmee River restorations with the Army Corps and the Interior Department. Presumably, he is a seasoned veteran of the bureaucratic infighting between the Army Corps and its supposed bosses in the Department of the Army. Every President since Franklin D. Roosevelt has unsuccessfully sought to rein in the lawless, arrogant Army Engineers whose true allegiance is to the Congress whose favorite pork projects are Corps water development boondoggles like the MR-GO.

This potential good news is linked to the long overdue departure of John Woodley, Jr., the Bushite’s assistant Army secretary for public works. Woodley was supposed to oversee the Corps but like most of his predecessors, he proved to be largely ineffectual.

If President Obama is looking to cut fraud, waste, and abuse in federal spending, he need look no further than the bloated Army Corps budget of over $10 billion this year. Hopefully, the changing of the guard in the leadership of Army civil works projects will lead to real reforms and budget cuts. And while we’re at it, let’s take all these civilian projects away from the military and create a new interdisciplinary agency that is pro-environmental, receptive to civilian engineer peer review, and not in bed with Congress.

At least we can hope for a change.