Since 2010 when the Levees were replaced and repaired by the USACE, AMPP SELA (formerly NACE New Orleans Section) have attempted to work with the USACE to peer review their decisions with respect to Materials Selection and Designing for Corrosion Control.

See the attached Summary below

Attached Below is a letter presented at the LFPA-East September 21, 2023

(7) To Whom it May Concern

Tuesday, March 5, 2024, CHAPTER LUNCHEON at the Hilton Riverside

Join your Friends and Associates During AMPP EXPO 2024

TOPIC: Are the New Orleans Levees at Risk of Failure Again. Katrina was the worst engineering disaster in the history of the US. Will there be another one? Charlie Speed will share the possibility of the bare carbon steel pilings corroding. In 2009, Charlie Speed as the Chairman of the New Orleans Section of NACE International was asked by the New Orleans Levee Board and the Louisiana Government’s Office of Coastal Restoration to help convince the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reconsider their decision not to paint the underground levee pilings. This presentation will discuss the issues around the potential of levee floodwall failures due to corrosion.

SPEAKER: Charlie Speed has a B.S. in Materials Engineering from Auburn University and an MBA from William Carey University. He is currently completing a master’s degree in mechanical engineering at UNO where he has assisted in teaching the Corrosion Engineering Classes in the past. Charlie is also a Fellow of ASNT with a background as a certified nondestructive testing technician in RT, UT, MT and PT. With over 40 years’ experience working as a Materials and Corrosion Engineer for Exxon, Mobil, Shell, Chevron, SBM, W&T and many other organizations, Charlie brings a practical approach to the field of corrosion.

NACE (now AMPP) has repeatedly requested to help the USACE to insure their Materials Selection and Designing for Corrosion Control (DCC) are technically meritted and implementable.

Army Corps Inspecting Corroded LA Flood Pumps THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 2023

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has reportedly discovered severe corrosion to a pump in the New Orleans flood protection system, just months away from hurricane season.

According to reports, the pumps were supposed to last 35 years but have only been in operation since 2018. While corrosion was only found at one of the three stations, the finding has resulted in an inspection of all 16 pumps in the system.

What Happened

The three permanent canal closures and pump stations at London Avenue, Orleans Avenue and the 17th Street Canal cost a total of $726 million, one of the last projects of the $14.6 billion redesign and construction of the New Orleans hurricane levee system following Hurricane Katrina.

The new stations were designed to keep surges from Lake Pontchartrain from entering the city and threatening the interior floodwalls along the canals, while the pumps were designed to match the flow of water entering the canals from interior pump stations in moving it into the lake.

In February, corrosion was discovered on the London Avenue pump after water was removed from the bay and the outer covering was removed. The severity of the corrosion was reportedly “well beyond what was expected during its entire 35-year service life,” said Bradley Drouant, senior project manager for the three lakefront stations.

JUNE 20, 2022 Presentation ARE THE LEVEES AT RISK OF FAILURE SPEAKER CHARLIE SPEED

PLACE: University of New Orleans Engineering Auditorium

DATE: Monday, June 20th

TIME: 11:30 am Lunch Fellowship/Networking - NOON Speaker

COST: FREE to Members & Non-Members PLEASE RSVP

RSVP: Eventbrite link Register here: https://lnkd.in/gfTBQuUA

ASM Materials Camp Participants & GNO Science Fair Winners and Family Members are invited

TOPIC: ARE OUR LEVEES AT RISK OF FAILURE AGAIN?

In 2009, Charlie Speed as the Chairman of the New Orleans Section of NACE International, the Corrosion Society was asked by the Levee Board and the Louisiana Government Office of Coastal Restoration to help convince the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reconsider their decision not to paint the underground levee pilings. This presentation will discuss the issues around the potential of levee floodwall failures due to corrosion.

Charlie Speed has a B.S. in Materials Engineering from Auburn University and an MBA from William Carey University. He is currently completing a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering at UNO where he has assisted in teaching the Corrosion Engineering Class that will again be taught this fall. Charlie is also a Fellow of ASNT with a background as a certified nondestructive testing technician in RT, UT, MT and PT. With over 40 years’ experience working as a Materials and Corrosion Engineer for Exxon, Mobil, Shell, Chevron, SBM, W&T and many other organizations, Charlie brings a practical approach to the field of corrosion.

For Future Events & Training Opportunities Link to the NACE New Orleans Section News & Activities Website

June 20- 24 Annual ASM/NACE Free Teacher Materials Camp UNO Mechanical Engineering Department. http://www.asmfoundation.org/teachers/materials-camps/year-one/
December 5-9 AMPP Education/Career Week - Exact Details TBA

• Basic Corrosion
• Corrosion in Refining Industry
• New Protective Coatings School (C1)
• Cathodic Protection (CP3)
• Corrosion in Oil & Gas Production (COG)
• Rectifier School (RECT)
• Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI)
• Oilfield Operator’s Chemical School (OOCS)

Post Update 02-14-21 by Charlie Speed

Below are documents concerning corrosion issues with respect to the New Orleans Levee System that can be downloaded.

Background

In 2009, when the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) began driving steel pilings into the ground for the $14 Billion dollar levee system, they decided not to coat the steel pilings. This action was not agreed upon by the New Orleans Levee Boards nor the Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration (OCPR) (ie. Lousiana state government).

There was specific concerns brought to the attention of the public about the 23 miles of floodwalls in Str Bernard Parish. As late as 2017 the Levee board successfully demanded that the USACE agree to hire a team of scientists and engineers to review the project before the state accepts it.

NACE International, The Worldwide Corrosion Authority New Orleans Section Board consisting of corrosion professionals, in 2009 came to the conclusion that the decision not to protect the pilings by coating them from potential corrosion could be a serious one.

“The Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014” under Section 1010 required the USACE upon non acceptance of a project, that the USACE provide an independent review of the problem that should be completed within180 days. As far as we know that no report has been submitted or made public?

NACE New Orleans Section has had two technical luncheon meetings (June 2017 and June 2018) at UNO where all the players (Levee Board, Office of Coastal Restoration, USACE, and American Society of Civil Engineers) were requested to comment on the corrosion issues. They all came and participated in describing the levee systems, but none would comment on any corrosion issues..

In early 2021 NACE New Orleans Section requested information concering the USACE's 2017 announcement that they hired a "team of Scientists and Engineers" to look into the corrosin issues. By way of a Freedom of Informatin Request, the USACE response was to deny any informatiion because "there was none" (See attached documents)

Further information is available below. Please contact Charlie Speed at 504-400-7878 if you have any questions, or information that would help in this effort.

Water Policy Volume 17 Issue 4 August 2015

Water Policy Research Article March 6, 2015
https://iwaponline.com/wp/article/17/4/707/20452

Interaction between the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Orleans Levee Board preceding the drainage canal wall failures and catastrophic flooding of New Orleans in 2005

The authors (J. David Rogers ; G. Paul Kemp ; H. J. Bosworth, Jr ; Raymond B. Seed) hope to correct any premature conclusions about the role of the pre-Katrina Orleans Levee Board (OLB) in the failure of the outfall drainage canals in New Orleans during the 2005 hurricane – conclusions that appear to have been based on inaccurate information and/or assumptions. With regard to the 17th Street and London Avenue Canals, the authors have not uncovered any information that would suggest that the OLB behaved irresponsibly in its duties.

What is evident from the project record is that the Army Corps of Engineers recommended raising the canal floodwalls for the 17th Street Canal, but recommended gated structures at the mouths of the Orleans and London Avenue Canals because the latter plan was less expensive. The OLB convinced Congress to pass legislation that required the Corps to raise the floodwalls for all three canals. Furthermore, the Corps, in a separate attempt to limit project costs, initiated a sheet pile load test (E-99 Study), but misinterpreted the results and wrongly concluded that sheet piles needed to be driven to depths of only 17 feet (1 foot = 0.3048 meters) instead of between 31 and 46 feet. That decision saved approximately US$100 million, but significantly reduced overall engineering reliability.

THIS CORROSION ISSUE HAS NOT BEEN RESOLVE BY SLFPAE SENDING A RESOLUTION TO THE USACE TO COAT THE LEVEE SHEET PILES THE USACE HAVE NOT BEEN RECEPTIVE TO ANY INPUT FROM LOCAL CORROSION EXPERTS-

http://www.paintsquare.com/news/article_news.cfm?id=4762&nl_versionid=703&trackid=21241368

PLEASE CONSIDER WRITING YOUR CONGRESSMEN - Dear Congressman: I am writing this to you to ask you to look into what might be a serious error in the installation of our East Bank Levees. At a recent NACE International, The Corrosion Society meeting on Aug 23rd, 2010, Robert "Bob" Turner, P.E., Regional Director, Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority – East ( SLFPAE) and Rickey Brouillette, Operations Engineer, LA office of Coastal Protection and Restoration shared issues concerning the US Corps of Engineers (USACE) decision not to coat the East Bank Levee sheet piles being driven for our levee flood protection. In my estimation, the USACE have refused to follow the recommendation of several experts (see reports attached below.) See the following links to review the USACE decision made in December 2009 http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/eng/HSDRRSDesignGuidelines_Waiver_SteelPileCorrosionProtection_12162009.pdf

Protect Levee Sheet Pilings From Rust, Officials Urge Corps of Engineers
http://www.nola.com/hurricane/index.ssf/2010/09/levee_authority_officials_ask.html
http://www.nola.com/hurricane/ind