Associated Press
March 27, 2008
Accusations that America’s foremost civil engineering society covered up catastrophic design flaws in national disasters has reinvigorated calls for Congress to set up a 9/11-style commission to investigate what caused the flooding of New Orleans.
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The American Society of Civil Engineers was paid by the federal government to investigate the collapse of the World Trade Center and the levee failures caused by Hurricane Katrina. After both disasters, the society issued reports that allegedly downplayed the fault of engineers.
In the World Trade Center case, critics contend the engineering society wrongly concluded skyscrapers cannot withstand getting hit by airplanes. In the hurricane investigation, it was accused of suggesting that the power of the storm was as big a problem as the poorly designed levees.
Critics say ASCE used the probes to dilute the need to alter building standards and to protect engineers and government agencies from lawsuits.
Similar accusations arose after both disasters, but the most recent allegations by fellow engineers, including prominent academics, have pressured the organization to convene an independent panel to investigate.
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