“The Army Corps’ announcement today, accepting responsibility for their role in the failure of our levees, confirms what we knew and what experts have been saying for months.  The levees failed because of man-made design flaws.  The tragedy of Hurricane Katrina was not one of nature, but instead one of man’s design – a failure to design the levees properly so that they could protect us from her wrath.

 “It is my hope that this revelation will lead the federal government to assume its responsibility in our recovery efforts by providing the substantial and adequate funding of hurricane protection systems along our state’s coast – including our levees, barrier island and coastal restoration and drainage pump systems.  Our recovery depends very much on the federal government’s level of commitment to restore our safety and it is my sincere hope that the Corps’ admission today will secure that commitment.”