IEM Privatized Flood Control and Emergency Relief in New Orleans....2004

IEM Team to Develop Catastrophic Hurricane Disaster Plan for New Orleans & Southeast Louisiana
June 3, 2004

IEM, Inc., the Baton Rouge-based emergency management and homeland security consultant, will lead the development of a catastrophic hurricane disaster plan for Southeast Louisiana and the City of New Orleans under a more than half a million dollar contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

In making the announcement today on behalf of teaming partners Dewberry, URS Corporation and James Lee Witt Associates, IEM Director of Homeland Security Wayne Thomas explained that the development of a base catastrophic hurricane disaster plan has urgency due to the recent start of the annual hurricane season which runs through November. National weather experts are predicting an above normal Atlantic hurricane season with six to eight hurricanes, of which three could be categorized as major.

The IEM team will complete a functional exercise on a catastrophic hurricane strike in Southeast Louisiana and use results to develop a response and recovery plan. A catastrophic event is one that can overwhelm State, local and private capabilities so quickly that communities could be devastated without Federal assistance and multi-agency planning and preparedness.

Thomas said that the greater New Orleans area is one of the nation’s most vulnerable locations for hurricane landfall.

“Given this area’s vulnerability, unique geographic location and elevation, and troubled escape routes, a plan that facilitates a rapid and effective hurricane response and recovery is critical,” he said. “The IEM team’s approach to catastrophic planning meets the challenges associated with integrating multi-jurisdictional needs and capabilities into an effective plan for addressing catastrophic hurricane strikes, as well as man-made catastrophic events.”

IEM President and CEO Madhu Beriwal is the recipient of a s pecial merit award from the Louisiana Emergency Preparedness Association ( LEPA ) for her work in New Orleans hurricane emergency preparedness.

IEM, Inc. was founded in 1985, and is one of the leading emergency management corporations in the U.S. While some organizations include emergency management as one of many business areas, helping to plan for and manage emergencies is IEM’s core business . IEM’s clients include some of the foremost federal emergency and defense organizations in the U.S., including the Department of Homeland Security/FEMA, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. www.ieminc.com

Established in 1956, Dewberry is a multidisciplinary planning, engineering, and design firm, employing more than 1,600 individuals. As FEMA’s largest contractor, Dewberry plays a significant role in the national effort to reduce the impact of both natural (flood, fire, earthquake, tropical storm, cyclone, hurricane, tornado, and winter storm) and man-made (hazardous waste, terrorism, etc.) hazards on people, property, and the economy. www.dewberry.com

URS Corporation provides planning, engineering, architecture, and applied science to hundreds of government agencies and private industrial and commercial companies worldwide. The company has more than 26,000 employees -- the largest Architectural & Engineering firm in the U. S. for the fourth consecutive year.URS has approximately 500 employees in Louisiana. URS has over 30 years of experience in hazard mitigation planning and engineering support work for FEMA and other customers. www.urscorp.com

James Lee Witt Associates, LLC, established in 2001 by the former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is a leader in public safety and crisis management. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., with offices in Atlanta, Chicago and Sacramento, James Lee Witt Associates works with state, local and foreign governments, corporations, hospitals, universities and utilities in conducting vulnerability assessments, after-event audits and reviews, developing all-hazard emergency and continuity of operations planning, as well as with the telecommunications industry on wireless interoperability. www.wittassociates.com

Samuel Bodman, CEO of Cabot Corp, Secretary of Energy, Supports LNG! Surprised?

August 30, 2005
Plans for Natural Gas Ports Stir Debate About Debate
By SIMON ROMERO
HOUSTON, Aug. 29 - The energy law signed by President Bush this month contains an unusual provision: in places where companies want to build terminals to receive large shipments of liquefied natural gas, the government must hold forums to discuss the role of such gas in meeting energy demand.

Supporters of the terminals say the meetings will help address issues raised by importing the gas, which they expect to become a major source of energy in coming years. But opponents call the meetings a taxpayer-financed method of drumming up support for a fuel that would increase the nation's reliance on foreign sources of energy and that could put coastal communities at risk for tanker accidents or explosions.

The debate over efforts to import more liquefied natural gas, or L.N.G., is expected to intensify after Hurricane Katrina. Natural gas prices surged about 11 percent on Monday to $10.85 per thousand cubic feet in New York, on concern over a disruption of offshore natural gas production.

Tanker imports of natural gas, unlike those of oil, cannot easily be increased because there are only five terminals in the nation to receive and process L.N.G. At one point on Monday, natural gas futures touched $12.07, the highest since trading began on the New York Mercantile Exchange. "These forums are insulting and laughable, given that we're dealing with an administration hellbent on placing these terminals wherever the industry sees fit," said Patrick C. Lynch, attorney general of Rhode Island, who has been outspoken in his opposition to plans for L.N.G. terminals in Providence and nearby Fall River, Mass.

Opponents of L.N.G. projects are particularly worried because many officials in Washington have been pressing for greater support for L.N.G., arguing that the United States needs more of the fuel from abroad to offset rising natural gas prices, flat domestic production and lower imports from Canada. L.N.G. is natural gas that has been condensed so it can be transported in tankers, as oil is.

Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve, has repeatedly called for increasing L.N.G. imports during the last two years, claiming that high prices for natural gas could curb economic growth.

Some members of the Bush administration, including Samuel W. Bodman, the secretary of energy, have worked in the liquefied natural gas industry and support new terminals. During his previous job as chief executive of the Cabot Corporation in Boston, Mr. Bodman oversaw the company's L.N.G. importing terminal in Everett, Mass.
"The construction of new terminals to receive natural gas from the far corners of the earth is precisely what is needed at a time when our own domestic production has run flat, yet demand continues to increase," Mr. Bodman said in a speech in California this month.

Similarly, Patrick H. Wood III, who resigned in July as chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, has told industry officials that he expects at least eight new L.N.G. terminals by the end of the decade. In a recent interview, Mr. Wood, responding to concern over the potential for L.N.G.-related accidents, said he would welcome the construction of an L.N.G. terminal near where he grew up in Port Arthur, Tex.

John Grasser, spokesman for the Energy Department's office of fossil energy, which will organize the forums, said it was too early to determine where they would be held and what form they would take. Mr. Grasser said the energy bill required his office to conduct at least three forums over the next year, in consultation with the Homeland Security and Transportation Departments, as well as with governors in coastal states, and that "they should be designed to foster a dialogue."

Supporters of L.N.G. terminals say the forums could help their cause. "There's the thinking that maybe we can legislate a little public relations campaign," said John P. Cogan, a lawyer in Houston who has been involved in brokering liquefied natural gas deals since the 1970's. "Everyone from Greenspan on down says we need this, but it's not happening."

Indeed, some participants in earlier federal efforts to increase awareness about L.N.G. say they are concerned that the forums might support the energy industry's efforts to create a global L.N.G. market while drowning out dissent. Bry Myown, spokeswoman for Long Beach Citizens for Utility Reform, a group opposing plans for an L.N.G. terminal in Long Beach, Calif., said the Department of Transportation paid for her to travel to Washington in February to take part in an L.N.G. Community Awareness Workshop.

According to an agenda from the meeting, presentations at the meeting were limited to government officials; representatives from one energy company, Exxon Mobil; and a Houston-based energy consulting company, the Lukens Energy Group, as well as a scientist from Sandia National Laboratories, which conducted a study last year on the potential for large L.N.G.-related explosions. Ms. Myown said members of the public were allowed only to make short responses to the presentations.

Despite support for the projects on the federal level, local governments and environmental activists have blocked construction of at least three terminals in California, Alabama and Maine. Several other projects have been delayed as energy companies struggle with local resistance.

William S. Cooper, executive director of the Center for Liquefied Natural Gas, a pro-L.N.G. lobbying group, said the inclusion of the forums in the energy bill were a "fortuitous turn of events." "We're glad to see it," he said, adding that he envisioned the forums as a "neutral way to facilitate discussion."

The measure mandating the L.N.G. forums was written by an aide to Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, the ranking Democrat on the Energy Committee, according to Bill Wicker, a committee spokesman. Mr. Wicker said he was not surprised at the reaction to the forums among anti-L.N.G. activists, given the emotion associated with L.N.G. battles around the country.

Still, Mr. Wicker said: "The intent of the forums is to further promote dialogue and discussion. If they're saying we're pimping for the industry, that's not the case."



Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company