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When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used his veto power to eliminate the obscure Electricity Oversight Board, he put at risk $3 billion in state funds – money due the state from settlements with power merchants who victimized California during the electricity crisis. The governor’s 2007 action removing the EOB also means oversight over the state’s electricity grid is likely to be placed under the control of the PUC, which would entail a significant expansion of the authority of the Public Utilities Commission. This maneuvering comes amid an intensifying power clash between the Legislature and the Public Utilities Commission, led by president...

http://cityofno.com

RITA BEAMISH Associated Press Writer As far back as eight years ago, Congress ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency to develop a plan for evacuating New Orleans during a massive hurricane, but the money instead went to studying the causeway bridge that spans the city's Lake Ponchartrain, officials say. The outcome provides one more example of the government's failure to prepare for a massive but foreseeable catastrophe, said the lawmaker who helped secure the money for FEMA to develop the evacuation plan. "They never used it for the intended purpose," said former Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La. "The whole intent was...

While the Democrats are whitewashing everything and have removed the New Orleans city evacuation plan (links below), for posterity's sake here is the text of the STATE plan. (text extracted verbatim from PDF file dated January 2000) PREPAREDNESS STATE OF LOUISIANA EMERGENCY OPERATIONS PLAN SUPPLEMENT 1A SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA HURRICANE EVACUATION AND SHELTERING PLAN REVISED JANUARY 2000 01/00 TABLE OF CONTENTS SIGNATORIES.......................................................................................... i RECORD OF CHANGE ........................................................................... iii DISTRIBUTION........................................................................................ iv PART I: GENERAL .................................................................................. I-1 A. Summary B. Purpose C. Concept of Operations D. Organization and Assignment of Responsibilities E. Direction and Control F. Plan Development and Maintenance G. Authorities and...

I looked at the plan on their website on Monday and went back to reference something today and it is gone. Just thought it was interesting.

HOUSTON (AP) - Louisiana had a "well thought-out exit plan" in the days before Hurricane Katrina, and many more lives would have been lost without it, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Sunday. "There was not a single individual taking a slow step in our state," Blanco said at the Reliant Center, where more than 2,000 evacuees are living after fleeing the devastation in New Orleans. City, state and federal governments have been criticized for delays in evacuations and delivery of supplies, widespread communication difficulties, and law enforcement breakdowns in New Orleans that led to looting and violence. Blanco insisted the...

6:39 P.M. - HOUSTON (AP): Louisiana had a "well thought-out exit plan," in the days leading up to Hurricane Katrina and many more lives would have been lost without it, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Sunday. "There was not a single individual taking a slow step in our state," Blanco said at the Reliant Center, where more than 2,000 evacuees are still living after fleeing the devastation in New Orleans. "I personally, and everybody I knew, begged people to leave before the storm came in. We had a very systematic, well thought-out exit plan. Hundreds of thousands left," she said....

Among the many achievements of the human race - Chartres Cathedral, the Mona Lisa - surely the New Orleans emergency preparedness plan must rank among the greatest... The plan (which is viewable online at www.cityofno.com/portal.aspx?portal=46&tabid=26) begins with the insight: Be prepared. Or as the plan puts it, "Individuals with assigned tasks must receive preparatory training to maximize operations."

Among the many achievements of the human race - Chartres Cathedral, the Mona Lisa - surely the New Orleans emergency preparedness plan must rank among the greatest, and the fact that this plan turned out to be irrelevant to reality should not detract from its stature as a masterpiece of bureaucratic thinking. The plan (which is viewable online at www.cityofno.com/portal.aspx?portal=46&tabid=26) begins with the insight: Be prepared. Or as the plan puts it, "Individuals with assigned tasks must receive preparatory training to maximize operations." The plan lays out a course of action so that all personnel will know exactly what to...

The city of New Orleans followed virtually no aspect of its own emergency management plan in the disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans officials also failed to implement most federal guidelines, which stated that the Superdome was not a safe shelter for thousands of residents. The official "City of New Orleans Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan" states that the mayor can call for a mandatory citywide evacuation, but the Louisiana governor alone is given the power to carry out the evacuation, which Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco has yet to do. She "begged" people to leave before the storm and is...

The mayor's mandatory evacuation order was issued 20 hours before the storm struck the Louisiana coast, less than half the time researchers determined would be needed to get everyone out. City had evacuation plan but strayed from strategy By LISE OLSEN Copyright 2005 Houston ChronicleCancer patient Earl Robicheaux, his immune system depleted by radical chemotherapy, lay in a hospital bed as Hurricane Katrina bore down on New Orleans.Trying to leave, he thought, seemed suicidal.But after four days in the hospital's reeking darkness, he escaped via a Black Hawk helicopter that landed on the roof of the University Hospital under heavy...

The city of New Orleans followed virtually no aspect of its own emergency management plan in the disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans officials also failed to implement most federal guidelines, which stated that the Superdome was not a safe shelter for thousands of residents.

The mayor of New Orleans, a harsh critic of the federal response to Hurricane Katrina, is coming under increasing fire for exacerbating the disaster by not properly implementing his city's emergency-management plan. A high-ranking Department of Homeland Security official, who asked not to be identified, yesterday said local leaders have known for years that the city's levees were not adequate to protect the Big Easy if it was struck by a Category 3 or greater hurricane. The official, who also questioned the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) slow response to the disaster, said Mayor C. Ray Nagin knew the National...

EXECUTIVE ORDER KBB 05-31 Emergency Evacuation by Buses WHEREAS, the Louisiana Homeland Security and Emergency Assistance and Disaster Act, R.S. 29:721, et seq ., confers upon the governor of the state of Louisiana emergency powers to deal with emergencies and disasters, including those caused by fire, flood, earthquake or other natural or man-made causes, to ensure that preparations of this state will be adequate to deal with such emergencies or disasters, and to preserve the lives and property of the citizens of the state of Louisiana; WHEREAS, pursuant to Proclamation No. 48 KBB 2005, a state of emergency was declared...

EXECUTIVE ORDER KBB 04-20 Louisiana Emergency Operations Plan WHEREAS, the state of Louisiana must be prepared to respond in a coordinated, effective, and efficient manner to all emergencies and disasters to which it is subjected; WHEREAS, effective preparation, including the development of an emergency operations plan which is coordinated between all the departments and agencies of the state of Louisiana, increases the ability of the state to mitigate the adverse effects of emergencies and/or disasters; and WHEREAS, the state of Louisiana will best achieve effective coordinated emergency planning by updating the state's current emergency operations order and by the Military...

Cancer patient Earl Robicheaux, his immune system depleted by radical chemotherapy, lay in a hospital bed as Hurricane Katrina bore down on New Orleans. Trying to leave, he thought, seemed suicidal. But after four days in the hospital's reeking darkness, he escaped via a Black Hawk helicopter that landed on the roof of the University Hospital under heavy guard because of the threat of sniper fire. It was not the evacuation plan authorities had envisioned for its sick, its elderly and its poor. As the floodwaters recede, serious questions remain about whether New Orleans and Louisiana officials followed their own...

Cancer patient Earl Robicheaux, his immune system depleted by radical chemotherapy, lay in a hospital bed as Hurricane Katrina bore down on New Orleans. Trying to leave, he thought, seemed suicidal. But after four days in the hospital's reeking darkness, he escaped via a Black Hawk helicopter that landed on the roof of the University Hospital under heavy guard because of the threat of sniper fire. It was not the evacuation plan authorities had envisioned for its sick, its elderly and its poor. As the floodwaters recede, serious questions remain about whether New Orleans and Louisiana officials followed their own...

WASHINGTON - The retired admiral who played a key role in drafting the Homeland Security Department's catastrophic emergency plan said the agency was too hesitant in executing it in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

From National Hazards Observer, Nov. 2004 What If Hurricane Ivan Had Not Missed New Orleans Shirley Laska Residents who did not have personal transportation were unable to evacuate even if they wanted to. Approximately 120,000 residents (51,000 housing units x 2.4 persons/unit) do not have cars. A proposal made after the evacuation for Hurricane Georges to use public transit buses to assist in their evacuation out of the city was not implemented for Ivan. If Ivan had struck New Orleans directly it is estimated that 40-60,000 residents of the area would have perished. Unwilling to merely accept this reality, emergency...

At least one major media outlet has finally noticed that New Orleans had an emergency response plan for hurricances and evacuations that somehow never got implemented. ABC News yesterday asked why Mayor Ray Nagin not only did not follow the plan, but actively sent non-evacuees to a site that had no preparations to handle them: New Orleans' own comprehensive emergency plan raises the specter of "having large numbers of people … stranded" and promises "the city … will utilize all available resources to quickly and safely evacuate threatened areas." "Special arrangements will be made to evacuate persons unable to transport...

AMAZING! Of course they Bush bash still, some ol same ol, but look at this.... The evacuation It was announced at a news conference by the Mayor Ray Nagin on Sunday 28 August, less than 24 hours before the hurricane struck early the next morning. The question has to be asked: Why was it not ordered earlier? The Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco said at the same news conference that President Bush had called and personally appealed for a mandatory evacuation. The night before, National Hurricane Director Max Mayfield had called Mayor Nagin to tell him that an evacuation was needed....

The Evacuation Plan Mayor Nagin Failed to ImplementClick here to listen to the entire transcript detailed below via Windows Media Player stream (from the guest/free section of Rush's site) RUSH: Folks, I'm sorry. I would have led off the program with this. I have been under a terrible misconception. I thought by now everybody would have known that there was a documented, detailed evacuation plan for the city of New Orleans that was not implemented at all. But I'm reading my e-mail, "Well, I never heard of this." Now, I didn't get a chance to spend the whole weekend watching...

September 04, 2005 Katrina: Why Didn't Nagin Follow His Own Plan? Mark Tapscott, one of the best crossover bloggers and a fierce researcher, turned up an interesting document yesterday: the New Orleans comprehensive hurricane disaster plan. The plan exists on line and has a high level of detail, and yet the Exempt Media has given no coverage of its contents. The most obvious reason is that it shows that New Orleans and the state of Louisiana didn't follow their own plan. For example, the plan has this to say about the responsibility for evacuations: The safe evacuation of threatened populations...

I asked a question on a few threads. "Who is in a State Governor's chain of command?" "Who takes over when the Governor cannot or will not perform his or her duties." I know for sure that it is NOT the President of the United States. I joined the Air Force a looong time ago. I quickly learned I have a Chain of Command. If my immediate rater is gone (planned or not) or if my rater drops the ball I am required to pick up the slack. I may be mistaken but I think the civilian world works in...

1) Why Didn't Louisiana Follow it's Emergency Plan? Why isn't anyone talking about this? 2) Why hasn't anyone mentioned that a Pre-Requisite for a Federal Response BY LAW is that State Law is Executed and the Emergency Plan is Executed FIRST? 3) Why did the Governor abandon the City of New Orleans for the Safety of Baton Rouge, before the Plan was Executed? 4) Why, when the federal Government was acting in accordance with the Stafford Act, did the State of Louisiana, by its Governors acts, delay making requests when being told this storm was going to hit? 5) Why...

State of Louisiana Constitution Article IV, Section 5: Duties and Responsibilities of the Governor Pp (i), section (J): "Commander-in-Chief. The governor shall be commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the state, except when they are called into service of the federal government. He may call out these forces to preserve law and order, to suppress insurrection, to repel invasion, or in other times of emergency." Why have none of the Dinosaur Media noted this? Blanco blew it big time. She should have mobilized the Guard imemdiately after the storm instead of crying on TV and doing nothing, waiting for the...

THE deaths caused by Hurricane Katrina are heart-rending. The suffering of survivors is wrenching. Property destruction is shocking. But perhaps the most agonizing part is that much of what happened in New Orleans this week might have been avoided. Watching the TV images of the storm approaching the Mississippi Delta on last Sunday, I was sick to my stomach. Not only because I knew the hell it could unleash (I wrote an article for Scientific American in 2001 that described the very situation that was unfolding) but because I knew that a large-scale engineering plan called Coast 2050 — developed...

Here's part of the plan. 3. The ESF 3 will work with emergency organizations such as LOHSEP and regional emergency task forces to ensure that the state’s infrastructure is adequate to support traffic flows in large scale evacuations. Particular attention will be paid to hurricane evacuation routes in the southern part of the state. Levees and flood control structures will be designed, built and maintained to contain potential large scale floods.[SNIP] 2. If a hurricane emergency develops, the ESF 3 Coordinator will work with all state and local authorities to manage evacuation of people in the threatened area(s).[SNIP] The State...