Free Republic

Even with work on the Interstate 69 extension proceeding in earnest downstate, environmental and citizens groups are suing to stop construction of the 142-mile link between Evansville and Indianapolis. The complaint filed this week in U.S. District Court by Hoosier Environmental Council and Citizens for Appropriate Rural Roads seeks to overturn a permit the Army Corps of Engineers issued for the $3 billion project. The groups say the permit authorized the Indiana Department of Transportation “to destroy valuable natural resources” by rerouting streams and filling wetlands in the path of the new highway in Daviess and Greene counties. They contend...

Two Iraqi boys smile for the camera while recently visiting their new school in Ramadi. The Gulf Region District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers handed the school over to the Iraqi Ministry of Education this week. USACE photo. RAMADI — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recognizes the importance of education and places a high priority on school projects as part of their reconstruction mission here. With more than 1,135 school projects completed and operational, USACE finished and turned the Mazraa elementary school in the western city of Ramadi over to the Iraqi Ministry of Education this week.Paul Ijames, project...

Regulations: The Clean Water Act is being rewritten to give a government bureaucracy the power to regulate every body of water from the Mississippi River to a rain-flooded field. The first casualty may be American coal. With all the concern for the harm that cap-and-trade and regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant might do to the American economy and free markets, the Environmental Protection Agency is doing quite enough damage with an existing law on the books — the Clean Water Act. Congress plans to revise it to make it an even more powerful bludgeon against industry, energy producers and...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 4, 2009 – As 30,000 additional troops move into what admittedly will be “pretty austere conditions” in Afghanistan, the Army Corps of Engineers is working in partnership with unit-level engineers and contractors to provide basic creature comforts -- while focusing heavily on longer-term projects considered critical to their ultimate success there. U.S. Army Col. Kevin Wilson, commander of Afghanistan Engineer District – South, right, chats with U.S. Air Force Maj. Bryan Opperman, officer in charge of the Qalat resident office, at the construction site of a new Afghan National Police station. U.S. Army photo by Patricia Ryan   (Click...

Gulf Region Division commander, Maj. Gen. Michael Eyre (left), passes the flag to Gulf Region South District commander, Air Force Col. Jeffry Knippel, during the historic July 9 change-of-command ceremony while outgoing commander, Col. John Drolet looks on. Knippel is the first Air Force officer to command a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ district. (GRD photo) TALLIL — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) Gulf Region Division (GRD) in Iraq made history July 9, when Col. Jack Drolet relinquished command of the USACE's Gulf Region South (GRS) district to Col. Jeffry D. Knippel, the first U.S. Air Force officer...

Sen. Barbara Boxer, California Democrat, gave an Army brigadier general an order this week during a committee hearing: Call me "senator." Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh of the Army Corps of Engineers had addressed male senators on the Environment and Public Works Committee as "sir" during the Tuesday hearing. When the time came to speak with Mrs. Boxer, the panel's chairwoman, he called her "ma'am." Mrs. Boxer quickly interrupted him. "Do me a favor, can you say 'senator' instead of 'ma'am'?" Mrs. Boxer pointedly asked the general. "It's just a thing. I worked so hard to get that title, so I'd...

Star Enterprize personnel examine ductile pipes before moving them from the GRD Loyalty Residence Office in Baghdad to Victory Base Compound, recently. GRD awarded its first veteran-owned contract to Star Enterprize in April. Photo courtesy of Star Enterprize. BAGHDAD — Over the past five years, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) Gulf Region Division (GRD) has embarked on a dedicated campaign that has enabled many “firsts” for the Iraqi people. Across the region, GRD personnel have worked tirelessly on projects that in many cases allow Iraqis to enjoy the benefits of running water and electricity for the first time....

NEW ORLEANS -- More than three years after Katrina stirred up the waters and washed out levees along a 75-mile, man-made shipping channel dubbed "hurricane highway," a judge could soon decide whether the Army Corps of Engineers owes residents and businesses damages because of the massive flooding. Arguments are set to begin Monday in the trial, which will be heard and decided by a judge, not a jury. And much is at stake: If the five residents and one business in this initial lawsuit are victorious, more than 120,000 other individuals, businesses and government entities could have a better shot...

The US Environmental Protection Agency has challenged a valley fill permit issued by the US Army Corps of Engineers for a surface coal mine in Wise County, Virginia. This action follows EPA saying it would scrutinize 150-200 permit applications with the Corps for similar projects tied to Central Appalachian coal mining operations. EPA said in March that it would examine the pending fill permits over concerns about whether Clean Water Act regulations are being properly followed, and other environmental concerns. The agency later said it was concentrating scrutiny on just two such applications, one for a West Virginia mine and...

President Barack Obama today nominated a key U.S. Senate staffer to serve as assistant secretary of the Army for public works, a position that oversees the Army Corps of Engineers. Jo-Ellen Darcy is senior environmental policy adviser to the Senate Finance Committee, where she has worked on energy, environmental and conservation initiatives using the tax code. Earlier, she served as senior policy adviser, deputy staff director and staffer with the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

KIRKUK, Iraq, March 2, 2009 – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is part of a joint, multinational effort to provide solutions for city officials here on what to do with the 900 tons of trash Kirkuk residents generate daily. A truck offloads trash at Solid Waste Transfer Station 1, south of Kirkuk, Iraq. The $2.5 million facility has the capacity to handle 300 tons of waste per day. U.S. Army photo   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. For years, Kirkuk residents have been dumping their garbage into unregulated areas or merely unloading it in open fields outside...

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, Feb. 13, 2009 – Members of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently mentored Afghan contractors to ensure the construction of a new school in northeastern Afghanistan’s Laghman province will last through the harsh climate for years to come. Bill Stratton, from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, puts mortar on a brick as he demonstrates the proper technique to construct a wall in northeastern Afghanistan’s Laghman province, Feb. 3, 2009. Stratton is teaching construction techniques to Afghans as they work on The Center of Excellence, a school for boys. U.S. Army photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution...

BAGHDAD, Dec. 5, 2008 – For about 2 million Sadr City residents, clean drinking water running through their home faucets was a luxury few had. But now the water is flowing freely thanks to a new U.S. Army Corps of Engineers water treatment plant that was three years in the making. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project engineer Simeon Francis examines filter actuators as they are being cleaned at the R-3 water treatment plant in Baghdad. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “I am very happy for the 2 million people of Sadr...

BASRAH — Two million Basrah residents will soon have a more-dependable source of household water for cleaning, cooking, bathing, and washing. A $5 million project, scheduled to complete next summer, will connect permanent power to the Sweetwater Canal Pump Station #2. About 70 Iraqis are on the crew installing a new switch gear room, two 5 megavolt amp transformers and two new 1.5 megavolt back-up generators. “The project is directly impacting Basrah’s economy,” said Iraqi engineer Sattar, who works for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “Local Iraqis are on the construction crew earning steady paychecks and most of the...

KABUL, Afghanistan (Oct. 22) - U.S. Special Forces soldiers conducting a daring nighttime operation freed a kidnapped American working for the Army Corps of Engineers — the first known hostage rescue by American forces in Afghanistan. The American, who was abducted in mid-August, had been held in a growing insurgent stronghold 30 miles west of Kabul, U.S. military officials told The Associated Press. They said several insurgents were killed in last week's mission to free him. Taliban militants have kidnapped dozens of international aid workers, journalists and other foreigners in recent years and have demanded large ransoms or the release...

”I feel blessed to be working on this important project,” said Ryan Hartwig, construction representative with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Basrah Children’s Hospital Office “Each time we go, we see more progress. I can look at the place now and actually visualize patients using this facility,” he continued. “It’s just very satisfying being part of this effort that will no doubt save or change the lives of so many Iraqi children.” Several key partners are involved in the project including Project Hope (a nongovernment organization), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the Iraqi Ministry of Health, explained...

Des Moines, IA (AHN) - The flooding of the Mississippi River has brought out to the open the fact that half of 31 levees between southern Iowa and St. Louis are dated and could no longer withstand the river's rampaging waters.According to the Army Corps of Engineers the majority of the levees were build three decades ago, while some were as old as 6 decades. With a National Weather Service forecast of more rains and higher waters on the river, the army engineers fear at least 18 of the levees would give way and this would result to worst flooding...

BASRA, Iraq, June 20, 2008 – The provincial reconstruction team for Iraq’s Basra province, along with the Gulf Region South district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the United Nations Development Program concluded a two-day budget execution support workshop June 18 at the international airport here. The event provided a clear understanding of how the international community can support the provincial governor’s office and technical directorates for the design and implementation of projects for the rest of the year, said Army Maj. Daniel George, a PRT engineer assigned from Gulf Region South’s...

Team members visit a renovated school. Most schools in southern Iraq showed years of neglect so the renovations normally included window and door repair, new lights, bathroom fixtures and painting. Darrow’s six-person FEST-A team started 170 projects, including 49 schools, during four months in 2003. Courtesy photo. FOB KALSU — He was among the first helping rebuild key facilities in southern Iraq shortly after Saddam Hussein’s regime was toppled. This month, Lt. Col. Michael Darrow returned to Iraq on another U.S. Army Corps of Engineers mission. This time he will be the Officer-in-Charge of the Forat Area Office overseeing 42...

BASRA – The Gulf Region South Corps of Engineers turned over two facilities to the Government of Iraq in Basra, Iraq June 8. The Abo Al Khaseeb Votech Center and a Primary Healthcare Center in the Hai Al Muhandiseen area were handed over to their respective Ministries as they near total completion. The Votech Center has undergone major renovations during the last nine months as the Corps of Engineers coordinated efforts of several Iraqi construction companies to rebuild parts of the existing structure and install a new perimeter fence. More than 600 students are already attending classes at the center...