NEW ORLEANS (AP) —  A new Army Corps of Engineers commander assumes duty Friday over the $13 billion plan to ramp up southeastern Louisiana’s levee system, one of the largest civil works projects in U.S. history.
Colonel Michael McCormick will take over from Colonel Jeffrey Bedey, who was brought in after Hurricane Katrina struck on August 29, 2005, and flooded New Orleans. Bedey oversaw the corps’ Hurricane Protection Office, a command set up after Katrina that worked in conjunction with the New Orleans district to design and build floodgates, levees and pumping stations.
During Bedey’s tenure, the corps built a series of emergency structures to stave off hurricane flooding while bigger projects were being designed.
McCormick arrives in New Orleans as several projects are expected to get underway. He was previously in charge of the corps’ Seattle district, where he oversaw $500 million in military construction in Washington, Idaho, Montana and Oregon.
 
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