Dam Inspection Data Withheld From Press Under Patriot Act

[Purveyor]

Source: Editor & Publisher

By Joe Strupp

Published: June 25, 2008 11:15 AM ET

NEW YORK News outlets seeking inspection and safety data on local dams, in light off the recent string of floods in the Midwest, have been stonewalled by government officials who have withheld such data as part of the Patriot Act, according to Investigative Reporters and Editors.

IRE Data Base Library Director Jeremy Milarsky, who oversees the group's handling of data requests from news organizations, said at least a dozen news outlets requested such background data on dam inspections from IRE in the last week. He said that is up from the usual three or four in any given year.

Such information, however, has been unavailable since 2002, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began rejecting such requests as part of a U.S. Patriot Act stipulation.

"Among other things, the data included when each dam was last inspected, whether there was an evacuation plan for the area, and whether there was populated area close to the dam that would be impacted," Milarsky said. "It is basically a list of dams with information about how safe the dams were."

--
James Wilkerson, a data editor for the Des Moines Register, is one of the journalists who recently sought the dam data from IRE, only to find it was withheld. "With all of the problems with the flooding, the information would be very useful," he told E&P. "It makes it hard for the public to understand how these dams are maintained."


Read more: http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003820422

[fascisthunter]

1. So... the Government Has Found a Convenient Way to Sweep Problems Under

a rug. This is why the Patriot Act is BS. It's used to control the people and keep them in the dark rather than protect them from a unexpected danger. I'd rather live with a little insecurity without the expense to my freedoms as a citizen. Those who would rather live in fear and with less freedoms should volunteer their own freedoms without the rest of us.

[havocmom]

2. a-yup

:thumbsup:

[Bush_MUST_Go]

3. Way to cover their asses & never be held accountable for anything ever again.

And we thought we didn't know where our taxes were going BEFORE?

[aquart]

4. I want it repealed in toto.

If there are specifics they think they must have, enact the damn thing separately, AFTER READING EXACTLY WHAT THEY ARE ON THE FLOOR OF CONGRESS.

How did we get rid of the Alien and Sedition acts? Did we get rid of them?

[Demeter]

11. I Think They Had To Wipe Out the Federalists

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_and_Sedition_Acts

Yup. Pretty much. Purge the Supreme Court, clean house, took 8 years or more.

[Raster]

18. You have nailed it! The Patriot Act is a catch-all piece of shit.

[Frisbee]

27. Basically, you can just assume...

that ANYTHING which came from or was accepted by the BushCo admin is fucked up from the get go. If it doesn't serve some sinister plan of theirs, they would have no use for it in the first place, whether that means benefiting a specific group or company, covering their asses or advancing their dictatorial regime. They have not done a single thing that was to help the American people that didn't somehow benefit them or their pals as well. In fact, when they do something that benefits the public and lines the pockets of their pals, that is about the best you can hope for from them. Hopefully they will all be unemployed in late January, indicted in early February and locked up before the end of 2009.

[MadMaddie]

33. That also includes all government political appointees

that replaced proffessionals - FEMA and DOJ are prime examples but all organizations must be evaluated from the top down and if their are unqualified people in positiions they must be demoted or replaced. DC is infested with hacks.

[asp64064]

20. Bravo!

If you really want to see the Patriot Act in motion visit: http://www.medicalsupplychain.com/news.htm

Six years of this shit and it only takes two seconds for it to happen to anyone of you. Anyone can file a SAR (suspicious activity report). Read the following letters to AT&T and Sprint. The Patriot Act is being used to protect the corruption.

http://www.medicalsupplychain.com/pdf/AT&T%20Demand%20Letter.pdf
http://www.medicalsupplychain.com/pdf/Sprint.pdf

[fascisthunter]

26. thanks for sharing

I'll take a good look.

[iaviate1]

24. And those people willing to sacrifice freedom, don't deserve it. n/t

[pattmarty]

5. I have TWO DAMS (army corp) both within 20 miles of my home.

[uppityperson]

6. So giving info on if a dam has been inspected "aids the terrorists"?

oh my word. No oversight is possible because once someone knows, someone knows.

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

9. That would be one of those known unknowns then.

[damntexdem]

7. I've always said that the Patriot Act was no damn protection -- apparently not dam protection either

And I suppose that any study on what a hurricane could do to New Orleans would also be top secret.

But what good would knowing that a dam had been inspected do for terrorists? If terrorists were going to blow a dam up, for example, would they care whether or not it had been inspected?

[dixiegrrrrl]

8. I have a friend of 20 + years who lives in Iowa

close to levees and dams.
and she has told me political/Bush conversation is not welcome between us, that she does not have time to "think about" such stuff.
An otherwise intelligent, practical, very very likeable woman.

i will never understand that kind of thinking.

[HowHasItComeToThis]

10. ACHTUNG MEIN DUMBKOFFEN... YOU HAVE BEEN HAD AGAIN

BY THE WAY THEY WILL SAY WE CAN'T INSPECT HE VOTING MACHINES AFTER THE STOLEN ELECTION
:tv: :tv: :tv: :tv: :tv: :tv: :tv: :tv: :tv: :tv: :tv: :tv: :tv: :tv:

[Phred42]

12. You Can't have a Police State if people know too much.

[tanyev]

25. Yep. The biggest problem at Abu Ghraib was that soldiers had cameras, don'cha know.

[ReadTomPaine]

13. Whistleblowers inside the agency should be openly promised jobs and protection...

by high profile democrats who urge them to take the findings currently being withheld and put them on Wikileaks or a similar open resource for all the public to see and comment on.

If we protected the heroes like the GOP protects its villains then we would start to see many people in government step forward and do the right thing.

[anitar1]

14. Now we know. The damn dams have not been inspected for 8 years.

All that money had to go to Haliburton or in Swiss bank accounts.

[Mutley]

15. Oh look, once again

our government's system of checks and balances is circumvented by the Patriot Act, leaving millions of innocent American citizens unprotected. But hey, at least there haven't been any new terrorist attacks in 8 years. :eyes:




edit: holy typos batman! :o

[defendandprotect]

16. We are watching the purposeful destruction of America . . . .

"third world America," here we come --- !!!

Thanks, GOP!!!

[HEyHEY]

17. Damn inspection data, damn patriot act

[timtom]

19. Oh, THERE you are, Patriot Act.

I was wondering what happened to you. This is all you're good for?

My congress folks voted for this -- sight unseen?

Well, so much for the concept of "Leadership".

[barbtries]

21. withhold the information

that the country's infrastructure is going to hell and the bushies are pocketing all the money that might keep it up.
they are such motherfuckers

i'm not done dammit. this is information about the people's property and the people's safety! they cannot justify this.

[DailyGrind51]

22. The "Patriot Act" should have been titled the "Ask Me No Questions,

I'll Tell You No Lies Act".

[jeff30997]

23. Beginning to sound like the old Soviet Union.

Example:Chernobyl 1986...

"In 1990, journalist Alla Yaroshinskaya came across secret documents about the Chernobyl catastrophe that revealed a massive cover-up operation and a calculated policy of disinformation. The state and party leadership had knowingly played down the extent of the contamination and offered a sanitized version to the outside world."

http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2006-04-21-yaroshinskaya-en.html

If they're hiding informations about dams what are they hiding about nuclear facilities?

P.S:

I'm reading a French novel about the American and French Revolutions and when I see what the U.S

have become I feel really sad...

[Robb]

28. Perhaps we can have a moment for media-bashers in general

...to admit there are reporters out there doing their jobs? :shrug:

Else we wouldn't have heard of this.

[Jackpine Radical]

36. Indeed there are. E&P does good work. McClatchy. A few others, including

some local papers. The problem is that none of their stuff gets enough coverage to make it "over the hump" into public awareness. For that, you need some fairly heavy saturation in network coverage. I bet somebody somewhere has that all titrated out, just how much coverage they can allow for an unfavorable story before they have to pull the plug on it.

[bluesmail]

29. The So-Called Patriot Act=You Can't Touch Us ahahaha

[LSK]

30. WTF WTF WTF

:wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf:

[Shoelace]

31. as of 2005, the US had 3500 "unsafe dams" according to Assn. of Engineers report card

so far as I know that's the last year that they did a report on America's failing infrastructure. I can only imagine how that number has gone up.

"Since 1998, the number of unsafe dams has risen by 33% to more than 3,500. While federally owned dams are in good condition, and there have been modest gains in repair, the number of dams identified as unsafe is increasing at a faster rate than those being repaired. $10.1 billion is needed over the next 12 years to address all critical non-federal dams--dams which pose a direct risk to human life should they fail."
http://www.asce.org/reportcard/2005/page.cfm?id=23

Let's see, 10 billion dollars, don't we spend that in one day in Iraq?

(be sure to read the report, it will astound you.

[proud patriot]

32. I feel so much safer now

x(

[LiberalFighter]

34. Joe needs to know the difference between of and off

[LiberalFighter]

35. "It makes it hard for the public to understand how these dams are maintained."

Or if they are being maintained properly because of funding by government.

[orleans]

37. can't let the public know how badly the government is fucking up

THANK YOU GEORGE MOTHERFUCKING BUSH!

[CoffeeCat]

38. This will affect each and every one of us...

...sooner or later.

I'm sitting here reading this article, and the dam for which James Wilkerson sought information is
just 2 miles from my house.

So...as a tax-paying citizen, It's none of my business whether or not the Saylorville Dam has been properly
inspected? I'm not entitled to know---what should be public information--about a dam that is two miles
from my home?

I thought this was government "by the people, of the people and for the people." Yet, I can't even
get information from the government on a structure that could impact my safety and the safety of my
children?

On a bizarre note--my oldest daughter (8-years old) told us today at breakfast that she had
a dream about the Saylorville Dam. She said, "The water was up to the top of the rocks and it started
going over the road" (which meant the water would have been going over the dam).

Then she said, "but they had to shut off the 'big water.' There was no water coming out of the 'big water.'"

The "big water" is the spillway control--that releases water from the Saylorville lake into the Des Moines
river. It's a big attraction around here.

She talked about that dream all day. It really stuck with her.

After she described it, my husband and I remarked to each other how interesting it was that she described exactly
what would happen during a massive flood. If the water was indeed "going up over the rocks" then there would not
be any water going through the "big water." They would not be releasing water from Saylorville into the Des Moines
river. We've never talked about the spillway being "shut off", but she dreamed about it.

I checked the Saylorville lake levels today, and I was astounded to see that the lake is still 35 feet above flood
stage. It's still very high, even though the immediate threat of flooding has gone. Let's hope the rest of the
summer is relatively dry for Iowa.

...and let's hope that my daughter isn't prescient. ;)