In a commentary in the Minneapolis-Star Tribune on Monday, Jan. 28th, state Senator Jim Carlson, an engineer by trade, lays out his reasons for suspecting that the National Transportation Safety Board may be the latest government agency to be politicized under the Bush Administration and how this affects its initial report of the I-35 bridge collapse.
I know. I know. The Bushies have used almost every other part of the federal government as their private tools to punish enemies, protect their pals and give their cronies lucrative contracts. For the Bush administration, everything is politicized--the Defense Dept, the CIA, the EPA, FEMA and more. So I suppose I shouldn't be too shocked that the National Transportation Safety Board may be their latest tool.
But still. If we can't trust the NTSB to be fair, how should people respond to the next bridge collapse......or plane crash....or train wreck? What else will be spun?
Carlson writes,
"As a licensed professional engineer, I practiced engineering with a disciplined group of people. We have a code of conduct that discourages uniformed comment or conclusions outside our areas of expertise. Watch the media carefully and you will not see a professional engineer make conclusions on incomplete evidence.
The collapse was not an act of God; it was an error of oversight. Something was missed."
For all you non-Minnesotans or anyone who hasn't followed the aftermath of the I-35 bridge collapse....a few weeks ago, the NTSB came out with an initial report that said the gusset plates in the bridge were too thin, i.e. there was a design flaw. Nothing to see here, people, move along. No one could have forseen......blah, blah, blah, etc.
Republicans and conservative Strib columnist Katherine Kersten immediately pounced on the NTSB's initial report and said it proved that no, the bridge collapse had nothing to do with our Republican Governor (and long-rumored possible vice-presidential candidate for John McCain) Tim Pawlenty's no-new-taxes, starve-the-beast, ignore-the-infrastructure, postpone-repairs, take-out-loans, do-it-on-the-cheap style of governing. And no, the collapse had nothing to do with the fact that Governor Pawlenty appointed his dim-witted, incompetent, running mate, Lt. Gov. Carol Molneau to head up the Minnesota Department of Transportation, even though she had zero background in engineering or road construction. As Pawlenty's commissioner of Transportation, Molnau has presided over the politicization and deterioration of what was once a well-respected, functional part of the state government.
The day after the bridge collapse, Pawlenty hired a private firm to do an investigation that would run "parallel" to the NTSB's inquiry. The firm was hired at state expense and its report supposedly will not be released until after the NTSB releases its final report. Many have speculated that Pawlenty hired the firm specifically to cover his ass. Because if lawyers can prove that he knew about the problems with the bridge but ignored them because it would cost too much money......well, Timmy's political career would be over. Remember, thirteen people died and dozens were injured.
Pawlenty is a slick, smart guy with an amiable demeanor who talks like a moderate, but governs from the hard-right. He's seen as a possible rising national star among Republicans, so you better believe they want to protect him.....and their own starve-the-beast approach to governing. The bridge collapse has been widely viewed as a metaphor for what's happened to America under Republican rule. It was all over the TV and it will come up again this September when the National Republican convention is held in St. Paul. So you better believe there's pressure to make sure the bridge collapse is viewed as something that "no one could have forseen....."
Carlson goes on to write,
"After the bridge fell into the river, I began reviewing the many years of bridge-inspection reports. I was surprised to see that problems were often reported for more than a decade without corrective action. There were instances in which the inspectors used exclamation points to draw attention to unaddressed problems. Other reports included many broken bolts and a tipped pier and "significant section loss." However, in its preliminary findings, the NTSB dismisses any factor related to the inspection, maintenance or condition of the bridge as a potential cause for collapse.
As an engineer, I find this unsettling and inappropriate. Does the NTSB not think that broken bolts are warning signs? Does it not think a tipped pier ought to be analyzed? Does it not think that "significant section loss" weakens gussets? Could not adding lanes, road thickness and heavier medians to underdesigned gussets be an error?
The NTSB does have a superb reputation when it comes to solving the causes of complex disasters. However, some of its recent actions are calling that reputation into question. The day after the bridge collapse, Gov. Tim Pawlenty hired the firm of Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates (WJE) to conduct a "parallel" investigation. This firm is now working hand-in-hand with the NTSB, under a contract administered by MnDOT. However, WJE is also under obligation to represent MnDOT in any litigation stemming from the collapse -- a clear conflict of interest that undermines the work of the NTSB.
Mark Rosenker, the chairman of the NTSB, has also created credibility issues. He is not an engineer. He is a former Air Force general and has been a member of Dick Cheney's staff and a lobbyist. He has also been involved in several Republican presidential campaigns. His rush to pin the blame on a 40-year-old design problem, while ignoring all the other contributing factors, is unseemly at best. (Emphasis is Midwest Meg's) He also said that never in the history of his organization had it seen a similar underdesigning of gusset plates; yet in 1996, Ohio discovered gussets that were too thin on a sagging bridge. Since then, Ohio bridge inspectors have been inspecting gusset plate design, which Rosenker also stated inspectors are not trained to do."
Check out the whole article. And then remind your Congressional representatives that the NTSB is too important to be used as just another partisan tool.