KMB client Ivor van Heerden receives Joe A. Callaway Award for Civic Courage for his work to expose the failures of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that led to the Hurricane Katrina disaster

December 16, 2009

The Shafeek Nader Trust for the Community Interest honored Mr. van Heerden for authoring “The Storm: What Went Wrong and Why During Hurricane Katrina” and for continuing to speak out in the face of strong opposition.

On December 16, 2009, KMB client Ivor van Heerden received a 2009 Joe A. Callaway Award for Civic Courage.  The Shafeek Nader Trust for the Community Interest bestows the Callaway Award on “individuals in any area of endeavor who, with integrity and at some personal risk, take a public stand to advance truth and justice, and who challenge unsatisfactory conditions in pursuit of the common good.”

A scientist and professor at the Louisiana State University (“LSU”), Mr. van Heerden saw firsthand the devastation left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.  His experiences prompted him to write The Storm: What Went Wrong and Why During Katrina.  In The Storm, Mr. van Heerden detailed the inadequacies of the New Orleans levee and pump systems and the failures of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and others that led to the post-Katrina disaster.  In granting him the Callaway Award, the Shafeek Nader Trust noted that Mr. van Heerden faced tremendous pressure from LSU to silence his message.  Mr. van Heerden continued to speak out, however, and in April 2009, LSU refused to renew his contract after 2010.