The US Army Corps of Engineers has a new commander of the New Orleans District.
The Corps hosted a formal ceremony on the edge of the Mississippi River for the change of command. The district has a $300 million annual budget for managing 2,800 miles of waterways and five of the top 15 ports in the nation. And, of course, hurricane protection systems.
Outgoing Commander Richard Hansen has been in charge since 2013.
“We have accomplished a lot in the past three years, significant progress on the Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System," Hansen said. "See how that rolls off the tongue after a while – the HSDRRS. We moved into the construction phases for armoring and for environmental mitigation. We passed high water events on the Mississippi River in both 2015 and 2016. The river’s finally down now.
The new commander is Michael Clancy, who has served 33 months in Iraq, 4 in Qatar and one in Afghanistan.
“I’ve heard about New Orleans district my whole time associated with the Army – since I was 18 years old," Clancy said. "If you’re going to be an officer in the Corps of Engineers – the water resource agency for the United States – there is no region in the United States, maybe even the world – that is more blessed and yet challenged by our water resource issues.”
Commander Hansen is now leaving for duty in Afghanistan.