Matt McBride
@mcbride-matt.bsky.social
📤 458
📥 331
📝 441
#nola
freelance reporter
@helenamorenola.com
just said at the State Bond Commission that she anticipates coming back in a few months for another short term revenue anticipation bond, though she does not expect it to be as large as the one being considered today ($125 million).
11 days ago
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"Neutral ground parking allowed" message from nolaready issued after severe thunderstorm was already on top of New Orleans, and just minutes prior to flash flood warning. This happens so, so often.
28 days ago
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No real reason to worry about drainage by S&WB pumps and power assets, especially when the last update - two days ago - said they were mainly relying on hugely unreliable T4, EMDs and frequency changers.
28 days ago
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Over $300 million spent by Sewerage & Water Board to supposedly make New Orleans' drainage pump power more reliable, but since a rainstorm is coming in during non-business hours, the most the public finds out is "It's off," on Friday afternoon. Then radio silence.
28 days ago
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This is the exact opposite of why the S&WB power complex was put in. There's bad weather moving into New Orleans this weekend, the complex ("SFC1"= new Static Frequency Converter 1) is offline during its "reliability test," rickety T4 has been turned on, and T5 remains down.
29 days ago
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If the City of New Orleans is having to take out a $100 million line of credit because, in part, FEMA reimbursements have slowed or stopped,
@nolacitycouncil.bsky.social
might want to ask Sewerage & Water Board how their FEMA reimbursements are going (1/x)
bsky.app/profile/wwlt...
add a skeleton here at some point
about 1 month ago
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The Sewerage & Water Board power complex is now online. They barely announced it in a tiny note on their power dashboard yesterday: "[We] have another 22MW of [25 cycle] power from SFC1 that is being used as part of a 30-day reliability testing period." (1/6)
about 2 months ago
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Portland at war
about 2 months ago
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The S&WB said this nearly 3 weeks ago. It was in their September 2, 2025 press release:
www.swbno.org/PressRelease...
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2 months ago
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THIS right here is the ONLY video you need to watch to understand the recovery of New Orleans post-Katrina.
youtu.be/UOGlLehx7sg?...
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Where Y'at, New Orleans?
YouTube video by endlessjoe
https://youtu.be/UOGlLehx7sg?si=VxkaT8ZRf1DUn4kK
3 months ago
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Katrina is going to be everywhere this week, with lots of people offering their takes on things. I'm going to stay in my lane and ask: What about the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers? (1/x)
3 months ago
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Pressing "Cancel" on your Microsoft 365 subscription reveals a version with no AI ("Classic" is what they call it) which is $10 cheaper.
add a skeleton here at some point
3 months ago
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Heads up
@nolautilities.bsky.social
@nolacitycouncil.bsky.social
@jpmorrell.bsky.social
@helenamorenola.com
Loss of T5, hours-long T4 startups, & ongoing West Power Complex delays mean S&WB water and drainage is mostly being run off
@entergy.com
distribution power. Bigger risks during popup storms.
add a skeleton here at some point
3 months ago
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Turbine 5 (T5) at the Sewerage & Water Board Carrollton Plant was declared down yesterday for at least two weeks at the height of hurricane season, which is very bad for drainage. The outage also puts the city's water system at higher risk, which S&WB did not mention. (1/x)
3 months ago
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Reminder: Sewerage & Water Board claimed to
@nolacitycouncil.bsky.social
on July 21 they would start their 30 day reliability test of delivering Entergy power through their new power complex (specifically through static frequency converter 1, or "SFC-1") to pumps in "mid August." That's now.
3 months ago
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The sections of the New Orleans City Charter related to a mayor either pleading guilty to federal or state felony charges, or being found guilty.
library.municode.com/la/new_orlea...
3 months ago
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On their third try today, S&WB finally matched their pumping and power dashboard to the information about pumping and power told by S&WB leadership to the
@nolacitycouncil.bsky.social
(1/4)
4 months ago
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BREAKING: It seems S&WB is discovering pumps down even since this morning. Their available pump total is now down to 84 of 93, with the announcement by Gen'l Superintendent Steve Nelson at the
@nolacitycouncil.bsky.social
meeting that Pump F at drainage pumping station 1 in Broadmoor is down. (1/9)
4 months ago
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Very soon after I posted this thread, S&WB updated their pumping dashboard, but with a backdated update. They put a date of 7/18/25 as if it has been there the whole time, but it only went up a few minutes ago. (1/2)
add a skeleton here at some point
4 months ago
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S&WB will be presenting to
@nolacitycouncil.bsky.social
today. Their slide deck has changed in a tiny but vital way - it reveals that drainage capacity in most of Algiers is now down to half. (1/15)🧵
4 months ago
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Finally, S&WB has treated its customer base with respect and put out a ton of information about their systems ahead of tonight's rain. But it's doubtful most people will see it today, so I will hit the highlights. (1/22)🧵
4 months ago
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Last Friday, S&WB announced that startup of the first component of the new power complex, static frequency converter 1 ("SFC-1") was being pushed back to August. Also, the other two SFC's were delayed to Oct and new turbine T7 to Nov. I wrote about it that day. (1/13)
x.com/Matthew67052...
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Matt McBride on X: "In what is likely surprising to no one, startup of the new @SWBNewOrleans power complex has been significantly delayed. It will no longer be ready by the peak of hurricane season 2025. (1/17) https://t.co/7Q7Qu83uTa" / X
In what is likely surprising to no one, startup of the new @SWBNewOrleans power complex has been significantly delayed. It will no longer be ready by the peak of hurricane season 2025. (1/17) https://t.co/7Q7Qu83uTa
https://x.com/Matthew67052126/status/1943812725647245788
4 months ago
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And this:
thelensnola.org/2025/07/11/m...
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4 months ago
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Many thanks to
@thelensnola.bsky.social
for publishing my latest piece, in which I detail how a former S&WB member with a raft of state ethics violations - and an uncle on the U.S. Supreme Court - nearly got back on to S&WB yesterday, and still might.
thelensnola.org/2025/07/11/m...
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Mayor pulls nomination for ethics-plagued former Sewerage & Water Board member, pledges to reappoint at later date | The Lens
Kimberly Thomas, who served a decade ago on the S&WB, was given nod by a council committee last week and was slated for Council approval on Thursday
https://thelensnola.org/2025/07/11/mayor-pulls-nomination-for-ethics-plagued-former-sewerage-water-board-member-pledges-to-reappoint-at-later-date/
4 months ago
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It appears S&WB took notice of the public concern about Turbine 6 today. They slightly updated their power dashboard, providing a supposed date for the turbine's return to service: July 25. But there's still lots of questions. (1/4)
add a skeleton here at some point
5 months ago
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The New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board's history with turbines placed into "Emergency Use Only" status is not encouraging. If we go back to 2020, we have a salient example in the death of turbine 3. (1/10) 🧵
add a skeleton here at some point
5 months ago
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The recent apparent failure of S&WB turbine 6 is more consequential than I realized. It's actually quite bad, and as usual S&WB is downplaying it. It gets one tiny mention on their website, with no explanation. I guarantee this problem did not come out of nowhere. (1/20)
add a skeleton here at some point
5 months ago
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Sewerage & Water Board is limping thru this hurricane season. TWO of their three turbines are now down to "emergency use only," or "EUO" in SWB-ese. Turbine 4 "returned" to service June 27, but it didn't really. One has to dig into the S&WB website to find it was designated EUO:🧵 (1/15)
5 months ago
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@alexlubben.bsky.social
Can you please provide a link - within the text of your
@nolanews.bsky.social
article and here - to the source article from Tulane and JPL about the Corps' post-K levees subsiding at an accelerated rate? I went looking for it and couldn't find it.
www.nola.com/news/environ...
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Sections of New Orleans floodwalls are sinking faster than sea levels are rising, study finds
New research reveals that sections of New Orleans' $15 billion flood control system are subsiding faster than sea levels are rising.
https://www.nola.com/news/environment/new-orleans-flood-walls-sinking-faster-than-seas/article_78743827-e52c-49e5-82e2-fad15efed2a0.html
5 months ago
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@SWBNewOrleans has left a key bit of information out of this: T4 is not truly "available" since it takes hours to start up. S&WB has also not told the public why that is, and when that new weakness started. If one takes out T4's 18.5 MW, actual available 25 Hz power is 49 MW.
5 months ago
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However, if one swaps out "snowstorm" for "Super Bowl," it works. He was off by two weeks.
add a skeleton here at some point
5 months ago
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Heads up: S&WB power and drainage are heading for critical levels: - 25 Hz power: 43 MW available (44 needed for peak). 4 of 13 power assets out. - 27% pumping deficit at station 4 in Gentilly - very serious - 28% pumping deficit at station 19 in Upper 9th Ward Details here:
x.com/Matthew67052...
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https://x.com/Matthew67052126
5 months ago
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Are we sure the LEO isn't guarding against foodborne disease by ensuring meat is fully cooked?
add a skeleton here at some point
5 months ago
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If S&WB keeps their pumping dashboard website the same after T4 returns, it is totally conceivable that they could lose T5 or a bunch of other equipment but continue to claim adequate power because they were inflating the total with T4. They need to break out T4 separately from the total.
add a skeleton here at some point
6 months ago
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@nolautilities.bsky.social
add a skeleton here at some point
6 months ago
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S&WB turbine 4 is down, dropping "available" 25 Hz power by 18 MW to 49 megawatts. They say they need max 44 MW for worst storms. The supposed return to service is 6/16/25. That said, after the 4/21 storm, S&WB revealed they need "several hours" to get T4 going. (1/15)🧵
x.com/SWBNewOrlean...
6 months ago
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Deporting a 4 year old girl with short bowel syndrome and her family is just plain cruel.
www.latimes.com/california/s...
6 months ago
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#lalege
bill HB611 from Rep Hilferty to completely recast the S&WB board, including eliminating the mayor from the board, has had most of the language stripped out of it under an amendment filed by Rep. Hilferty. It retains some language about S&WB's top lawyer. (1/5)
6 months ago
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I am surprised WaPo didn't catch that the first escapee caught after the massive prison break last week was supposedly through ProjectNola live facial recognition in coordination with the STATE Police.
archive.ph/2fmW1
6 months ago
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Expect something similar from S&WB when all the batteries on the smart meters start dying. It happened in St. John Parish...
www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/...
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7 months ago
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At least one of the two Entergy 60 Hz feeders to S&WB drainage pumping station 13, which drains all of Algiers above the Algiers Canal, is down. All of DPS 13's pumps are 60 Hz or diesel. They have full generator backup, but have had problems with the generators before.
7 months ago
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S&WB is now putting this bit of misinformation out to New Orleans - they have 15 sources of power for 25 Hz pumps and that's bad. They used to say it would prevent a systemwide failure. Also, they have twelve 25 Hz sources: 2 turbines, 5 frequency changers, & 5 EMDs.
www.wwltv.com/article/news...
7 months ago
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The S&WB storm report for the 4/21/25 storm was just posted to the City Council website. It shows there were even more pumps out during the storm than revealed previously. (1/4)
council.nola.gov/council/medi...
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https://council.nola.gov/council/media/Assets/Committees/Public-Works/2025-04-21-Legislative-Storm-Report.pdf
7 months ago
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It's now well past the 48 hour deadline for S&WB to report on Monday's storm, but the report still isn't up at the City Council website here:
council.nola.gov/committees/p...
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Public Works, Sanitation and Environment Committee - New Orleans City Council
https://council.nola.gov/committees/public-works-sanitation-and-environment-committee/
7 months ago
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4 year olds in immigration court without lawyers.
gothamist.com/news/4-year-...
7 months ago
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It turns out S&WB claimed even during yesterday's storm that turbine 4 was available - like when Gen'l Superintendent Steve Nelson was talking to
@wdsu6.bsky.social
- when they knew it had been out since last week. The city entered the storm in a far more precarious state than anyone was aware of.
7 months ago
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This is very concerning. With turbine 4 down, only 16 megawatt turbine 5 stands between S&WB having enough 25 Hz power for pumping during a major spring storm and falling into a deep deficit before the first drop falls. And the remaining equipment - frequency changers & EMDs - is unreliable.
7 months ago
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S&WB's turbine 4 is down again. No information whether it went down during the rain yesterday or not. Of course, they know whether it did, down to the second in real time. This information should be included on their pump and power status map.
add a skeleton here at some point
7 months ago
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S&WB told Ben Myers at
@nolanews.bsky.social
the system "worked as designed" yesterday (left) but told Paul Murphy at
@wwltv.bsky.social
(right) that at least three pumps went down, including one at DPS 5 in the Lower Ninth Ward, which saw heavy flooding. The DPS 5 outage lasted at least 40 minutes.
7 months ago
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Worth noting: the only S&WB pump station in Algiers, DPS 13, has been down one of its four major pumps for a very long time. Pump 4, run on diesel, not electricity, is designated "emergency use only", SWB-ese for deeply broken.
7 months ago
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