Critic Says Bad River Management Causes Flooding

WJ Editorial
Waterways Journal
4 July 2011

There is a wailing and gnashing of teeth throughout the Missouri River basin about flooding, and along the Lower Mississippi about the lack of dredging. Today we are going to consider the conclusions of one observer who believes the 2011 flooding scenario was destined to happen because of river management policies dictated by environmental interests.

In his article "The Purposeful Flooding of America's Heartland" on http://www.americanthinker.com, Joe Herring is not suggesting that the Corps or other government agencies wanted this flood. Rather, he says that the country has been misguided since the birth of the Environmental Protection Agency and environmental protection laws. When the Flood Control Act of 1944 was passed, it authorized the construction of six main stem Missouri River dams and reservoirs, designed first and foremost to help prevent flooding. But, over time, the environmental movement has fought to redirect the purpose of those dams in order to put flood control later in the pecking list and advance wildlife and recreation.

It was reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on June 23, "...Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said today that as flooding worsens along the river, he is rounding up support in the basin for a new effort that would emphasize flood control (first) and navigation (second) as Army engineers' primary management task."

The necessity for Blunt's effort, aside from the present flood, is that stakeholders on the upper Missouri, along with environmentalists, have worked for years to have the water management procedures and priorities of the Corps examined and shuffled to prioritize wildlife and recreation. Ultimately a multimillion-dollar study was authorized to examine those priorities.

These efforts for change hijacked the purpose of the Act. As Herring explains, "Some 60 years ago, the (Corps) began the process of taming the Missouri by constructing a series of six dams.

The idea was simple: massive dams at the top moderating flow to the smaller dams below, generating electricity while providing desperately needed control of the river's devastating floods.

"The stable flow of water allowed for the construction of the concrete and earthen levees that protect more than 10 million people who reside and work within the river's reach. It allowed millions of acres of floodplain to become useful for farming and development. In fact, these uses were encouraged by our government, which took credit for the resulting economic boom. By nearly all measures, the project was a great success."

Herring adds, "...after about 30 years of operation, as the environmentalist movement gained strength throughout the '70s and '80s, the Corps received a great deal of pressure to include some specific environmental concerns into their MWCM (Master Water Control Manual, the `bible' for the operation of the darn system)."

The bottom line, according to Herring, is that politicians eagerly traded their common sense for `green' political support.

Then the environmentalists wanted to restore the river back to its pre-dam self. After they enlisted the aid of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to provide an updated biological opinion that would make ecosystem restoration an "authorized purpose," the Clinton administration supported the effort, thus shifting officially the priorities of the Missouri River dam system.

What it boils down to, and Herring documents his conclusions, is that the Corps, et al., were warned well in advance that they had failed to evacuate enough water from the main stem reservoirs to meet normal runoff conditions.

"This year's runoff will be anything but normal," e-mailed Brad Lawrence, director of public works in Ft. Pierre, S.D. In his e-mail to the headquarters of the American Water Works Association in Washington, D.C., Lawrence described the consequences of the Corps' failure to act as a "flood of biblical proportions." His e-mails were forwarded, said Herring, from Washington to state emergency response coordinators nationwide. Corps officials in Omaha, Neb., deny receiving such a warning, Herring said.

The end result, according to Herring, is that this year's flood is "many orders of magnitude greater" than the flood of 1993, when 1,000 levees failed. Current published Corps statistics related to flooding appear to support his contention. By switching horses in the middle of the stream, the Corps has "needlessly imperiled the property, businesses, and lives of millions of people." Herring believes the action constitutes "criminal negligence." He said the evidence of their mismanagement is clear, "and the possibility that there is specific intent behind their failure to act must be investigated without delay."

For years we have witnessed the abusive use of environmental law to hobble progress. Remember the snail darter? Remember the Houston toad? Remember the furbish lousewort? All represented unreasonable roadblocks to progress.

The final chapter of the book on the 2011 flood is months, perhaps years, away from completion, but the Corps statistics are unfolding now. The ongoing efforts to emphasize environmental goals at the expense of flood control have long been known. Now we wait for the results.