Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Contact: Spence Jackson, 573-751-0290
Talent, Bond and Blunt React to Army Corps Proposal
JEFFERSON CITY–Today, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a draft 2005-2006 Annual Operating Plan (AOP), which calls for two Spring "rises" if the total storage in the reservoir system is above 36.5 MAF.
The rises are thought by some to serve as a spawning cue for the endangered pallid sturgeon. Should the plan be implemented in its current form, the rises would occur in mid-March and May, adding as much as three feet of water to the river channel and potentially flooding millions of acres of Missouri farmland.
"This plan is at odds with common sense and has the potential to devastate the agriculture community in Missouri," said U.S. Senator Jim Talent, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee. "It would leave our people vulnerable to government-imposed flooding and it threatens the livelihood of Missouri farmers and ranchers. I also question the data used in making this decision which apparently did not take into account that the Missouri River already experiences a natural spring rise."
"News on the spring-rise decision is disappointing because we know it will result in the regular flooding of farm crops and in extreme cases, much worse. What we do not know is why this will work when the natural spring rises we already have are not working," said U.S. Senator Kit Bond. "So much for the notion that this process would be based on consensus in the basin. In fact, this is the one proposal that most if not all of the states oppose including the tribes and it is only supported by a handful of bureaucrats and the most reliable outside litigants."
"This plan is bad for Missouri. It could destroy the crops of farm families, further diminishes the prospect of environmentally friendly barge traffic, and lacks concrete evidence that it will actually help the pallid sturgeon. This grand experiment is not rooted in science. I am extremely disappointed that the Corps and the Department of Interior have ignored our reasoned arguments," Governor Matt Blunt said.
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