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OmahaRiverFront.com
- RIVER NEWS
Corps of Engineers hosts first
Missouri River Revised Draft Environmental Impact Statement open house
and workshop
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Friday
October 12, 2001
By Nancy Neurohr |
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open house and workshop held Thursday October 11th by the Army
Corps of Engineers
gathered input to be used to solve the decade-old Missouri River
flow controversy. The corps presented its Revised
Draft Environmental Impact Statement,
and the workshop and hearing provided the public an opportunity to
ask questions on possible alternatives for operating the dams
on the river. Thursday's event was the third of 14 meetings
from Helena, Mont., to New Orleans, said Paul Johnston,
chief of public affairs for the Corps of Engineers, Northwest
Division.
The Revised Draft Environmental Impact Statement presents
six alternatives, including the current water control plan. The
second is the modified conservation plan which contains four
features, adaptive management, increased water conservation during
droughts, changes to spring releases from Fort
Peck Dam and unbalancing the storage in the upper three lakes.
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four other alternatives add a fifth feature -- changes in the
releases from Gavins
Point Dam near Yankton, S.D. These modified releases involve a
spring rise with releases of 15,000 to 20,000 cubic feet per second
above full navigation targets for two weeks beginning in mid-May
about every three years to trigger pallid
sturgeon spawning.
"The modified releases from Gavins Point would look at a
couple different versions of higher flows in the spring followed by
several different versions of lower releases in the summer,"
Johnson said. "This would more mimic the natural rhythm of the
river."
The spring rises would not occur during periods of high inflows to
the river because the water would naturally rise under those
conditions.
A second change involves low annual releases from Gavins Point from
mid-June to mid-August to provide nesting habitat for the
endangered Interior
Least Tern and Piping
Plover birds. This plan would begin at the minimum navigation
service level of approximately 28,000 cfs to 21,000 cfs, followed
by monitoring and evaluation of the biological response.
"There are naturally a variety of impacts that will go along
with that," Johnston said. "It depends on where you
are."
The environmentalists favor the split flow to benefit the birds and
fish. However, the barge industry contends it will be hurt or put
out of business by the low summer flows. The lowest levels may also
hurt marinas in July and August because boat ramps will be
unusable.
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Corps of Engineers will sponsor a public comment period until
February of 2002. Between February and the end of March, the
corps will evaluate the data and prepare a preferred
alternative to be implemented in the spring of 2003. The corps
must balance the federally mandated uses of the river: flood
control, hydroelectric generation, navigation, recreation,
irrigation, fish and wildlife, water quality against the
Endangered Species Act that protects the birds and fish. |
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Chad
Smith, a representative of American
Rivers, said his organization favors the "flexible flow
alternative" He stated, "There needs to be some semblance
of the river's natural flow restored so that the important
functions for fish and wildlife that come with that more natural
flow come back".
A more natural flow on the Missouri River will bring sand bars and
safer water to use recreationally for small boats during the
summer. A more natural flow will mean more people will have a shot
at using the river, which will provide an economic benefit, some
people argue.
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"For
all intents and purposes, the river is a ditch between here and
St. Louis...It is dangerous and not something that attracts
people."
Chad
Smith - American Rivers |
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During
the Corp's open house in Sioux City, South Sioux City Mayor Bill
McLarty, speaking on the behalf of the Siouxland
Interstate Metropolitan Planning Council, said the positives of
the current management plan include flood control, navigation,
water recreation and bank stabilization. The negatives include
river bed degradation, loss of wetlands, problems for marinas,
lowering levels in oxbows and deepening of tributary streambeds
that cause infrastructure problems with bridge pilings. McLarty
said he was concerned the spring rises under the split-flow options
would cause flooding problems, while the low flows would harm power
generation locally.
Sioux City Mayor Marty Dougherty said he is satisfied with
the current water control plan and that it was not in need of
change. He also pressed for recognition of local recreational
needs. "We have recreational interests here as well that we
believe are as important as upstream," he said.
The next planned open house and workshop will be held November
8th in Nebraska City, Nebraska.  |
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