Tow Boat JACK FLAHAUT navigates barge past Omaha, Nebraska

The Corps of Engineers has been rewriting the Master Manual, it's procedures guidebook for management of the Missouri River and its six main-stem dams, for almost 13 years. It has studied the issue, sought public comment up and down the Missouri River, met with concerned river interest groups and river associated businesses, been sued by several affected states and threatened with additional lawsuits.

The Omaha District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was founded in 1934 as a civil works district, primarily to support local flood control activities and to make the Missouri River safe for navigation. The corps seemed only a few days ago to be on track to release its preferred option for river management as planned by the end of May. Even as recently as 10 days ago, Rosemary Hargrave, a spokeswoman for the corps in Omaha, said the end of May was still the target for release. 

But Friday, May 31st, corps spokesman Paul Johnston of Omaha said it was taking longer than expected for the agency's proposal to work its way through the Bush administration. "We're still working on that process. I expect it to be soon, but I don't have a date certain," Johnston said. 

Two years ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service warned the corps that it's research concluded that continuing present management could push the native Missouri River endangered pallid sturgeon and other endangered or threatened species such as the least tern and piping plover closer to oblivion. 

The corps could be in violation of the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 because of the revised Master Manual release delay. Without management changes, the corps is likely to violate several laws. They include the Endangered Species Act, as well as the Flood Control Act of 1944, in which Congress authorized main-stem dams. The Fish and Wildlife Service wants the corps to change river management and water releases in ways that return some natural river flow patterns that the endangered species rely upon. 

South Dakota is demanding similar river management changes directly beneficial to sport fish, especially the walleye, and to general recreation on the state's four Missouri River reservoirs and the intervening stretches of river. Downstream commercial barge operations oppose those changes, fearing they will ruin the navigation industry and hurt farming along the river.

The 2,400-mile-long Missouri River stretches from Three Forks, Mont., to a point near St. Louis, where it joins the Mississippi. It has long been a battleground between those upstream, who want more water retained there for fishing and other recreational uses, and those downstream, who want more water released to benefit barge commerce. 

The Corps' manual revision process has gone on for 14 years because of the wide differences of opinions between those upstream and downstream groups.