Port of Omaha - Omaha, Nebraska

The corps missed its self-imposed deadline of May 31 to release its new proposal on managing the river. A week ago, corps officials said it was taking longer than expected for the agency’s proposal to work its way through the Bush administration. Scott Stanzel, a White House spokesman, said the White House had received the letter but had not reviewed it yet. 

Friday’s letter was signed by Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and Sen. Tim Johnson, both of South Dakota, Sens. Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan, both of North Dakota, Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, and Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D. 

“The failure of the corps to meet this deadline is unacceptable,” lawmakers wrote. 
Rewriting the Master Water Control Manual for the Missouri River has taken the corps more than 13 years. 

In that time, it has become a hotly debated political issue, with upstream interests pitted against downstream interests. The Missouri River stretches 2,341 miles, from its headwaters at Three Forks, Mont., to St. Louis, where it empties into the Mississippi River. 

At issue is whether the corps, with its system of dams and reservoirs, should alter its existing management plan, which maintains a fairly even flow from spring through fall. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and environmentalists are backing the ebb-and-flow plan, which would boost spring releases and cut summer flows to mimic the natural conditions that existed before the river was dammed and channeled between the 1940s and the mid-1960s. Daschle, Conrad and the other upstream interests say the current management practice has drained more than water from their states – it has also drained money from the tourist-based businesses that thrive along the river’s banks. 

“During the time the corps has studied changes to the manual, recreation in our states has suffered as lake levels have dropped, leaving boat docks and ramps high and dry,” the letter states. 

On the other side, Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., joined by House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., have urged the corps to retain control over the river’s flow. They argue that allowing the river to resume its natural ebb-and-flow cycle would be a double-whammy for downstream interests. Too little water could harm barge traffic, while the springtime rise would flood farmland and homes along the river. 

There are also environmental consequences to managing the river. Two years ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service warned the corps that continuing present management could push the pallid sturgeon and other endangered or threatened species closer to oblivion. Without changes, the corps could be in violation of the federal Endangered Species Act.