I thought readers of this forum should be aware of what the Navigation Industry is up to. The Navigation Industry is well-organized and well-funded and they are putting pressure on Congress to authorize the Corps of Engineers(COE) to proceed with construction or design of new and longer locks and dams BEFORE THE COE COMPLETES THE PEER-REVIEWED, OBJECTIVE ASSESSMENT OF THE NEEDS FOR EXPANSION.
Pasted below is a letter that a number of environmental groups (fishing clubs, audubon society, sierra club, etc, etc) have signed and are sending to their individual representatives in Congress to make their views know.
If you agree with this letter and want to do the same – simply copy and paste this letter into a file in your word processor and print out to send you your representative.
Dear Representative/Senator:
Our organizations urge you to oppose efforts to authorize the construction or design of longer locks for the Upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers until the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) completes a peer-reviewed, objective assessment of navigation and natural resource needs.
As the Corps has acknowledged, there currently is not adequate information to support legislation in favor of expansion of the locks, nor has the Corps yet demonstrated how any expansion would benefit the nation. A contingent authorization of construction or design in this year’s Water Resources Development Act would also be inappropriate given the scandal-plagued history of the study process, the fact that waterway traffic has not increased for more than 20 years, and the fact that cost-sharing for new locks will not be available until 2015.
The Upper Mississippi River is far more than a highway for barges. The river hosts hundreds of species of fish and wildlife and attracts millions of visitors who spend more than $1.2 billion annually, supporting 18,000 jobs. The recent conclusions by scientists that the Mississippi is slowly losing its capacity to support many species of wildlife demonstrates the need for taking special care in decisions affecting the future of the river. Unfortunately, that care has not yet been taken.
In just the past two years, both the Army Inspector General and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) concluded that the Corps had manipulated data to justify the longer locks that others are now asking Congress to authorize. The Corps has not followed the NAS recommendations to improve the agency’s ability to forecast traffic growth and measure the benefits of longer locks. Instead, the Corps has proposed to use faulty models and methods that exaggerate the number and benefits of barges that will use these rivers. The Corps also has not taken immediate, cost-effective, small-scale measures to reduce lock congestion, including the use of scheduling and mooring buoys, as recommended by the NAS.
The Army Inspector General and the NAS also found that the Corps had ignored the environmental impacts of dam and channel construction and operation, which are contributing to the Mississippi’s growing ecological decline. Though the Corps has suggested that it will expand the scope of the Upper Mississippi River-Illinois Waterway Navigation Study to consider steps to offset the long-term effects of dam and channel construction and operation, the Corps has just begun the first steps in this process. As importantly, the Corps has not yet proposed how any mitigation measures will be financed. Finally, the Corps yet needs to define clearly how it will meet its existing legal obligations to reexamine and modify its current management activities.
In short, much more needs to be done before Congress will have adequate information to determine whether a $1.5 billion lock expansion project will benefit the nation. We respectfully urge you to oppose any efforts to authorize the construction or design of longer locks for the Upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers until the Corps produces a peer-reviewed, objective assessment of the needs of navigation and the river’s natural resources that demonstrates that longer locks will serve the nation and also demonstrates a viable and effective program for habitat protection and restoration to reverse the last 200 years of degradation on this great river.
Signed,
Tom Overholt, President
Aldo Leopold Audubon Society
Stevens Point, Wisconsin
Kathy Andria, Executive Director
American Bottom Conservancy
East St. Louis, MO
Melissa Samet, Senior Director, Water Resources
American Rivers
Ken Finch, Director
Audubon Minnesota (State Office)
Roger Still, Director
Audubon, Missouri (State Office)
Jim Olson, President
Audubon Society of Fargo/Moorhead Fargo/Moorhead; MN, ND
Denny Donnell, President
Columbia Audubon Society
Columbia, MO
Fred Lesher, President
Coulee Region Audubon Society
La Crosse, Wisconsin
Clark Bullard, ???
Committee on the Middle Fork Vermilion River
Scott Sparlin, ???
Coalition for a Clean Minnesota River
Muffy Harmon, ???
Des Moines Founders Garden Club
Scott Faber, ???
Environmental Defense
Whitney Clark, Executive Director
Friends of the Mississippi River
Saint Paul, MN
Jack Ullemyer, President
Fyre Lake
Sherrard, IL
Sandra Hausman, ???
Glenview Prairie Preservation Project
Gary Dau, President
In Fisherman
??, IL
Mark Schultz, Policy Program Director
Land Stewardship Project
Minneapolis and Lewistown, MN
Mark Muller, Director of the Environment and Agriculture Program
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Minneapolis, MN
Elizabeth Horton Plasket, Executive Director
Iowa Environmental Council
Des Moines, IA
Charles Winterwood
Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club
Richard X. Moore
Izaak Walton League of America
St. Paul, MN
Katy Wortel, ???
Mankato Area Environmentalists
????
Dorothy Krether, President
Minneapolis Audubon Chapter, Minnesota
Myriam Beaulne, ???
Mississippi Corridor Neighborhood Coalition,
???,???
Mark Beorkrem, Director of Navigation/Flood Control Projects Mississippi River Basin Alliance
Morrisonville, IL
Sol Simon, Executive Director
Mississippi River Revival
Winona, MN
Bea Covington, Executive Director
Missouri Coalition for the Environment
St. Louis, MO
Susan Flader, President
Missouri Parks Association
Jefferson City, MO
Chuck Fox, President
Moline Conservation Club
Moline, IL
Sonny Stephens, President
Muskies, Inc.
Moline, IL
Dan McGuiness, Director, Upper Mississppi River Campaign
National Audubon Society
St. Paul, MN
Jim Lyon, Senior Director
Congressional and Federal Affairs
National Wildlife Federation
Kye Carver, President
Rock Islnad Conservation Club
Rock Island, IL
Mike Doyan, President
Ozark Rivers Audubon Chapter
Rolla, Missouri
Marc Miller, Watershed Coordinator
Prairie Rivers Network
Champaign, IL
Tim Murphy, President
Quad Cities Audubon Chapter,
Illinois/Iowa
Jim Garcia, President
Quad City Conservation Alliance
Rock Island, IL
Todd Ambs, Executive Director
River Alliance of Wisconsin
Madison, WI
June Platz, President
Sheboygan County Audubon Society Wisconsin
Ed Hopkins
Sierra Club
Rick Komperud
Sierra Club Coulee Region Group
Bill Salsgiver, President
St. Louis Audubon Society, Missouri
Melody Torrey
Stream Team 714
Unionville, Missouri