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(Washington, DC)
A coalition of conservation organizations have asked a federal judge to order river-friendly dam operations on the Missouri River this summer. On May 23, the groups requested a preliminary injunction in their lawsuit filed on February 13th, asking the court to toss out the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' 2003 operating plan for its six dams and instead order summer river flows urged by federal wildlife scientists for over a decade. The suit is one of nine filed by various parties to the controversy.
"The Army Corps' efforts to lock down the river have lead to a rising tide of litigation instead," said attorney David Hayes of Latham & Watkins, who represents most of the plaintiffs in the case. "The Corps has created this mess by refusing to make even modest changes in how it operates the river, refusing to force the navigation industry to make any meaningful accommodations while the region suffers from a continuing drought, three species remain on the brink of extinction, and the Corps' decisions wreck havoc on recreational interests -- the biggest economic engine in the Basin."
"The most bizarre aspect of the Army Corps's refusal to change is that the Corps' itself has concluded that changes to protect the environment would produce greater economic benefits." said Tim Searchinger, who represents Environmental Defense in the suit. "According to the Corps, even the region's barge industry would benefit overall because water conserved on the Missouri River would be used to do more to keep many more barges afloat on the Mississippi River during droughts."
If the groups' motion is granted, the Army Corps will have to reduce flows in the Missouri River below Gavins Point Dam for several weeks this summer to protect endangered shorebirds nesting on sandbars in the river. This has the added benefit of higher water levels for recreational reservoir users during summer vacation season and also improved conditions for recreation on the lower river. The Army Corps would raise river levels again on September 1 in time for river barges to haul their small share of the region's fall harvest.
"We should not lose sight of the immense natural resource values that depend on river management that is based on good science," said Paul Hansen, the League's executive director. "Outdoor recreation that includes hunting and fishing is a big part of the tourism economy for the states involved in this. Indeed, those activities have a much greater impact than existing barge traffic provides."
After years of working to persuade the Army Corps to voluntarily modify dam operations, conservationists filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on February 13th of this year. The suit charges that current dam operations are causing the Missouri River's ecological collapse and imposing economic hardships on some riverfront communities in violation of three federal laws: the Endangered Species Act, the Flood Control Act of 1944, and the Administrative Procedures Act.
"The National Wildlife Federation is committed to reforming the Corps of Engineers to become an agency of economically-sensible environmental restoration," said Mark Van Putten, president of the National Wildlife Federation. "Managing the Missouri Basin in a way that safeguards wildlife and the environment is a critical step in this national effort."
The groups are seeking new management for the river that complies with the terms of a 2000 "Biological Opinion" from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service -- particularly more natural seasonal river flows that will improve the river's ecological health and its appeal as a recreational destination. In addition to lower flows each summer, the opinion calls for increased spring river flows in years of normal rainfall and snowpack. Recognizing that drought conditions prevail in much of the river basin this year, the groups did not seek a spring rise in 2003.
"The lower river flows last summer brought a lot of people out onto the river to camp on sandbars, canoe, and fish," said Duane Hovorka with the Nebraska Wildlife Federation. "At the same time, dire predictions that power plants and drinking water facilities would have to shut down never came true."
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