This past summer a high Missouri River and full reservoirs resulted in serious flooding that impacted river communities throughout the 9th District. Recently, I had the opportunity to raise my concerns about the situation to the House Transportation and I
This past summer a high Missouri River and full reservoirs resulted in serious flooding that impacted river communities throughout the 9th District. Recently, I had the opportunity to raise my concerns about the situation to the House Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment. I made it clear to my colleagues in Congress that extreme weather and some decisions by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were largely to blame for the flooding and that more must be done in the future to ensure that water management decisions by the Corps’ are better designed to protect human life and property.
Issues surrounding management of the Missouri River are critical to the thousands of people living and working along the approximately 140 miles of Missouri River in the 9th District of Missouri that I proudly represent. These hard-working folks, along with millions living throughout the lower Mississippi River basin, depend on the steady flow of the Missouri for their power generation, navigation needs, and ability to move their goods to both domestic and international marketplaces. It is essential they have the support needed to protect their livelihoods from future floods.
In January, snowpack in the upper basin was 141 percent above normal and forecasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted that runoff for spring 2011 would be historically high. And while the three month forecasts used by the Corps were dramatically inaccurate, the month-by-month forecasts produced by NOAA actually had a much more realistic prediction of what was to come. We have seen reports on emails demonstrating that as early as February 2011, the Corps had predicted a “flood of biblical proportions.” Despite these internal concerns, no action was taken by the Corps to amend their river management plan as they are under different and competing legal mandates.
As a result of this inaction, releases from Gavins Point Dam were pushed to 160,000 cubic feet per second, more than double all previous releases. We had numerous levee breaches across the basin. Levees that didn’t physically breach had water sitting against them for months, undoubtedly weakening levees throughout the entire system. Ultimately, more than 400,000 to 500,000 acres of farmland were flooded. Some families and farms were underwater for more than 15 weeks, resulting in a complete loss of crops for many farmers.
The costs of these failures to agriculture were tremendous. According to a recent study conducted by the University of Missouri, more than 207,000 acres of cropland were destroyed in 24 Missouri counties alone, resulting in nearly $176 million in lost agricultural revenue. This translates into a total economic value loss of more than $326 million. Now the Corps has said they won’t have the funding necessary to repair and rebuild the levees to their pre-flood levels. One can’t help but take notice of the significant disparity of funding for habitat restoration and land acquisition and funding dedicated to operations and maintenance. The Corps is juggling too many competing interests. A tremendous emphasis has been placed on habitat restoration and compliance with the Endangered Species Act instead of on the protection of life and property.
For generations, the upper and lower basins of the Missouri River have had significantly different management philosophies, but we agree that the number one priority for the management of the river should be flood control. Despite these historical differences, we must all work together to ensure that the best policies are put into place for our river communities. It is time to move forward together and do our best to ensure that flooding of this proportion is never again seen on the Missouri River. In light of the recent hearings and the challenges of managing the Missouri River, Congress must work with the administration to ensure that the Corps’ priorities are appropriate and prioritized so that we can better protect human life and property in our river communities.
