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Farm groups, three governors and nearly 80 members of Congress are asking the President to step in to stop the Army Corps of Engineers from lowering water flows on the Missouri River and keep navigation open on the Mississippi River. Mike Steenhoek with the Soy Transportation Coalition says the drought is threatening to cripple waterborne commerce. As a result, they want a Presidential declaration to allow USACE to override its water management plan for the Missouri and keep flows downstream at the congressionally-mandated 9-foot depth.
He says they?re making the case to the President that the possible shutdown of the Mississippi along a 10-mile stretch from St. Louis to Cairo, Illinois could cripple the movement of grain for export, and without action soon, Steenhoek says the whole U.S. economy will be feeling it.
USACE claims their hands are tied by the Missouri River manual of operations. The Corps says it’s in the interest of the northern Missouri River basin to charge them at this time of year in order to build up reservoirs for priorities such as irrigation and hydroelectric power, but not navigation on the Mississippi River.
