by Caroline Pufalt
Ozark Chapter Conservation Chair, ExCom
This story has nearly everything: endangered species vying for attention within a timid government agency: whistle–blowing public servants trying to protect the taxpayer; big corporate agribusiness extending their influence; politicians responding to that influence in shameless ways; civilian vs. military control; small farmers caught in the middle with few people paying attention to their real problems; transportation interests monopolizing to limit public options; global trade issues; a hungry world; environmentalists as a voice in the wilderness; and the mighty Mississippi rolling along.
BACKGROUND: The Army Corps of Engineers’ system of locks and dams along the upper Mississippi was constructed to manage river for navigation purposes. Over the years that system has been expanded and upgraded to keep a nine foot deep channel available for commercial navigation. All this paid for by the taxpayers with the benefit going toward agricultural and barge interests. Recently a barge gasoline tax was set aside to pay a portion of any future construction of the lock and dam system, but the balance of any construction and ongoing maintenance and operation is subsidized by the taxpayer.
Some agribusiness interests have expanded to include investment in the barge industry. International grain exports are an available market for American farmers, but only at rock bottom prices. Agribusiness interest such as ADM and Cargill may purchase their grain and ship it down the Mississippi for export as raw grain. Those business are doing well while many farmers are in crisis. Agribusiness argues that these exports are needed to feed the world’s poor. But studies have shown that only very limited amounts of US grain is used to bolster the lives of the needy. More likely our grain is used to feed livestock to meet the desire for meat mostly in Europe and some developing countries.
These agribusiness interests have argued that they need a faster transit time down the Mississippi to compete in the global market. They expect increased demands for grain and point to projects in Brazil and other countries that may turn rivers into navigation ditches to appease the interests of grain exporters abroad. And sometimes those interests are some of the same international agribusiness firms at work in this country!
They claim that the lock and dam system along the upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers need to be expanded to permit larger barge fleets through the locks. Currently some fleets need to be broken down to pass through the locks and then reassembled. This, agribusiness claims, all takes precious time. Sometimes there is even a back up at the locks when more than one barge is waiting. This may happen rarely but an obvious solution is in scheduling arrival times. Right now barges operate on no schedule. But the companies complain that also is too wasteful. It seems they view the river as their own personal highway, absent traffic signals.
CURRENT STUDY: In 1992 the Army Corps of Engineers initiated a $50 million dollar study regarding the lock expansion. That study included an economic component whose veracity was seriously questioned in February of this year when Don Sweeney, former lead economist on the study, submitted an affidavit to the Office of Special Council detailing actions by the Corps managers to manipulate study results to justify building the larger locks. The OSC took this whistleblower complaint seriously enough to refer it to the Secretary of Defense for investigation.
The Corps is sticking by its report and trying to meet the original schedule it had planned for the lock expansion study. This despite the serious questions regarding key economic data and a review of the study underway by the National Academy of Science.
THWARTED REFORM: In response to the Corps controversy, legislative and administrative remedies have been considered. One issue is the power and influence of the military and civilian employees within the Corps. Many who feel the Corps needs reform think that the civilian sector needs more authority within the organization. But, not to be caught off guard, legislators who support the Corps have proposed legislation that would prohibit any funds being spend on Corps reform efforts. At this writing that antireform legislation is still pending. Unfortunately, our own Senators in Missouri seem to be firmly in the Corps’ back pocket.
RIVER ECOLOGY: In May the US Fish and Wildlife Service, somewhat reluctantly, released a study including a “jeopardy opinion” regarding the status of two river species; the Higgen’s Eye Pearly Mussel and Pallid Sturgeon. USFW officials warn that the locks, dams, dikes, and dredging along the upper Mississippi harm the habitat of these two species. Overall navigation management efforts are implicated in general habitat decline. Navigation impacts the river in many ways. Levees, designed primarily for floodplain protection, destroy natural floodplain communities and their connection with the river. The annual spring high water, called the flood pulse, promotes nutrient exchange and is an event tied to the life cycles of many river species. The loss of sandbars means loss of nesting sites and other natural amenities. Sedimentation settling in the pools of the lock and dam system alters habitat. This causes loss of depth and bottom diversity with resulting loss of biological diversity. Fish species with more specialized habitat requirements lose out to those, such as carp, which are habitat generalists by comparison. Sedimentation also increases in backwater habitat. Increased navigation and the associated construction will only exacerbate this trend.
So how will this story end? Only time will tell. But in the meantime be looking for opportunities to speak up for the health of the river, for a more informed approach to assisting our family farmers and the world’s food needs. We will try to keep you informed on this unfolding drama.