River Report Unleashes Flood of Emotions

Wheat farmers and bird lovers and barge owners and politicians have been fighting a pitched battle over America’s longest river for a good 12 years now. On Friday, the fight got nastier still when the Army Corps of Engineers released a long-awaited report on manipulating the flow of the Missouri River.

The report did not actually contain a recommendation. But that omission in itself was a major statement. And it got all sides spinning furiously.

To sum up the debate:

Environmentalists want to restore a seasonal ebb and flow to the Missouri, which has been forced into a narrow channel for decades, by flooding it a bit in the spring and drying it out a bit in the summer in order to give endangered fish and birds better habitat for breeding.

North and South Dakotans like that idea too, because it would keep their reservoirs intact in the summer. They long have resented all the water that spills over their dams to keep the Missouri River artificially high downstream in summer months. Every drop they lose from their reservoirs is a drop they can’t use for recreation, such as fishing or boating.

Barge companies, however, insist that the Missouri must be manipulated as it is now, to flow steadily throughout the year. A spring flood and summer ebb, they argue, would wipe out their shipping business altogether. That worries the wheat, corn and soybean farmers, who ship their crops on barges down the Missouri.

In truth, not much grain is shipped this way. But farmers contend that just having barge shipping as an option keeps a lid on railroad fees. Without that competition, they fear, their rail freight costs would soar.

After more than a decade of analysis, the Army Corps of Engineers, which controls six dams along the Missouri, appeared poised late last year to endorse the “spring rise” favored by environmentalists.

But under the new Bush administration, the plan was reevaluated. And the corps on Friday issued an environmental impact statement for Missouri River management that contains no “preferred alternative.” Instead of throwing its clout behind the ebb-and-flow plan, as it had once signaled it would, the corps listed that option as one of six open for consideration.

Corps officials insist the option is still viable and say they have not yet made up their mind.

Environmentalists and upstream interests, however, read Friday’s report as a death knell for their cherished spring rise.

“We’re very disappointed that the corps backed off from offering the scientifically valid [plan] and instead chose to confuse the public,” said Mark Beorkrem, a policy analyst for the Sierra Club.

“A huge dose of politics has been stuck right in the middle of the Missouri River management plan,” fumed Sen. Byron L. Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat. “This is not a good omen.”

Barge owners and farmers, on the other hand, were delighted. So was Sen. Christopher S. Bond, a Missouri Republican who has lobbied to keep the Missouri River flowing more or less as is. On Friday, Bond issued a statement applauding the corps’ report as a sign that the agency “is not rigged in favor of a dangerous spring rise.” He predicted the corps soon would reject that option outright.

Bond and his allies deem the spring rise dangerous because it could flood farms downstream. They point out that, while the corps can control the amount of water it releases from upstream dams, it cannot control rainfall or water levels in the many tributaries that feed the Missouri. So they can all too easily envision catastrophe: The corps tries to create a modest spring flood and ends up drowning thousands of acres of cropland, even river towns.

“All you need is one major bad year and you’ll have farmers going out of business and barge companies going out of business,” said Chris Brescia, a spokesman for barge interests.

Environmentalists counter that an ebb-and-flow system is vital to saving endangered species such as the pallid sturgeon, the least tern and the piping plover. The fish breed best in the shallow pools created by spring floods. The birds lay their eggs on sandbars in the summer--or they would if the river were lower.

“Most of the species on the Missouri River evolved with a spring flood as the trigger for their reproductive process,” Beorkrem said.

The debate seems likely to heat up even more as the Army Corps of Engineers holds a series of public meetings later this year all along the Missouri watershed. A final decision is expected next May.

“Maybe there is a way we can address the concerns of all involved,” said Dan Cassidy of the Missouri Farm Bureau. “We’re hopeful that, ultimately, we’ll get there.”

Dorgan is not so optimistic. “American history is filled with fights over water. This is nothing new.”