AGENCY SEEKS STUDY OF RIVER PROJECTS

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service isn't trying to shut down barge traffic on the Mississippi River.

"We're not trying to kill navigation on the river," said Richard C. Nelson, field supervisor of the wildlife service's Rock Island, Ill., office. "We are just asking the Corps of Engineers to take a hard look at its proposed rock work -- dikes and piers -- and to hold off on new construction for a while."

Nelson added that the wildlife service would not want to see the Corps build dikes and weirs in areas that would further endanger pallid sturgeon, already an endangered species.

"We have been working cooperatively with the Corps, and we have good relations with the guys who do dredging in the Corps' nine-foot channel project," Nelson told the Missourian. "But, there are some areas we would not want dikes put in."

The least tern is another specie of concern, Nelson said. The least tern historically has occupied areas in the lower part of the middle river, not just Bumgard Island or Brown's Bar. They have been known to nest north of Grand Tower, Ill., in recent years.

"It would be safe to say that any impacts to sandbar habitat south of the Upper Mississippi River System mile 80 should be assessed for its impacts to least terns," Nelson said.

In a letter to the U.S. Army Corps, the wildlife service recommended new construction be deferred until adequate preconstruction data are available for biological monitoring of specific projects or until a review, including formal consultation, indicates specific actions won't adversely impact federally listed species, especially the pallid sturgeon and the interior least tern.

That paragraph has concerned people on the inland waterway system.

Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Mo., has also become concerned.

Bond wrote the wildlife service, saying that in practice, people on the inland waterway system understand this means suspending Corps activities that allow navigation on the Mississippi River.

In other words, Bond said, this recommendation effectively ends navigation on the upper Mississippi River.

In Missouri, more than 31,000 people are employed in mining, heavy manufacturing and agricultural industries that use barge transportation. The cost of a navigation blockage that detains towboat and barges averages more than $1 million a day.

Farmers and chemical producers would suffer major losses. A a U.S. Department of Commerce survey shows 27 percent of products transported by river are agricultural products. Chemical products account for 24 percent of barge loads.

Bond, in his letter to Wildlife Service Director Molly Beattie said he didn't know if the wildlife service's recommendation is routine or "if, somehow, the letter doesn't really mean what is written."

The closing of the river, however, could be a reality, said Catherine Kaliniak, from Bond's office in Washington. "The Department of Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service could close traffic on the river."

That would bring outcries from many facets of business.

"And, I can guarantee that Sen. Bond will be heading that list," Kaliniak said.

"I have seen Sen. Bond's letter, and a news release concerning the issue," Nelson said. "And, although we're not always in agreement with the Corps, our intention is not to close the river. But there are some problems concerning the pallet sturgeon and least tern. We just want to do what is best for these species.

"Some recommendations have been made, but that's just what it is, a recommendation, Nelson added. "It is our opinion that we should continue informal consultation on all Corps projects in an effort to determine which species require formal consultation. We do have a Middle Mississippi River Coordination Team."