Blunt visits breach locations, locals

On the eve of the two-year anniversary of the detonation of the Birds Point levee by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, stakeholders who want to have input in future strategies to alleviate flooding spoke with U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., Wednesday during a tour of the three blast sites. Blunt was urged to continue to pressure federal agencies to move forward with the St. Johns Bayou and New Madrid Floodway project.

Milus Wallace owns farmland next to the site of middle breaches of the three the corps created in the levee system during historic flooding in 2011. He said few people remember the circumstances and aftermath of the first time the levee was exploded in 1937. Changes in the landscape since that time caused water to flow differently, he said, and the corps plan did not work as it should have two years ago.

Were similar flooding to occur in the future, the corps would have to activate the plan again because of a lack of a revised strategy, said Carlin Bennett, presiding commissioner of Mississippi County.

"We would like an updated plan in place pretty doggone quick," Bennett said.

Jim Bodron, deputy for projects and project management with the corps' Memphis District said a smaller opening than intended was created at the center crevasse and there is some flexibility in how the corps' leadership may act in the future.

R.D. James, of the Mississippi River Commission, said the corps is looking at alternatives to the detonation plan.

At the Mississippi River Commission High-Water tour last month, Col. Vernie Reichling, commander of the corps' Memphis District, said allowing the levee to naturally overtop was being studied. Maj. Gen. John W. Peabody, river commission president and commander of the Mississippi Valley Division of the corps said nonexplosive methods would require lower levees along the entire system.

In making future decisions regarding activation of the floodway, Blunt said "it would be a huge mistake" for the corps not to talk with locals who understand the history and topography of the land along the levee.

Regina Kuykendoll Cash, senior project manager for the corps' Memphis District, said repairs at the center crevasse were about 90 percent complete, with plans to execute final details on the entire levee reconstruction by the end of the 2013 construction season.

Near the New Madrid floodgates, Blunt was asked about the St. Johns Bayou and New Madrid Floodway project. The gates close when the river is high, which can cause backwater flooding. A pumping station was promised 60 years ago as part of the overall plan to close a 1500-foot gap in the levee system. Stakeholders said failure to complete the project was to blame for current flooding in farmlands that otherwise would be planted with early crops. They asked Blunt to continue to put pressure on the corps and federal agencies to publish a draft of an environmental-impact statement, which has been holding up the project since 2008.

In March, Blunt put a "hold" -- a Senate procedure that allows as few as one senator to prevent a motion from reaching a vote -- on the appointment of Gina McCarthy as Environmental Protection Agency administrator. He asked acting administrator Bob Perciasepe during a Senate Appropriations hearing April 24 to come to an agreement with the corps and the Fish and Wildlife Service so the project can move forward.

EPA and Wildlife Service representatives repeatedly have said the corps ultimately is responsible for releasing the EIS, but Blunt said the regulatory agencies have the ability to hold up projects and ongoing arguing about environmental definitions, such as the number of acres of wetlands that would be affected, are to blame for perpetual delays.

"The government is arguing with government about basic facts." Blunt said. "You are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts ... This is not about saying you have to build something. It's not about saying that something has be funded or completed, it is simply about saying you have to agree on the facts so that we can talk about the environmental impact study, the cost-benefit analysis."

The cost-benefit of the project was "probably the greatest it has ever been," he said, because of the value of the farmland and the world demand for food. He is hopeful that federal agencies will respond without having to put "another level of pressure" on them to act.

"I think the conduct of the government agencies here has been unacceptable," Blunt said.

Staff members from Blunt's office met Tuesday with residents of the St. John's Bayou to learn about the challenges they face because of frequent backwater flooding. Lynn Bock, attorney for the St. John Levee and Drainage District, said people in the area worried they would lose their voice when former U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson resigned in January, but he said Blunt has taken up the cause.

"He's done anything but let it fall off the radar," Bock said.

salderman@semissourian.com

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New Madrid, MO

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