Commission files request with Corps for answers about Birds Point

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- In the four months since the activation of the Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway, Carlin Bennett has heard the same refrain from those who did it: The plan operated exactly as it was designed.

But Bennett and his fellow officials on the Mississippi County Commission aren't convinced, so they've asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to prove it.

The commission has filed a Freedom of Information Act request, asking for any corps records or communications filed or sent from April 18 to Sept. 1 regarding the decision to dynamite the levees.

"We're just wanting to get some accurate data on the operation of the floodway," Bennett said. "Did it work? Should it ever be done again? Did it do what it was supposed to? I want to see what they say."

Specifically, the request asks for documents regarding the effectiveness of the floodway's activation, which inundated 130,000 acres of farmland and homes to alleviate floodwater in Missouri, Kentucky and Illinois.

The request also asks for any records regarding what is referred to as the "failed attempt" during the second and third breaches. The corps acknowledged then that it used too much of the special explosives and had to order more, protracting a 24-hour operation to four days.

The FOIA request also asks for documents relating to the floodway's restoration and asks specifically for any communications between the Mississippi River Commission -- the group charged by Congress with preventing destructive floods -- and the corps' Memphis District.

"I want to see what their numbers are; I want to see what their hydrologists say," Bennett said. "All we hear is that the plan operated as designed. That's very tough for a lot of us to swallow."

Bennett is skeptical, he said, about some of the information he has received, which he believes was based on projections and not actual river stages.

The corps' Memphis District spokeswoman Cheryl Willis said that they received the FOIA request Tuesday and it was under review by staff lawyers. The corps had no further comment on the request for now, she said.

The request was sent to the corps by U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson. The Cape Girardeau Republican attached a cover letter and said in an interview Tuesday she shares the commission's desire for answers -- for herself, but mainly for her constituents.

"In all fairness to all of our folks who live and work in that area, they deserve to have detailed answers," Emerson said.

Emerson would like to see the correspondence between the "decision-makers" to determine whether the call to blow the levee was made after thoughtful consideration and all other options were weighed, she said. Additionally, she wants to see the flow of information as it relates to the levees' restoration process.

"We need these documents because, when you're dealing with bureaucrats, they don't always want to be definitive," Emerson said. "They don't want to tell you something and then have to take it back again. They don't want to take responsibility for things that are very unpopular or things they perhaps shouldn't have done."

One bright spot Tuesday was the corps announcement that Memphis District Commander Col. Vernie Reichling had signed the Finding of No Significant Impact on an environmental assessment that was recently completed. Repair work had been stalled on the center crevasse because endangered birds had been nesting nearby.

But the least terns have moved on and the finding clears the way for work to proceed to restore that spot to an interim level of 51 feet by Nov. 30. Willis, the corps spokeswoman, said work began Tuesday afternoon.

The corps' overall $15 million project calls for restoring the levee to a height of 51 feet, which is below the pre-blast level of 62.5 feet. But the corps has said it is awaiting an additional $21 million to complete the project.

Emerson met with a few corps officials in her Washington, D.C., office Tuesday and said later the corps is interested in building the levee higher than 51 feet sooner than expected.

Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh, president of the Mississippi River Commission, told her they are trying to allocate an additional $4 million to continue the rebuilding to 58 feet. But before that can happen, she said, the corps is awaiting a systemwide analysis to make sure shoring the levees to a higher level won't have adverse effects in Cairo, Ill., and in Fulton County, Ky. Both have problems, such as sand boils, that could be exacerbated if the levees are higher and don't allow overtopping faster, Emerson said.

The corps told Emerson they want to make sure the system could withstand pressures that would be increased by raising the levees in the floodway.

"I don't like that answer any more than the people in Mississippi County would," Emerson said.

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