Funding of dredging, levees dominate discussions at Army Corps visit

Residents of Southeast Missouri and Illinois gathered to discuss river-related issues Friday morning with representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The meeting on board the MV Mississippi at the Cape Girardeau riverfront was part of the annual low-water inspection trip, during which members of the Mississippi River Commission travel the river and its tributaries to keep abreast of local issues. Cape Girardeau was first on an itinerary that includes meetings in Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana.

Maj. Gen. Michael C. Wehr thanked speakers for taking the initiative to voice their concerns and join the discussion.

"This dialogue goes from here to Congress," he said.

The 13 people who spoke covered a range of topics, but many revolved around funding issues.

The MV Mississippi docked in Cape Girardeau. during the low-water inspection trip Friday. (Glenn Landberg)

Timmie Lynn Hunter of the New Madrid County Port Authority explained the importance of dredging to the commission and urged the Corps to prioritize it.

Dredging is a process of underwater excavation that keeps waterways navigable -- a crucial concern for communities that depend on river commerce, but expensive. Dredging usually occurs annually, but sometimes resources are used elsewhere instead.

"It's so important to keep these ports dredged. We feed the U.S. We feed the world," commissioner Rickey Dale James said, adding while budgets are shrinking, they have the resources for necessary maintenance. "We don't have a funding problem; we have a priority problem."

Darren Lingle, speaking on behalf of U.S. Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri, called for more support during flood season.

"Boots on the ground would have had a greater impact in the flood fight," he said.

Col. Jeffery A. Anderson, commander of the Memphis district, said this year's "unprecedented late high water" had made public feedback especially pertinent to the process of allocating resources.

"It forced us to go back and evaluate if we're giving what we can when we can," Anderson said.

Dr. Kenneth Olson spoke about the increasing water volume being seen around Cape Girardeau, and to a lesser extent, Cairo, Illinois, and the need to strengthen the Len Small, Fayetteville and Commerce Farmer levees.

The most impassioned testimony came from Bruce Morrison, an attorney with the Great Rivers Environmental Law Center, who argued against building the proposed New Madrid levee.

"There are many worthy backlogged Corps projects," he said. "The New Madrid levee is not one of them."

He argued if the project proceeds, it would benefit few and be detrimental to many residents.

"It's an economic dud. It's a bad project, period," he said. "Put an end to this project."

tgraef@semissourian.com

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