Mo. senator threatens block on EPA administrator

After months of putting pressure on federal agencies to move forward with the next step in the St. Johns Bayou and New Madrid Floodway Project to no avail, Republican U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt on Monday announced he is placing a hold on the nomination of the Environmental Protection Agency's next administrator.

Local stakeholders say they applaud legislators' efforts to keep pushing regulators to act.

Blunt and Democratic U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill on Monday issued a joint statement that said they were "incredibly disappointed and frustrated."

The St. Johns Bayou and New Madrid Floodway Project -- to close the 1,500-foot gap in the Mississippi River levee system and protect homes and farmland from periodic flooding -- dates back to the 1950s. It has been stalled since 2008 as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, EPA and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have been preparing an environmental-impact statement for public review.

Five months ago, the corps canceled a scheduled public presentation on the project. Blunt and McCaskill brought the EPA, corps and wildlife service together Feb. 27 in an effort to move the project forward.

Blunt and McCaskill released statements after the meeting that said they were promised a progress report by March 15 "to ensure that all federal entities involved in the project agree on the facts and are finally moving toward a final decision."

However, corps spokesman Eugene Pawlik on March 8 told the Southeast Missourian the senators made the request, but "a report is not being generated."

The agencies on Friday told the senators they couldn't meet the deadline to establish a timeline for restarting the levee project but promised significant movement in the coming weeks, the senators' news release said.

Blunt responded by saying he was placing a "hold" on a nomination of Gina McCarthy as EPA chief. President Barack Obama announced her nomination earlier this month.

"Once again, the government is arguing with the government while nothing is accomplished," Blunt said in a news release. "These agencies missed their own self-imposed deadline, which is entirely unacceptable. That's why I'm placing a hold on the EPA Administrator until the Obama Administration can provide us with a concrete timeline for progress on the St. Johns Bayou and New Madrid Floodway Project."

A hold is a parliamentary procedure permitted by the rules of the Senate, which allows as few as one senator to prevent a motion from reaching a vote on the Senate floor. Because it takes unanimous consent to move forward a nomination, Blunt's lone objection can stall the process.

"If this is what's necessary to get the EPA and Fish and Wildlife bureaucracy to move forward and allow this project to move forward, then we applaud the senator's actions," said David LaValle, speaking on behalf of the board of the St. Johns Levee and Drainage District, made up of stakeholders in the New Madrid floodway.

Lavalle said the levee district is trying to follow a process required by law to bring the project to completion.

"Why don't the agencies have to follow the same regulations and process?" he said.

The board of supervisors for the levee district is meeting with Blunt and McCaskill today to provide an update of the floodway situation and thank them for their support, Lavalle said.

The board of the St. Johns Bayou Basin Drainage District, comprised of members of the Bayou Basin watershed, which is adjacent to the levee district, declined to comment on Blunt's announcement.

The bayou has been subject to backwater flooding, on average, every two years, board president Ted Medlin said last month.

Associated Press reporter Jim Salter contributed to this report.

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