Official testifies on Bootheel levee project

JEFFERSON CITY -- The state's environmental agency approved a clean water permit for a Bootheel levee project because the Army Corps of Engineers pledged to make up for loss of habitat.

Scott Totten, head of the Department of Natural Resources' clean water program, said state officials based their decision on information from the corps. He said the corps would be required to monitor the impact of its New Madrid Floodway project for five years and fix any problems. He cited concerns about possible loss of fish and wildlife habitat.

Environmental groups say the corps miscalculated the amount of wetlands it needed to buy to make up for the project's environmental damage. Totten agreed with an attorney for one of the environmental groups who said the ecosystem would be hurt if the corps underestimated the land needed to make up for habitat losses.

Totten testified at a hearing before a Clean Water Commission hearing officer who is reviewing the state's issuance of the permit. The corps wants to spend $85 million to close a 1,500-foot gap in a Mississippi River levee in the Bootheel. The gap allows water to enter the floodway, which is said to be the last connection between the river and its flood plain in the lower Mississippi valley.

Environmental groups have challenged issuance of the permit, saying the project is a waste of money that will not solve flooding problems but will eliminate wetlands that support fish, waterfowl and water filtration.

Supporters say closing the floodway will protect farmland and nearby communities from frequent flooding. To make up for the loss of wetlands, the corps would purchase and then reforest 8,375 acres of farmland.