Greens vs. Levees: Destructive river-management philosophy

>From NRO:

With all that has happened in the state, it's understandable that the
Louisiana chapter of the Sierra Club may not have updated its website. But
when its members get around to it, they may want to change the wording of
one item in particular. The site brags that the group is "working to keep
the Atchafalaya Basin," which adjoins the Mississippi River not far from New
Orleans, "wet and wild."

These words may seem especially inappropriate after the breaking of the
levee that caused the tragic events in New Orleans last week. But "wet and
wild" has a larger significance in light of those events, and so does the
group using the phrase.

The national Sierra Club was one of several environmental groups who sued
the Army Corps of Engineers to stop a 1996 plan to raise and fortify
Mississippi River levees.

The Army Corps was planning to upgrade 303 miles of levees along the river
in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas. This was needed, a Corps spokesman
told the Baton Rouge, La., newspaper The Advocate, because "a failure could
wreak catastrophic consequences on Louisiana and Mississippi which the
states would be decades in overcoming, if they overcame them at all."

But a suit filed by environmental groups at the U.S. District Court in New
Orleans claimed the Corps had not looked at "the impact on bottomland
hardwood wetlands." The lawsuit stated, "Bottomland hardwood forests must be
protected and restored if the Louisiana black bear is to survive as a
species, and if we are to ensure continued support for source population of
all birds breeding in the lower Mississippi River valley." In addition to
the Sierra Club, other parties to the suit were the group American Rivers,
the Mississippi River Basin Alliance, and the Louisiana, Arkansas and
Mississippi Wildlife Federations.

The lawsuit was settled in 1997 with the Corps agreeing to hold off on some
work while doing an additional two-year environmental impact study. Whether
this delay directly affected the levees that broke in New Orleans is
difficult to ascertain.

But it is just one illustration of a destructive river-management philosophy
that took hold in the '90s, influenced the Clinton administration, and had
serious policy consequences. Put simply, it's impossible to understand the
delays in building levees without being aware of the opposition of the
environmental groups to dams, levees, and anything that interfered with the
"natural" river flow. The group American Rivers, which leads coalitions of
eco-groups on river policy, has for years actually called its campaign,
"Rivers Unplugged."

Over the past few years, levees came to occupy the same status for
environmental groups as roads in forests - an artificial barrier to nature.
They frequently campaigned against levees being built and shored up on the
nation's rivers, including on the Mississippi.

In 2000, American Rivers' Mississippi River Regional Representative Jeffrey
Stein complained in a congressional hearing that the river's "levees that
temporarily protect floodplain farms have reduced the frequency, extent and
magnitude of high flows, robbing the river of its ability . to sustain
itself." Similarly, the National Audubon Society, referring specifically to
Louisiana, has this statement slamming levees on its website, "Levees have
cut off freshwater flows, harming fishing and creating salt water
intrusion." The left-leaning Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, in describing
a grant it gave to Environmental Defense, blasted "the numerous levees and
canals built on the lower Mississippi River" because "such structures
disrupt the natural flows of the Mississippi River's sediments."

Some went beyond opposition to building or repairing levees. At an Army
Corps of Engineers meeting concerning the Mississippi River in 2002, Audubon
official Dan McGuiness even recommended "looking at opportunities to lower
or remove levees [emphasis added]" from the river.

The groups argued that the "natural" way would lead to better river
management, but it was clear they had other agendas in mind besides flood
control. They were concerned because levees were allegedly threatening their
beloved exotic animals and plants. In his testimony, American Rivers's Stein
noted that the Mississippi River was home to "double-crested cormorant, rare
orchids, and many other species," which he implied were put at risk by
man-made levees.

So far the environmental movement's role in the events leading to the
flooding has been little discussed. One exception is former Rep. Bob
Livingston (R., La.), who told Fox News on Saturday that environmentalists
were one of the major reasons levee projects were held up.

At this point, there are still questions about the particular levees that
broke in New Orleans. Care should be taken about drawing direct conclusions
about the causes until there are more facts. But there are some important
points that are clear that should put in perspective about levee funding and
flood control.

Nearly all flood-control projects - even relatively small ones - are subject
to a variety of assessments for effects on wetlands, endangered species, and
other environmental concerns. These reviews can be costly and delay projects
by years. In the '90s, for instance, the Clinton administration's
Environmental Protection Agency required a comprehensive environmental
impact statement just to repair a few Colorado River levees that had been
destroyed in the floods of 1993.

The Clinton administration would frequently side with environmentalists on
flood-control projects, even against local Democrats. The Army Corps of
Engineers under Clinton began implementing a planned "spring rise" of the
Missouri River that would raise water levels on the Missouri River during
part of the year. This was supported by eco-groups, who argued that this
restored the river's natural flows and protected a bird called the piping
plover. But farm groups and others said that combined with the ice melting
from winter, the project could increase the risk of flooding in river
communities and affect more than 1 million acres of productive farmland.
Nearly all the Republicans and Democrats in Missouri's congressional
delegation opposed the plan, as did Missouri's late Democratic governor, Mel
Carnahan. But the Clinton administration refused to budge, and this was a
major factor in Bush's carrying of Missouri in 2000.

The Bush administration's flood-control efforts were often relentlessly
opposed by environmental groups, and this opposition was frequently echoed
by liberal activists and in the press. Bush kept his promise, and his
appointees at the Corps of Engineers have stopped the "spring rise" plan
that concerned so many about flooding. Environmentalists launched a barrage
of criticism and a series of lawsuits. This was also the case with Bush's
moves to stop the Clinton administration's plans to breach the dams on the
Columbia and Snake Rivers in the northwest. Even though the dams greatly
help to control flooding in the region, American Rivers blasted the
administration for failing to do enough to save the sockeye salmon native to
the region.

Ironically, among those criticizing Bush for his actions to prevent flooding
of the Missouri River was the ever-present anti-Bush environmental activist
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He chastised Bush in 2004 for "managing the flow of
the Missouri River." If, before Katrina, Bush had proceeded full-speed ahead
and fortified the levees of the Mississippi for a Category 5 hurricane,
Kennedy and others of his ilk would very likely have criticized Bush for
trying to manage the natural flow of the Mississippi. And it's a good bet
that many of the lefty bloggers now critical of Bush for not reinforcing the
levees would have cited Bush's levee fortification as another way he was
despoiling the natural environment.



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Relevant Pages

  • Re: OT: Its the Sierra Clubs fault...
    ... >to stop a 1996 plan to raise and fortify Mississippi River levees. ... >environmentalists were one of the major reasons levee projects were ...
    (rec.boats)
  • Re: OT~~~Still Waiting For The Fence!
    ... Many of us are not "from the left" Many of us are to the far fiscal right and don't want to see good government money wasted on something that those of us who live here know won't work. ... When someone from Deep South Texas comes into Upstate New York and tells you how to deal with your problems, then you'll appreciate why we don't care for people who haven't a clue about where they are putting that proposed fence and what it will do to the place *we* live telling us how we have to ruin our home so you all can have some *illusion* of safety. ... Riding motorcycles in the no mans land between the levee and the river, "parking" on the levees, etc. ...
    (rec.outdoors.rv-travel)
  • Re: UPDATE: Midwest College Drowing/s, One Now Ruled Murder
    ... River in the last nine years. ... police chief who finally listened to their case. ... on a slew of drunken drowning deaths to the FBI for a second opinion. ... was pulled from the Mississippi River on Oct. 2. ...
    (alt.true-crime)
  • Re: Geology is a dangerous business
    ... I have used the Corps computer modeling programs for hydrology, since this is necessary for getting projects approved by them. ... Minnesota and Montana and upstream of Cincinnati (including the Missouri and Ohio River valleys, as having first order effects on the stem stream) to Louisiana is one system. ... The only 'pull' the public and environmentalists have are getting the functionaries to obey the laws of the US. ... But a middle ground answer for New Orleans seems the most logical--rebuild and maintain the port and oil industrial facilities, ban the residential repopulation of the most extremely subsided area, mitigate where reasonable, and build new houses on higher ground. ...
    (sci.geo.geology)
  • Re: Geology is a dangerous business
    ... > and Ohio River valleys, as having first order effects on the stem stream) ... many many political agendas control the Army Corps. ... > environmentalists) have their voices to be heard. ... But a middle ground answer for New Orleans seems the ...
    (sci.geo.geology)
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