Missouri’s senior congressman has had a sit-down with a top Army Corps of Engineers to tell her another study of the Missouri River is unnecessary. Congressman Ike Skelton, who grew up in the Missouri River town of Lexington and still has a home there, has told Assistant Army Secretary Jo Ellen Darcy Missourians remain concerned about the man-made Spring Rise the Corps of Engineers can cause. He’s also worried that a Senate-passed resolution could eventually kill navigation.
“All of us in Missouri living along the river know it’s very important, particularly for shipping crops down to St. Louis and down the Mississippi River,” he says.
North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan’s resolution tells the Corps of Engineers to do a new study of the way the river should be managed. It’s been less than five years since the Corps finished its most recent management plan.
Dorgan complains the study focuses on navigation, an industry that is a shadow of what it was. Skelton says there’s a lot of navigation and it needs to be protected.
Dorgan’s resolution has not yet been taken up by the House. Skelton carries some clout on this issue. He’s the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
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