Army Corps of Engineers officials got an earful last night in Jefferson City as they took public comments on the proposed annual operating plan for management of the Missouri River. Bill Bryan is from the State Attorney General’s Office and voiced the state’s official opposition to what’s being proposed – specifically, the deviations from the master manual for management of the river and the allocation of water he says the Corps has no authority over. He believes the Corps is going around the laws that prescribe how the river will be managed and even the rules governing changes in the overall management plan. Bryan says the state is prepared to challenge the Corps’s plan in court all the way to the US Supreme Court if necessary. Corps officials say they could be caught between several conflicting laws. A final annual operating plan is expected in early January.
