Posted: Saturday, March 1, 2008 12:00 am
MITCHELL, S.D. (AP) - A group of states, including Wyoming, and American Indian tribes is asking for a first-of-its-kind study on the Missouri River reservoir system.
Representatives of the Missouri River Association of States and Tribes, meeting in Nebraska City, Neb., this week, voted to request a "Section 216" study from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
That is a section of the Flood Control Act of 1970 that allows for reviews of corps projects that have been affected by changes in physical, economic or environmental conditions.
The study would include things like upstream recreation, downstream barge traffic, flood control, hydroelectric power generation and irrigation.
John Cooper, chairman of MoRAST and former secretary of the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks, said Wednesday that a study could be a first step toward better management of the river.
"We're not asking for the world to be turned upside down here," Cooper said. "We're asking for a federal agency to study whether or not it's truly meeting its goals, and whether we are expending water to the country's advantages."
David Pope, MoRAST's executive director, stressed that MoRAST is only asking for a study and is not advocating any particular change in the control of the river.
"There were lots of different views about what ought to be done," Pope said in reference to the MoRAST meeting, "but there was agreement that it's a good idea to review the project and see whether or not it's meeting the contemporary needs in the Missouri River basin."
The next step, Pope said, is for MoRAST and the corps to determine the scope, cost and funding source for a study.
Recent river studies have focused mainly on the corps' water control manual. Pope said the manual can only be altered to the extent that it still agrees with the authorized purposes of the 1944 Flood Control Act that created the reservoir system.
A 216 study would be the first of its kind because it would scrutinize the authorized purposes of the reservoir system rather than the manual that the corps uses to carry out those purposes, Pope said.
"Many people can talk about things that are different from what they were in 1944, and everyone will probably agree that there are differences," Pope said. "But I'm not aware that there has been an actual formal review of the project in this way."
MoRAST was formed in 2006 by joint resolution of the Mni Sose Intertribal Water Rights Coalition and the governors of Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas.