-------- Original Message --------
Subject: News: Conservationists sue Corps, Fish and Wildlife Service
over Missouri River
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2003 13:06:24 -0600
From: "Chad Smith" <[log in to unmask]>
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FYI
American Rivers
Environmental Defense
Izaak Walton League of America
National Wildlife Federation
Montana Wildlife Federation
North Dakota Wildlife Federation
South Dakota Wildlife Federation
Nebraska Wildlife Federation
Iowa Wildlife Federation
Kansas Wildlife Federation
For Immediate Release
February 13, 2003
Contact:
David Hayes, Latham & Watkins, (202) (202) 637-2204
Tim Searchinger, Environmental Defense, (202) 387-3500 ext. 3344
Chad Smith, American Rivers, (402) 477-7910
Linda Shotwell, National Wildlife Federation, (703) 438-6083
Craig Sharpe, Montana Wildlife Federation, (406) 458-0227
Jeff Fleming, Izaak Walton League of America, (301) 548-0150 ext. 215
Conservationists sue Corps, Fish and Wildlife Service over Missouri
River
(Washington, DC) A coalition of regional and national conservation
organizations today sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S.
Fish
and Wildlife Service in the U.S. District Court for the District of
Columbia, seeking new operations for six Corps dams that are causing the
Missouri River's continued ecological decline and imposing economic
hardships on some riverfront communities. The suit charges that the
status
quo violates three federal laws: the Endangered Species Act, the Flood
Control Act of 1944, and the Administrative Procedures Act.
The case has been assigned to Judge Gladys Kessler. The federal
government
now has 60 days to respond to the allegations in the lawsuit.
Former Deputy Interior Secretary David Hayes, now a partner at the firm
of
Latham & Watkins in Washington, DC, is representing the petitioning
organizations, which include American Rivers, Environmental Defense, the
Izaak Walton League of America, the National Wildlife Federation, North
Dakota Wildlife Federation, Kansas Wildlife Federation, the South Dakota
Wildlife Federation, the Nebraska Wildlife Federation, the Montana
Wildlife
Federation, and the Iowa Wildlife Federation.
"For years, the Corps' control of the Missouri River has defied science,
economics, and the rule of law," said Hayes, now a partner at the
Washington, DC office of the law firm Latham & Watkins. "The agency must
now
be held accountable for failing to be a good steward of the public's
river."
"Through this legal action we have the wonderful opportunity to save
endangered species, improve the health of the Missouri River and produce
more economic benefit as well," said Tim Searchinger, senior attorney
with
Environmental Defense, who helped write the complaint.
This lawsuit marks a new phase in the conservation organizations'
efforts to
bring about a positive change for the Missouri and its riverfront
communities. It comes after years of working to build consensus for
change
by highlighting the ecological and economic benefits of new dam
operations.
During the most recent public comment period on dam operations, 55,000
Americans filed comments with the Corps, 54,000 of them urging the
agency to
adopt river-friendly dam operations. Those sentiments have been echoed
to
various degrees by six of the eight governors in the Missouri River
basin,
the National Academy of Sciences, the professional association of state
fish
and wildlife biologists in the Missouri River basin, and the majority of
the
editorial boards of newspapers along the river.
"We regret that it has come to this, but the political climate is such
that
public opinion, scientific consensus, and the prospect of more jobs
along
the river have proven insufficient to break the Corps' stranglehold on
the
Missouri River," said Rebecca R. Wodder, president of American Rivers.
"Let's hope the courts can help us move Missouri River management into
the
21st century so that the river and the people that depend on it can
prosper."
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers currently releases water from its dams
on a
schedule intended to maximize the length of the commercial shipping
season
for a tiny barge industry on the lower third of the river. These
unnatural
flows have driven three species - the pallid sturgeon, piping plover,
and
interior least tern-to the brink of extinction. The region also forgoes
the
economic activity associated with "nearly one million recreation-based
days
of hunting, fishing, sightseeing and boating annually," according to one
Corps study.
"Sportsmen believed the Administration when it said it would make
decisions
like this one on the future management of the Missouri River based on
science and good economics," said Paul Hansen, executive director of the
Izaak Walton League of America. "We are disappointed that it has not
yet
done so thereby making today's action necessary.
The National Academy of Sciences concluded that these changes in flow
would
'enhance the valuable fishery resources...increase waterfowl
populations...
increase the abundance of largemouth bass...attract more anglers to the
region...provide enhanced recreational and aesthetic opportunities for
both
anglers and hunters...result in marked increases in user-days for
recreational fishing, commercial fishing, and
hunting.'"
According to a "biological opinion" issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service in November 2000, the Corps was required to modify operations
beginning in the spring of 2003 to recreate more natural seasonal water
levels. Despite this, the Corps' newly released 2003 annual operating
plan
calls for no change in dam operations - a violation of the Endangered
Species Act.
"Today's scant commercial shipping makes it clear that the Missouri
River's
future depends on restoring the waterway for other economic benefits,"
said
Mark Van Putten, president of the National Wildlife Federation. "The
Corps
must cease to manage the river based on the obsolete notion that
navigation
is its biggest benefit and begin a new era of conserving this natural
resource for people and wildlife."
"The Corps' poor management of the Missouri has led to unstable and
ill-timed water levels that threaten our region's prized game fish,"
said
Dave Pavlicek, member of the Montana Wildlife Federation. "These lost
fishing opportunities are straining local economies and sending anglers
elsewhere to cast their lines."
The plaintiffs also charge that the Corps violates the Flood Control Act
of
1944 by prioritizing the barge industry, worth at best $7 million
annually,
over the recreation industry, worth at least $90 million annually. That
law
stipulates that "to the extent that the several functions of water
control
and utilization are conflicting, preference should be given to those
which
make the greatest contribution to the well-being of the people and to
the
areas of greatest need."
The current operations guidance for the Missouri River was banged out on
manual typewriters more than 40 years ago, and the ecological, economic,
and
social conditions along the river have changed dramatically since then.
The
Corps has stalled development of modern dam operations schedule for over
a
decade, leading the plaintiffs to charge that the agency is violating
the
prohibition against "unreasonable delay" in the Administrative
Procedures
Act.
Chad Smith, Director
Nebraska Field Office - American Rivers
Mill Towne Building
650 J Street, Suite 400
Lincoln, Nebraska 68508
402-477-7910
402-477-2565 (FAX)
402-730-5593 (CELLULAR)
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