Thursday, Jun 20, 2002

Corps fails to uphold its mission

By Ken Rogers for the Bismark Tribune

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has failed to live up to its
responsibilities to the nation's taxpayers and the people who live in the
Missouri River states -- upstream and downstream. The corps needs to be
reorganized much like the Immigration and Naturalization Service
was after that agency's deficient performance was exposed by Sept. 11.

After years of work and spending huge amounts of money, the corps refuses to
make final recommendations for a plan to manage the Missouri River. The
federal agency has kowtowed to the self-interested political whims of
politicians like Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri,
who are intent on supporting a declining downstream barge industry over the
needs of a growing upstream recreation and tourism industry.

The barge interests are also being given weight over environmental concerns,
despite science-based reports on past and proposed future
operations that come down on the side of river banks, fish and waterfowl.

The point has been reached where the corps' credibility is nonexistent.

If the Bush administration doesn't give the corps' chain a serious yank,
then Congress needs to rise to the occasion and demand an
overhaul of the agency.

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