All:
Unfortunately, Senator Bond (R-MO) offered an amendment last night to the
omnibus appropriations bill now being worked on in Congress. The rider
would do two things:
1. Direct the Fish and Wildlife Service to allow the Corps to do a
flow-to-target flow plan on the Missouri this summer. That would basically
mean keeping flows high for barges while draining the reservoirs. That will
flood tern and plover nests and is detrimental to river fisheries.
2. The rider directs the Corps to move tern and plover nests and chicks into
the captive rearing facility at Gavins Point Dam. In the past, many of the
chicks have simply died when moved into this facility.
Thus, this rider is a specific exemption of the Missouri River from ESA, and
violates ESA directly by allowing the Corps to "take" an endangered species.
Below is a fact sheet that helps with other talking points. This rider
could be debated at any time over the next day or two. Please call your two
Senators (and have your friends call as well) and urge them to oppose this
crazy rider.
We will be working up a press release, as well as a letter for groups to
sign on to that will probably be circulated in DC just to get it done more
quickly. Let me know if you have any questions, and thanks for the help.
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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Oppose the Bond Missouri River Amendment
" Senator Bond's Missouri River amendment would violate the Endangered
Species Act.
Senator Bond's rider would require the Fish and Wildlife Service to
violate its own Biological Opinion and give the Corps of Engineers permission
to flood out or move the nests of endangered interior least terns and
threatened piping plovers in order to allow flows over 30,000 cubic feet per
second (cfs) from Missouri River dams during the summer.
" Moving nesting terns and plovers to captive breeding facilities won't
work.
Moving endangered and threatened terns and plovers to captive breeding
facilities in order to increase summer dam releases will likely kill
shorebird chicks as has happened in the past. And moving eggs creates new
risk that the hatched birds won't return to the Missouri.
" Senator Bond's amendment would harm reservoir recreation in the Dakotas
and Eastern Montana.
Senator Bond's amendment would let the Corps release more water during
the summer months to support barge traffic between Sioux City and St. Louis,
lowering reservoir levels in the Dakota and Eastern Montana and leaving
marinas and other recreation infrastructure high and dry. The Biological
Opinion alternative of a low summer flow conserves more water for important
recreation industries in Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
" Current Missouri River dam operations are causing the extinction of three
species.
By altering natural flows to support barge traffic, current dam
operations are causing the extinction of the endangered interior least tern,
threatened piping plover and endangered pallid sturgeon. Dam operations
affect these species by interfering with the creation of sandbars, by
reducing the availability of shallow water, and by eliminating a key
reproductive trigger for sturgeon, according to a final biological opinion on
Missouri River dam operations issued in 2000 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.
" Dam reforms must include a "spring rise" and "summer low flow" to avoid
extinction.
According to the Biological Opinion, releases from Gavins Point Dam in
Nebraska must be increased from 32,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) to 49,500
cfs for 30 days between May 1 and June 15 to avoid the extinction of the
least tern, the piper plover and the pallid sturgeon. These releases must be
implemented, on average, once every three years. In addition, releases from
Gavins Point Dam must be reduced from 32,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) to
25,000 cfs by June 21 and 21,000 cfs by July 15, and then begin to increase
releases on August 15, reaching 25,000 cfs by August 21 and ultimately 32,000
cfs by September 1.
" The Corps should adopt a split navigation season.
The Corps should reduce summer releases to 21,000 cfs to protect nesting
terns and plovers, and to provide more shallow water habitat for rare native
fish like the pallid sturgeon. A five-week split season in the summer of 2002
did not terminate the navigation industry, and boosted the success of nesting
terns and plovers.
" Low summer flows ensure that nests remain high and dry and assist
newly-spawned sturgeon.
Increasing flows during the nesting season to support barges will flood
tern and plover nests, killing chicks. Low summer flows ensure that terns
and plover nesting on sandbars remain dry during the nesting season and also
increase the availability of foraging habitat near sandbars. In addition,
recently spawned fish are weak swimmers whose survival depends upon the
presence of shallow, slowly-flowing habitat where they can feed and conserve
energy. Newly-spawned fish larvae may drift as much as 400 miles in search
of shallow-water habitat.
" A spring rise and low summer flow period would support Missouri River
barges.
The flows recommended in the Fish and Wildlife Service Biological Opinion
would provide full service to Missouri River barges during the spring and
fall -- when more than 80 percent of farm-related cargo is shipped by barge.
Only 3 percent of the corn and beans shipped on the Missouri are shipped
during August. A five-week split season in the summer of 2002 did not
terminate the navigation industry.
" Missouri River barges provide few benefits to farmers.
Although the Corps originally forecast 12 to 20 million tons of barge
traffic, less than 1 million tons of farm-related cargo is shipped by
Missouri River barge, producing less than $7 million in annual benefits. Only
one-third of one percent of the corn, beans and wheat grown in Nebraska,
Iowa, Missouri and Kansas is shipped by Missouri River barge each year. Too
few barges use the Missouri to impact rail rates, according to independent
economists.
" A spring rise and low summer flow period would help Mississippi River
barges.
Because Missouri River flows into the Mississippi would increase in the
fall, a spring rise and lower summer flows would lower Mississippi River
navigation costs by $7.3 million annually during droughts when compared with
current operations, according to the Corps' analysis.
" A spring rise and low summer flows will boost recreation.
A spring rise, coupled with low flows during the summer, would aid
recreation in the upper Missouri River basin by keeping reservoirs higher
during the summer (which helps marinas and other recreation-dependent
businesses in the Dakotas and Montana). In the lower basin, lower summer
flows from Gavins Point Dam would attract anglers, canoeists, campers, and
others to the lower Missouri River by providing slower, shallower water,
exposing sandbars built by the spring rise, and by boosting fish and wildlife
populations.
" Recreation produces more benefits than navigation
Recreation produces nearly $90 million in annual benefits - ten times as many
benefits as barge traffic, according to the Corps. Recreation between Sioux
City and St. Louis alone produces twice the benefits of barge traffic. And
recreation - unlike barge traffic - is growing. But the Corps manages
Missouri River dams solely to benefit barges, often at the expense of
recreation.
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