HARD CORPS
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers yesterday did an about-face and
abandoned a plan to change the way it manages the Missouri River,
even though it has publicly acknowledged that the current system
violates the Endangered Species Act.  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service has said for years that the river must be returned to a more
natural flow in the spring to prevent the extinction of the river's
pallid sturgeon, piping plovers, and least terns.  The Corps agreed
last December.  But U.S. President Bush sided with the barge industry
and farm interests during the presidential campaign last year, and
promised to block a spring rise in the river.  The move by the Corps
not to endorse a rise enraged USFWS officials and Senate Majority
Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.); environmentalists suggested they would
sue if natural flows weren't restored.

straight to the source:  St. Louis Dispatch, Bill Lambrecht, 02 Aug 2001
<http://home.post-dispatch.com/channel\pdweb.nsf/pd/86256A0E0068FE5086
256A9C00368423>

straight to the source:  Washington Post, Michael Grunwald, 03 Aug 2001
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23426-2001Aug2.html>

straight to the source:  Kansas City Star, Michael Mansur and Kevin
Murphy, 03 Aug 2001
<http://www.kcstar.com/item/pages/local.pat,local/3accddfe.802,.html>