Great work, Debbie......now what can we do?   Joyce Naffier

On Sun, 24 Mar 2002 19:49:18 -0600 Debbie Neustadt
<[log in to unmask]> writes:
> "I want the Mississippi River to be a living, healthy ecosystem and
> not
> a
> highway for barges," said Debbie Neustadt of Des Moines, who
> volunteers
> for
> the Sierra Club .
>
>
>    Farmers ask for more river locks, environmentalists
> disagree
>
>
> 03/22/2002
>    Associated Press
> Newswires
>    Copyright 2002. The Associated Press. All Rights
> Reserved.
>
>
>    DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) - Farmers and businessmen pushed for a
> quick
>    resolution of a nine-year, $57 million study of the Upper
> Mississippi
>    River and Illinois Waterway navigation system and urged that new
> locks
>    be
> built.
>
>
>    Environmentalists said the need for new locks has been overstated
> and
>    the efficiency of river transportation over rail and roads has
> been
>
> exaggerated.
>
>
>    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers convened a public hearing
> Thursday
>    night to unveil its revamped study, which resumed last
> August.
>
>
>    The meeting, the last in a series of five over the past week, is
> the
>    first time in two years the Corps has held public hearings on the
> study.
>
>
>    Much of the session was a recitation of what occurred since the
> study
>    began in 1993 and how it was restructured in the wake of
> investigations
>    sparked by a
> whistleblower.
>
>
>    When the 200 people in the audience were invited to speak, many
> farmers
>    and businessmen wanted the plan to include five new locks on
> the
>    Mississippi from Canton, Mo., to north of St. Louis and two on
> the
>    Illinois
> Waterway.
>
>
>    Some also pushed 1,200-foot guide wall extensions at four lock
> sites
>    surrounding the
> Quad-Cities.
>
>
>    "It's time to bring this process to a close," said Denny Denton,
> a
>    Princeton, Ill., farmer, who represented the Illinois Corn
> Growers
>    Association and the state's Farm Bureau. He and others talked
> about
> the
>    lost income to farmers from congestion on the river's navigation
> system.
>
>
>    Farm interests estimate that $364 million will be lost per year
> by
> 2020
>    if the navigation system is not
> improved.
>
>
>    Representatives of environmental groups said less would be
> better.
>
>
>    "I want the Mississippi River to be a living, healthy ecosystem
> and
> not
>    a highway for barges," said Debbie Neustadt of Des Moines,
> who
>    volunteers for the Sierra Club
> .
>
>
>    The scope of the restructured study has been broadened beyond
> surveying
>    simply navigation needs to also include ecological and
> floodplain
>    factors as
> well.
>
>
>    Previously, the Corps was trying to come up with a single
> forecast
> of
>    navigational needs by
> 2050.
>
>
>    An interim report is due this July; a draft feasibility study is
> due
> in
>    the winter of
> 2004.
>
>
>    The need for a speedy conclusion was a common theme among those
> who
> want
>    to see locks expanded. Some environmentalists, however, are
> worried
> that
>    the time frame may be too
> aggressive.
>
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