The Sierra Club has signed on to a letter opposeing this rider. For Immediate Release January 22, 2003 From: Eric Eckl, American Rivers(202) 347-7550 ext. 3023 Scott Faber, Environmental Defense, Proposed "rider" would exempt Missouri River from Endangered Species Act (Washington, DC) - Missouri Senator Kit Bond introduced an amendment today to the omnibus appropriations bill today that would effectively exempt the Missouri River from the Endangered Species Act, conservationists warned. The language in Senator Bond's "rider" would override federal law and allow the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to flood or move the nests of endangered birds nesting downstream from Gavins Point dam near Sioux City, Iowa to ensure sufficient river flows for the handful of commercial barges plying the lower Missouri River. The rider also directs the Corps of Engineers to move the nests and baby chicks of the endangered interior least tern and the threatened piping plover off river sandbars into a captive rearing facility, a scheme that in the past has killed many of the hatchlings. "Moving these struggling birds to a brick building is a death sentence," said Chad Smith, director of American Rivers' Missouri River Field Office. "Common sense dictates that what troubled species on the Missouri really need is a healthy river system, not a healthy dose of legislative riders." "Without dam reforms, these species will creep closer to extinction and dozens of additional species will need federal protection," said Scott Faber, Environmental Defense Water Resources Specialist. "But, Senator Bond's rider would go further and undermine navigation on the Mississippi River during a serious drought, and devastate reservoir recreation in Montana and the Dakotas." Army Corps operations of its Missouri River dams and reservoirs have long prioritized commercial navigation over the much larger recreation and tourist industries and the ecological health of the Missouri River. A fact sheet with more information about the rider and its consequences is available at www.americanrivers.org - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To get off the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask]