*11-22-2008: news-local* *Dorgan amendment includes $25 million for river study* *By BRIAN GEHRING* *Bismarck Tribune* Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., is pushing for a $25 million study to re-evaluate how the Missouri River is managed. Dorgan is chairman of the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Committee and said the regulations governing the river's management are severely outdated. "Uses of the river have changed substantially," Dorgan said, "but management has not. But that is statutory." The federal document that governs management of the river is the Flood Control Act of 1944. Things have changed up and down the basin in those 60-plus years, Dorgan said. A new study would give the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the agency charged with operation of the system, a baseline with which to work, he said. Since 1990, the Missouri River has been the focus of about a dozen lawsuits. In 2004, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by the state of North Dakota. In that suit, North Dakota's Attorney General Wayne Stenejhem argued the corps' management of the river violated state water quality standards. A federal judge dismissed the case, saying the corps must operate the river to control flooding and maintain downstream navigation. But even before the study gets approval, there has been resistance from downstream states. Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt has requested the help of Missouri Sen. Christopher Bond to remove funding for the study from the 2009 Fiscal Year Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill. In a letter to Bond, Blunt stated that studies have already been done and changes implemented, "... changes that benefited Upper Missouri River Basin states at the expense of residents of the lower basin." Mike Olson has been the Missouri River coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the past 10 years. Olson said without question, uses of the river and the lands in its periphery have changed since 1944. "I get to see this river from Three Forks, Mont., to St. Louis," Olson said. He said in the past 10 years, he's witnessed the restoration of about 50,000 acres of land along the river in lower basin states. The land, historic floodplain acreage, is now public use areas, he said. Olson said there has been a "reawakening" with people's attitudes regarding what the river once was, and what it could be today, and in the future. Olson likened the thinking to the popular Kevin Costner film, "Field of Dreams." "If you build it, they do come," he said. Olson says people in the lower basin states are using the land for multiple uses and those uses do have a trickle-down effect on local economies as users spend money at local gas stations, grocery stores, hotels and the like. Dorgan said the economic impact of recreational uses on the river is 10 times that compared to those of navigational uses. Olson said along with changes in how people use the river, there also has come changes in the system as it matures, geologically speaking. Olson said back in 1944, little thought was given issues like preservation and siltation. But as the system ages, he said sediment deposits and management of how that will impact the basin in the future will become increasingly important. Olson said right now, Lewis and Clark Lake in South Dakota, the sixth and southernmost reservoir on the system, is approximately 25 percent filled in with sediment. "It's a big issue today," Olson said. One of the ramifications of sedimentation, he said, means that the river has less volume for water during high flow times, and the end result could be flooding, as the water would have nowhere else to go. Then, Olson said, there has been the issue of too little water, like two years ago when Fort Yates was virtually evacuated on Thanksgiving when their municipal water supply went dry. He said of the 28 tribes in the Missouri River Basin, 11 live along the mainstem of the system and are among those who paid most dearly for the changes that have come to the river system. Olson said more than 60 years ago, when the dams were built, these types of issues weren't even a blip on the radar for Congress, but they should make it a priority today. Granted, he said $25 million is a lot of money, but when you consider that the Missouri River Basin comprises one-sixth of the continental United States, Congress should make the study a priority. "I think it would be money well spent," Olson said. Once the bill is heard in Congress, governors of the upstream states will meet to discuss the study, a study which will provide "irrefutable information" that current management practices are outdated, Dorgan said. There are critics who say it will be just another study that will sit on the shelf, and nothing will change. But for North Dakota and rest of the upper basin, Dorgan said the status quo isn't cutting it. "We can do nothing, and nothing will happen," he said. /(Reach reporter Brian Gehring at 250-8254 or //brian.gehring/ <mailto:[log in to unmask]>/.) [log in to unmask] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To unsubscribe from the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask] Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp Sign up to receive Sierra Club Insider, the flagship e-newsletter. Sent out twice a month, it features the Club's latest news and activities. Subscribe and view recent editions at http://www.sierraclub.org/insider/