The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers made it clear Tuesday night that they don’t plan to make any changes to the way they’ve been managing the Missouri River despite the flooding that caused billions of dollars in damage along the river corridor this year.
North Dakota residents didn’t take the news very well.
“I never thought I would say these words, but after everything I’m hearing tonight, I give up. I’m done,” one woman told Corps officials during the annual operating plan meeting at the Ramkota Radison Hotel in Bismarck.
During the meeting, there was a lot of yelling, plenty of finger-wagging and some crying as people whose homes were put in harm’s way told the Corps’ top officials that they failed to recognize the flood dangers this year and were on a path toward making the same mistakes next spring.
“You say in your report … that you will not consider weather events when managing the dam system, which is what you tell us is what got you into trouble in the first place,” Bismarck resident Mark Armstrong said. “I think we all agree that weather forecasting is very difficult, but eliminating it altogether makes no sense to me.”
Bill Mitzel, a resident of Hoge Island, said the Corps’ plans to keep the reservoir levels the same next year were arrogant and irresponsible.
“Someone somewhere has to grab the Corps by the seat of their collective pants and say to them you simply cannot do this anymore,” Mitzel said. “There is no greater importance to this system than flood control. Not fishing. Not hunting. Not piping plovers. Not least terns. Not sandbars. Not irrigation. Not hydropower. And certainly not the damn barge industry. Flood control is number one and you are in charge of keeping it under control, and this cannot happen again. Please do your job.”
The annual meeting began with a presentation by Corps officials, who outlined plans to fill the Garrison Dam to 1837.5 feet next year. That’s the same target level that they used this year when abnormally high snow pack and heavy rains caused massive flooding from North Dakota to Missouri, forcing thousands of people to evacuate their homes in Bismarck-Mandan.
Corps officials also said there’s only a .2 percent chance that the weather patterns next year will cause similar flooding next year, based on the past 80 years of data.
By keeping the same playbook, the Corps rejected a request by most governors of the states along the Missouri River, including North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple, to lower the reservoir levels by two and a half feet to provide greater storage in case the wet weather pattern continues into next spring.
Brig. Gen. John McMahon, the commander of the Northwest Division of the Corps of Engineers, wrote a letter to North Dakota State Water Commissioner Todd Sando this week to say the Corps has no plans to follow the direction of the governors.
“While I agree that analysis of the 2011 flood may indicate the need for additional flood control storage and changes in the regulation of the mainstem reservoir system in the future, I have determined this would not be a prudent action for the coming year,” McMahon wrote.
McMahon noted that the annual operating plan would not change based on forecasts by the National Weather Service that above-average precipitation would likely continue into next year. He also wrote that the annual operating plan was not the proper place to make changes to the Corps’ protocols.
“Above normal precipitation, if it occurs, will likely manifest in terms of plains and mountain snowpack that can be observed and accommodated in the operation of the reservoir system through the winter and early spring,” McMahon wrote.
Sando addressed McMahon at the meeting, saying it was a mistake to reject the governors’ request to lower the reservoirs.
“Unfortunately, the general’s response … suggests that the Corps is more willing to justify its inaction rather than make pragmatic changes for flood protection,” Sando said. “If the annual operating plan is not the forum to receive stakeholder input that would help the Corps make operation decisions, and if the Corps will not listen to the basin governors, then why are we here?”
The biggest problem with the governors’ request, McMahon said during the meeting, was that the seven other authorized purposes of the reservoir system – navigation, power generation, recreation, water supply, water quality, irrigation and fish and wildlife – would be hindered if water levels were lowered to minimize flood risks.
That’s a theme that McMahon has repeated several times during the past several months, including in a letter published by the Great Plains Examiner that suggested residents in the floodplain should either move to different locations or take necessary precautions to protect their property.
“I stand by everything I wrote in that article. I’m talking to you point blank about the facts of life,” McMahon told the crowd at the Ramkota. “The idea that we can prevent or eliminate all flood risk is a fallacy. If you believe we’re going to eliminate all the risks, we’re never going to get there. It is in fact a shared responsibility that begins with … individual responsibility and individual decisions about where you choose to live.”
At that point, residents began screaming and booing McMahon and the other Corps officials who were hosting the meeting.
“You’re not in Washington DC. You’re in North Dakota, and we don’t put up with this kind of crap,” one man yelled out.
“Don’t tell us where to live. Where’s your house?” another man yelled at McMahon.
Lonnie Harris, who said he was a lifelong resident of North Dakota, said the Corps’ plans lack common sense and fail to consider that the ground in the upper river basin is saturated and all of the lowlands are still full of water.
“Every drop of water we get in snow, rain, whatever is going to end up in this system,” Harris said. “I’m not a gambling man, but I’d bet there will be a 50 percent chance that we’re going to be right back where we were this spring if nothing is done. And I’m pleading with you to do something different.”
The Corps has held public meetings in Nebraska, Missouri, Montana and Kansas during the past few days. Corps officials are planning to hold similar meetings in Pierre, S.D., and Sioux City, Iowa, this week.
-Matt Bunk is publisher of the Great Plains Examiner.
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Unreal, I guess the whole thing they tought about why history is important is thrown out the window?? Aren’t we suppose to learn from it as to not make the same mistakes??
It may sound harsh, but what is unbelievable is that people choose to live in a flood plain and scream when there is a flood. Every town in the US that is next to a river should relocate or close up.
In this case, the Corps is just a convenient target to blame. The fact is that the Corps scrambled with all possible methods to reduce the flood damage from what otherwise would have devastation far broader and permanent, especially into cities like Bismark, Pierre, Sioux Falls, and Omaha, and into critical infrastructure like electrical power plants.
I would hope our Congressional leaders, Governor and members of the public do not stand for the lack of answers and lack of cooperation the Army Corp is providing. They work for us…not the other way around!!!
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