WASHINGTON, DC – Pushing back on several poor decisions made by the Obama Administration on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, U.S. Senator Kit Bond today pressed Mr. Terrence C. Salt, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army, and Lieutenant General Robert L. Van Antwerp, Commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, on the Corps of Engineers’ soil dumping project and new flood protection policies during a Senate Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development hearing.

 

“The Corps is charged with protecting our communities and improving our rivers, not polluting them,” said Bond “Missourians don’t want to dump farmland soil and their taxpayer dollars in the Missouri river.”

 

As a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Bond questioned Van Antwerp about the Obama Administration’s inclusion of 70 million dollars for the Missouri River Fish and Wildlife Recovery Project.  Bond stressed that the previous project resulted in the construction of channels which dumped farmland soil into the Missouri river wasting taxpayer dollars and Missouri’s natural resources.  

 

During the hearing, Bond explained that the current plan to implement the Missouri River Recovery Project would result in the dumping of 548 million tons of farmland soil directly into the Missouri River containing 350,000 tons of phosphorus.  Bond expressed concern that scientists believe phosphorus is a major factor causing hypoxia in the Gulf and the death of fish.  He stressed that Missouri citizens and farmers levied a $41 million soil and water conservation tax upon themselves to remove excess soil containing phosphorus out of the river.  In light of these actions, Bond questioned whether the Corps current plan to dump soil in the river was best use of taxpayer dollars.

 

            In addition to soil dumping, Bond also questioned Salt on the Administration’s new policy that undermines the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) ability to help fight floods, remove debris, dewater districts and assist in emergency efforts. Bond pressed Salt on whether the Corps has the authority to fill the void left by the new policy during disaster situations. Bond emphasized that it is unacceptable that this new policy has the capability to bankrupt levee districts and many towns along Missouri’s rivers.

 

             “This is new flood protection policy is an outrage,” said Bond. “Surely you are not saying that in the wake of Hurricane Katrina when Bush and FEMA were chastised with not being responsive enough that the federal government won’t be there during our community’s darkest hours. If this is true, this will be met with bipartisan opposition on Capitol Hill.”

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