By Reggie McLeod
Controversy over the Army Corps of Engineers’ Upper Mississippi
River-Illinois Waterway Navigation System Feasibility Study (Navigation
Study) has focused on efforts to reorganize the Corps. Three Republican
senators are pushing legislation that would prevent the Corps
from reorganizing. The Department of Defense attempted to create
civilian control and more accountability in the Corps last spring.
From Big River July 2000
At “River of Dreams,” a Corps sponsored “Mississippi River partnering
conference and listening session,” June 15 to 17 in St. Louis,
environmental groups refused to partner with the Corps until it
is under civilian control and more accountable to the public.
Protestors accused the Corps of acting on behalf of the shipping
industry.
On June 20, ABC World News Tonight summarized the Navigation Study
scandal and interviewed Donald Sweeney, the Corps economist who
says his bosses told him to change economic data in the $54 million
Navigation Study to support expanding the lock-and-dam system.
ABC News claimed that in internal documents the Corps characterized
itself as a proponent for the inland shipping system and warned
that the Navigation Study should not include any “limp wristed”
conclusions.
In June, Lt. Gen. Joe N. Ballard, the head of the Corps, postponed
his retirement, including the scheduled parade and farewell luncheon,
until later in the summer, according to the Washington Post (6-19-00).
The delay lessens the likelihood that the Clinton Administration will appoint Ballard’s successor.
Reggie McLeod is editor and publisher of Big River, an independent magazine about the Upper Mississippi River.
Copyright 2000, Big River
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