Wci Washington Seminar Hotelrate Deadline Extended to Monday!

February 2013 • Volume 5, Issue #2

WCI WASHINGTON SEMINAR HOTELRATE DEADLINE EXTENDED TO MONDAY!

The deadline to secure the group hotel rate for this year’s WCI Washington Seminar is quickly approaching but has been extended to Monday, Feb. 25. Monday is the final day to ensure group rates at the Madison Hotel (1177 15th Street, NW - phone 800-424-8577and reference “Waterways Council.”)

This year’s event includes a dynamic program including Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) and the new chairman of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA), among others. Register to attend the WCI Seminar here.

The timing will be right in line with action toward a Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), if Sen. Barbara Boxer, Chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee gets her way. She predicted a March mark up of WRDA.

Her House counterpart, Rep. Shuster, has pledged that WRDA will be the T&I Committee’s first order of business. Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-KY) has said he plans to reintroduce the WAVE 4 bill in the 113th Congress, with a new lead Democrat co-sponsor for the bill, Rep. Daniel Lipinski (D-IL), a T&I Committee member.

Sen. Bob Casey (PA) is expected to introduce The River Act on Monday, and Sen. Lamar Alexander (TN) is said to be finalizing his American Waterworks Act that WCI’s Board unanimously endorsed last year.

MN &IA MEMBERSOF CONGRESS REAFFIRM COMMITMENT TO NESP

Letter to OMB: NESP is a “Shovel Ready Solution to Two Major Issues Facing the Basin”

The Office of Management and Budget heard a resounding message late last month: begin construction on the Navigation-Ecosystem Sustainability Program (NESP).

On Jan. 23, freshman Congressman Rick Nolan (D-MN). along with Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN), Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), and Rep. Dave Loebsack (D-IA) co-signed a “Dear Colleague” letter to OMB Deputy Director Jeffrey Zients on several issues facing the Upper Mississippi River Basin.

Along with a request to address the Asian Carp threat, the letter focused on the dual-purpose plan of NESP and its languishing status, despite the fact that it is, as the letter states, “a shovel-ready solution for two major issues facing the (Upper Mississippi River Basin) UMRB. The representatives wrote urging the Administration to consider the “economic and environmental importance” of the UMRB when developing the FY ’14 budget.

The letter applauds NESP and underscores its lack of funding from the Administration. “[NESP|…targets our priority concerns of navigation and ecosystem restoration and plots a practical solution. Unfortunately, this solution is only as good as the paper it is printed on without adequate appropriation,” the letter states. “No new funding was provided for NESP in fiscal years 2011, 2012 and 2013. Funds were fully exhausted in early fiscal year 2012. We ask that the administration prioritize this program in their FY 2014 budget so that we can restart the engines on a solution that will reinvigorate the region,” the communication continued.

NESP was authorized in 2007 and includes seven new 1,200-foot lock chambers at critical locations along the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. “As a working river and basin, the 850 commercially navigable miles carry 122 million tons of commodities annually making up 52% of corn and 41% of soybean exports. This is despite the fact that shippers must contend with 29 locks and dams, most of which were constructed in the 1930s and are far beyond their structural sunset,” the letter states.

The Members of Congress also noted the ecological restoration and ecosystem protection provisions in NESP. “The Upper Mississippi River Basin (UMRB) is the only United States river Basin recognized by an act of Congress as both economically and environmentally significant,” the letter states.

We urge you to thank these Members of Congress for standing up for this important dual-purpose project.

SURPLUS WATER FOR MISSOURI RIVER?

In an interesting twist in the low-water situation,the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced it would allow the release of “surplus” Missouri River water from Lake Sakakawea to accommodate oil fracking.

A Houston-based energy company will be allowed to remove 1.6 billion gallons of water for use in hydraulic fracturing (fracking), a procedure used natural gas – and in this case, oil drilling.

During the crisis of November 2012-January 2013, the river navigation industry and Members of Congress continually urged the Corps to continue Missouri River releases until the rock pinnacles could be removed along Thebes and Grand Tower, Illinois.

They were informed that continued release of Missouri River water would have “significant negative effects” including reduced supply for drinking water and loss of marine-wildlife habitat, Assistant Secretary to the Army (Civil Works) Jo-Ellen Darcy wrote in a Dec. 6 letter to legislators.

Just the day before, Sec. Darcy notified its Omaha, Nebraska district that the Corps had approved an agreement to release “surplus” water from Lake Sakakawea.

This went largely unknown until a February 7 statement by the Corps, in which they disclosed their actions. The “surplus” water agreement and easement will be in place for five years, with the option to renew for an additional five-year period.

In May 2012, Assistant Secretary Darcy acknowledged in the Garrison Dam/Lake Sakakawea Surplus Water Report that there exists100,000 acre-feet of surplus water at Lake Sakakawea.

For the purposes of the authorized authority, known as “Section 6,” “surplus” water is defined as water stored in a Corps of Engineers reservoir that is not required because the authorized need for the water never developed. According to the Corps, in this case, the water in question was originally intended for irrigation.

MISSOURI RIVER 2013 SPRING RISE CANCELLED – NAVIGATION SEASON LIKELY TO INCLUDE “MINIMAL” RELEASES

In a surprise to no one, the release of reservoir water to create an artificial pulse in the spring has been cancelled. The spring rise is part of the Annual Operating Plan for the Missouri to purportedly cue spawning of the endangered pallid sturgeon along a stretch of the river south of Gavin’s Point Dam in northeast Nebraska.

The corps announced the decision to cancel this spring’s pulse during a teleconference February 12 on basin snowpack conditions. This is the fourth consecutive year a surge has been canceled. The 2010 and 2011 pulses were canceled because of high water, while drought conditions tabled the releases in 2012 and 2013.

The Corps also announced that reservoir managers will release only enough water from Gavins Point to provide minimal flows for barge traffic through July 1. A regular mid-summer check of levels from the six reservoirs will determine whether flows will be increased at a later date in 2013.

On February 1 the Corps released an updated runoff forecast above Sioux City, Iowa, showing levels for 2013 will be 20% below normal. Without major weather conditional changes, only the minimum amount of water to support the navigation season (opening April 1) will be released.

Any benefits from above-average precipitation this winter seem to have been negated by temperatures that are warmer than usual, resulting in increased runoff and leaving the basin 8.3 million acre-feet below normal operating levels.

That 8.3 MAF was cited as “one reason the navigation season will be at minimum service levels this spring,” by Monique Farmer, spokeswoman for the Corps’ Omaha District.

Farmer said that the six Corps-controlled reservoirs on the Missouri River can store up to 73.1 million acre-feet of water, but a level exceeding 56.8 million acre-feet is regarded as “optimal” for ensuring normal water releases.

UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER BASIN ASSOCIATION QUARTERLY MEETING IN ROCK ISLAND FEB 26-28

Several issues of interest to navigation proponents will be discussed in the Quad Cities during the first quarterly meeting for the new year of the Upper Mississippi River Basin Association (UMRBA) meeting.

UMRBA is a regional interstate organization formed by the Governors of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin to coordinate the states' river-related programs and policies and work with federal agencies that have river responsibilities.

This month’s meeting will be held in the Quad Cities. The portion addressing navigation will be held at the Black Hawk Hotel in Davenport on February 27. View the agenda here.

In UMRBA staff news, Barb Naramore resigned as Executive Director on January 28 to become an Assistant Commissioner for Minnesota’s Department of Natural Resources. Barb attended many Capitol Hill meetings with WCI staff and members, and will be missed. WCI welcomes Dave Hokanson as Acting Executive Director. Dave was previously UMRBA’s Water Quality Program Director, a position he still holds.

WINTER EDITION OF OUR MISSISSIPPI NOW AVAILABLE

The winter edition of the Corps’ newsletter, Our Mississippi is now available at and features an article on the 2012 drought. This quarterly publication is widely-focused to attempt to encompass activities by the Corps and stakeholder partners throughout the Mississippi River watershed.