Posted on 12/01/2012 5:14:26 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
It’s an issue that has plagued states along the Mississippi River for months and has now landed squarely on the desk of President Obama: how to prevent the imminent shutdown of commercial traffic along the nation’s largest waterway.
A nationwide drought, the worst to hit the U.S. in decades, has lowered water levels along the river, threatening barge traffic.
White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters Thursday that the President raised the issue with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack at Wednesday’s cabinet meeting, directing his administration to take “every step to mitigate” the situation. Carney added that there are a number of “complex” legal and technical steps which can be pursued, saying the Army Corps of Engineers has taken “proactive” measures.
The biggest obstacle is jagged rocks jutting up from the bottom of the Mississippi which make it impossible for barges to move.
“The Corps needs to get in there and literally blow them up to get them out of the way or we will be either extremely limited or completely shut down some time between December 15 and December 30,” Senior Vice President of Regional Advocacy for the American Waterways Operators Lynn Muench said. “If we do lose the river between mid-December and January, the jobs that are at risk in Missouri are almost 3,000 jobs.”
Muench said she’s reached out to President Obama and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, mirroring an effort Thursday by Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster...
(Excerpt) Read more at stlouis.cbslocal.com ...
whoa
Perhaps when Obama stopped the rise of the oceans he should have left the Mississippi alone....;-)
A fathom off mark twain. Bush’s fault.
The Corps of engineers handles waterborne trade routes.
I thought for sure this was going to be another union goons on strike story.
The EPA will find some rare and endangered slug in the area and forbid any blasting ... after a 5 year study
directing his administration to take “every step to mitigate” the situation. Carney added that there are a number of “complex” legal and technical steps which can be pursued, saying the Army Corps of Engineers has taken “proactive” measures.
FEMA suggestion: ship some of the left over water from the SuperDuper Once-in-Eon Storm Sandy to the Mississippi. Probably a big hose could handle it.
Obama directed them to take every appropriate measure and to strictly avoid any measures that might lead to a mistake.
He might have even thrown in a “report back to me” somewhere for good measure.
That is leadership folks.
So how does one go about dynamiting these rocks without creating the river equivalent of tsunamis?
find some rare and endangered slug in the area
Probably in a local office .... a supervisor!
lol.
Do I recall incorrectly or were there dams in place that the current administation demanded to be kept open last year? Or was that on the Missori?
Lower the sea levels, raise the river levels, what’s a Marxist manchild to do?
Really. Well, send in then Corpsemen
One thing the Corp is not capable of doing is moving fast.
Union jobs vs. wetlands. Hmm, I’ll just vote “present.”
Low-Flow Toilets. Bring back the old porcelain kings, and you could float an aircraft carrier.
Globull warming doctrine manages to have it both ways. Droughts on the interior, and too much ocean. As if those were the only possibilities for water liberated from land ice in temperate climes to go.
As a “denier” I played around with the mind of a “believer” on Facebook the other day. I said when they were growing grapes in Greenland during the Medieval Warm Period, where were all the complaints about swamped shoreline cities? For that matter, where are all the American Indian legends about deserts that grew then receded, that ought to have followed?
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