"It turns out that there are many interesting aspects to this project. First of all, how is it that the project was given life at all? The Army Corps of Engineers does work that is concerned mostly with flood control and navigation projects. A prerequisite of any project is that it has economic returns (Reilly, 2001). The Dog River Pilot project has no economic returns. How did it get started? The story is as follows:"
Representative Sonny Callahan has a house on the river. For years he listened to complaints from neighbors about the depth of the river (Kamen, 2001). People were having trouble getting their big recreational boats into the water. An initial study in 1997 by the Army Corps of Engineers, however, found no reason to undertake a dredging project. After all, there is no real commercial traffic on Dog River. After more complaints, however, many people feel like Callahan gave in to the pressure. A loophole was found in the Corps’ statutes. This loophole is the environment. If the plan to dredge the river could be re-packaged as an environmental restoration project, then economic returns could be thrown out the window (Reilly, 2001)."
"The package was completed, and because of Callahan’s position of power, he was able to clear the next hurdle: the hurdle being that a local sponsor was required to put up 35 percent of the cost required of all environmental restoration initiatives. He merely erased this clause, and added the extra money with the Supplemental Appropriations Act, bringing the total to $1,900,000 (Mobile Register, 2001).
Hopefully, this information was given to the voters in this schmuck’s state so he is sent home in “disgrace”. These traitors’ arrogance knows no bounds until we, the People, remove them (at the ballot box) from their positions of trust which they’ve violated over and over. Callahan should be presented with the $2 million bill, to be paid out of his own pocket” for squandering the peoples’ tax dollars for his own personal use.