Replies

US Army Corps of Engineers:

Project Locations (interactive)
http://www.usace.army.mil/recovery/Pages/ProjectLocations.aspx

Ties to the Recovery Act
“Recovery Act-funded Civil Works projects released “
http://www.usace.army.mil/recovery/Pages/CWProjectsReleased.aspx

Mississippi River and Tributaries Project List
http://www.usace.army.mil/recovery/Documents/MRTApr10RIOOMBupdatedv1.pdf

Executive Office, Acting General, Chief of Staff info
http://www.usace.army.mil/HQExec/Pages/WelcometotheExecutiveOffice.aspx

Industry News - Army Corps of Engineers defends handling of Missouri River
Source : St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Date : 2011-06-13

By Bill Lambrecht, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
June 13—WASHINGTON — A high-ranking Army
http://www.wef.org/about/StoryPage.aspx?story_id=160196555

WEF Spotlight
EPA Webcast Will Introduce National Pretreatment Program
Introduction to the National Pretreatment Program, an EPA webcast slated for Thursday, June 30, 2011 from 1:00-3:00 pm Eastern time, will provide a brief overview of the program for interested parties and those unfamiliar with its requirements.
http://www.wef.org/

June 14th, 2011 5:30 AM
Midwest Katrina: Did the Army Corps of Engineers Cause the Midwest Flooding of 2011?
by Duane Lester
http://www.allamericanblogger.com/16129/midwest-katrina-did-the-army-corps-of-engineers-cause-the-midwest-flooding-of-2011/

From the article:

“Iowa Governor Terry Branstad also questions the Corps decision making:

Gov. Terry Branstad on Friday became the second major official to criticize the way the Army Corps of Engineers has managed the Missouri River.

Branstad said that the focus now should be on preventing, then recovering from flooding, but that officials should examine what could have been done to prevent the far higher-than-normal releases of water that will soon threaten communities in Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri.

And:

Last week, a unified Missouri congressional delegation invited an Army Corps general to their state with a pointed message from Missourians “who believe this disaster could have been mitigated with better planning and coordination on the part of the Corps of Engineers.”

Upriver, anger has risen with the water. Two former South Dakota governors, both Republicans, accused the corps last week of failing to keep flexibility to handle the spring rains and heavy snowmelt.

One of the former governors, Bill Janklow, characterized the corps as ‘slow-witted.” Another ex-governor, Mike Rounds, asserted in an interview Friday that corps brass ought to be held accountable for rising water threatening his state and his own home.

“I’m muddy, I’m wet,” said Rounds, after returned from checking on water lapping at his evacuated home, near Pierre.

“You can’t come into May with so much water in the upper reservoirs knowing that you have significant snowpack on the ground and assuming it will not rain,” said Rounds, who left office in January after two terms.

The Corps has said they did just as their manual said they should do, but that’s difficult to believe. Emergency reservoirs where flood waters were supposed to go were kept nearly full, and when Montana received a years worth of rain in a couple of days, followed by melting snow, the Corps suddenly found themselves overwhelmed with water.

An investigation by the Great Plains Examiner revealed troubling information:

Corps of Engineers officials denied both of those assertions and insisted that they have been operating in “flood-control mode” at Garrison Dam since the beginning of the year. But public records maintained by the agency tell a different story about the way the dam was managed during the two months prior to the flood.

To gather the information for this report, the Great Plains Examiner spent nearly two weeks comparing sets of data on release rates and storage levels recorded by the Corps of Engineers as far back as 1967 when the dam began operating. Additional research included studying operations manuals that guide the agency’s decisions and interviewing dozens of local leaders, federal officials, biologists and hydrologists from North Dakota and across the U.S.

Daily logs kept by the Corps of Engineers show that the agency began 2011 on an aggressive schedule to draw down the levels at Lake Sakakawea, releasing high amounts of water through the dam in January, February and the beginning of March. The average release of about 25,000 cubic feet per second during the first two-and-a-half months was almost twice as much as the average rate for that time of year.

Instead of continuing that pattern, though, the agency curtailed the releases from March 20 until May 5, allowing the reservoir to rise to about eight feet above average for that time of year while the river ran through Bismarck at its seasonal low point. Prior to slowing the release rate, the Corps had received data showing above-average snowpack in the mountains overlooking the upper river basin.

Everything changed rapidly in mid-May when heavy rain in Montana forced the Corps of Engineers to start draining Lake Sakakawea to avoid overflowing the dam.”