River Maintenance

NWU Radio Script

11-12-01

Keeping the transportation system on the inland waterways of the United States well maintained is key to keeping U.S. farm commodities competitive on a world export market.

However, the current dispute over summer water levels on the Missouri River could well place a major kink in the current system.

Farmers such as Missouri resident Bill Larkin and his sons, who have depended on river transportation to move their corn, soybean and wheat crops to market, worry that proposed changes to the summer levels could mean higher transportation costs down the road.

According to the Oct./Nov. 2001 issue of Cooperative Partners magazine, the issue on the Missouri these days is whether the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should release more water in the spring from upriver reservoirs.

Proponents say "spring rise" would mimic the river's natural action and benefit fish and aquatic plant life.

But the early release of large volumes of water would virtually end summer navigation on the Missouri, further truncating an already short shipping season. Less barge traffic, in turn, would mean higher rates for both water and rail transportation, notes the article.

The proposed new operating procedures have already put two U.S. Senators at odds. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) appears to have decided against production agriculture in favor of recreation and environmental interests, while House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-MO) feels lower levels will hurt producers in Missouri and other states.

Diminished flows would also affect Mississippi River navigation because it gets an estimated one-third of its water from the Missouri.

Experiments are underway this year in Pool 8 on the Mississippi River near Genoa, Wis. The Corps of Engineers has dropped river levels about 18 inches there to see if aquatic vegetation can re-establish itself on the resulting mud flats. At the same time, engineers want to see if the drawdown interferes with barge traffic. Once plants are established, levels will be raised to normal "pool."

According to the Cooperative Partners article the Corps' St. Paul district office has deemed the trial a success, with plant life sprouting across the newly exposed river bottom.

Instances of tows bumping or bottoming in the channel have occurred, but at this point it is uncertain whether that's due to the drawdown because of shoaling that has occurred in most stretches of the upper river.

More contentious is a long-term resource study on the Upper Mississippi River. Called the Upper Mississippi River-Illinois Waterway System Navigation study, the analysis will result in a comprehensive plan to meet navigation needs, while at the same time providing ecosystem restoration and improvements.

Planning resumed this August, after environmentalists derailed the study for more than a year over computer modeling, which they said was weighted in favor of the barge industry.

Farmers and businesses which depend on the Mississippi system to compete in world grain markets, want several 600-foot locks improved.

Those locks - at key choke points along the river - are costing shippers millions of dollars in delays because river tows have to break into two sections and move through the locks one at a time.

Several studies have found that river shipping is the most cost effective and environmentally friendly way to move grain. One Mississippi River tow of 15 barges replaces almost 900 semi-trailers or more than two 110-car unit trains, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation. Although water transportation is not available to all producers, its competitive prices help keep other rates down.

River maintenance issues extend beyond the Missouri and Mississippi into the Pacific Northwest, where environmental interest groups want to return the Columbia and Snake rivers to a "natural" state by breaching or removing locks and dams. They claim this is the only way to bring back declining salmon populations.

Today, those navigation structures, such as the Bonneville Dam, not only provide power for much of the Pacific Northwest and neighboring states, but also make barge shipment possible as far inland as Lewiston, Idaho, 465 miles from the Pacific.

Farmers from as far away as the Dakotas and Montana find that basis levels make Snake River shipping competitive with rail rates.

Columbia-system tows are made up of fewer barges than those on the Mississippi, but the barges are larger. One 3,500-ton barge carries a much wheat as 35 rail cars or 134 trucks. This in turn helps keep white wheat competitive on world markets.

These disputes continue to be a concern to agriculture as in today's world economy competitor nations are rapidly improvement their own river transportation infrastructure.

Lower costs for land, labor and inputs in many South American countries have already made their wheat, soybeans and other crops very competitive on the world market. As their many easily navigable inland rivers are within reach of the expanding farmground, Brazilian and Argentinean producers could soon gain an insurmountable advantage.

Resumption of the Corps study on the Mississippi is a hopeful sign, but agriculture producers are encouraged to keep informed not only of legislation and issues of concern, but also be ready to suggest courses of action, notes the magazine.

                                                                   -30-