[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 152 (Friday, November 30, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H6576-H6577]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    RELIEF FOR THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 5, 2011, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. 
Whitfield) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. WHITFIELD. We all recognize that in this country we recently had 
a national election. We have a lot of new Members of the House of 
Representatives. We have new United States Senators. President Obama 
and Vice President Biden are back in their offices. We've had new 
officeholders elected in many State and local communities as well. And 
while we have a lot of change in the elected offices, we all know that 
a big part of government relates to what we would refer to as the 
executive branch. And that means various departments of government and 
agencies within those departments of government. And those people work 
very hard. They're committed to the American people. They're not 
elected. And many times we do not even know who they are.
  Now today, I want to raise an issue that is vitally important to all 
of the American people because on or about December 10 the levels of 
water on the Mississippi River are going to be so shallow between St. 
Louis, Missouri, and Cairo, Illinois, and then, on top of that, because 
of rock pinnacles near Grand Tower and Thebes, Illinois, that river 
traffic may come to a halt on the Mississippi River. And that means 
there's going to be millions of tons of commodities that are not going 
to be able to be transported north and south on that river. Of course, 
that affects not only the recipients of those commodities and the 
shippers of those commodities but indirectly people who mine, make, 
manufacture, supply those commodities. And so this potentially can have 
a dramatic impact in a negative way on the economy of our country at a 
time when we are trying to stimulate the economy, create more jobs, and 
make sure that we do not throw ourselves back into a recession.
  In early November, and even toward the end of October, over 15 United 
States Senators, around 65 Members of the House of Representatives, and 
5 or 6 Governors of various States wrote letters to President Barack 
Obama; Major Phillip May, Regional Administrator for Region IV of the 
Federal Emergency Management Agency; Mr. George ``Tony'' Robinson, 
Region VI, Federal Emergency Management Agency; the Honorable Jo-Ellen 
Darcy, Assistant Secretary of the Army for the Corps of Engineers; Mr. 
William Craig Fugate, Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management 
Agency; Mr. Andrew Velasquez, Regional Administrator, Region V of the 
Federal Emergency Management Agency; and Ms. Beth Freeman, Regional 
Administrator, Region VII of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, 
in which we point out this impending problem.
  Now I'm not the only one talking about this. Every Member of Congress 
along that corridor is receiving phone calls, letters, and emails. We 
have all sorts of groups out there very much worried about this problem 
needing to be solved. And it can be solved. But it appears that the 
Corps of Engineers has an annual operating plan. This annual operating 
plan determines how much water they're able to release from the 
Missouri River into the Mississippi River in the wintertime. And I 
understand that they have to have a plan. But most people in America 
know that when you have exceptional circumstances, you have some 
emergency, you have some unintended consequence, that you have to make 
alternative plans.
  And so those Senators that I talked about, those Members of the House 
that I have talked about, the Governors that I have talked about, the 
15 or 20 associations that I have talked about all have gone to the 
Corps of Engineers and asked them to change their annual plan and 
release some water from the upper Missouri to the Mississippi River so 
that we do not have to stop barge traffic on the Mississippi River. And 
so far, we've heard no response.
  I know that there are groups that are opposed to this. There are some 
environmental groups that are opposed to this--and for valid reasons. 
And we're not asking this to be done permanently. But this is an 
emergency that will have dire consequences on the economy of this 
country, and we cannot stand for even a brief period of time to stop 
commerce on the Mississippi River.
  Of course, there's another issue that I mentioned earlier, and that 
is that we have these rock pinnacles that are contributing to the 
problem of this shallow waterbed between Grand Tower and Thebes, 
Illinois. And the Corps has indicated that they're going to take some 
action to remove those pinnacles. And that's vitally necessary as well.
  So I'm here today partly out of pure frustration. Although some 
people think that individual Members of Congress have a lot of power 
and authority--and sometimes we think that--but the truth of the matter 
is these decisions are being made by people at the Corps of Engineers, 
maybe the Secretary of the Department of Transportation, and some of 
these other agencies. They have the legal authority to take action 
here. But so far, they're unwilling to do so.
  I'm here today simply to raise this issue because I don't know what 
else to do. We've written letters. We've called. These associations and 
agencies of other governments, State and local, have written letters, 
have called. We've done everything we can do. We've asked the President 
to take action. We've asked the Corps of Engineers to take action. And 
we understand that it's not anyone's personal fault.

                              {time}  1420

  This is caused by a drought of unusual proportion. When you think 
about traffic--all traffic on the Mississippi River in that region 
between St. Louis and Cairo--coming to a halt, it's going to have a 
dramatic, negative impact on everyone in our country.
  So I simply am here today to focus attention on the issue and to once 
again ask the President, the Assistant Secretary of Defense, and the 
Corps of Engineers to take some action to work with us to resolve this 
problem.
  With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

                                Congress of the United States,

                                Washington, DC, November 19, 2012.
     Hon. Jo-Ellen Darcy,
     Assistant Secretary of the Army, Civil Works,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Assistant Secretary Darcy, It has come to our 
     attention that commerce along the Mississippi River may soon 
     be in jeopardy. According to industry groups, barge traffic 
     could be severely impaired or altogether grind to a halt 
     along the middle Mississippi River between St. Louis, MO and 
     Cairo, IL. This has the potential to occur as soon as 
     December 10th of this year.
       The problem has arisen because of the drought and the U.S. 
     Army Corps of Engineers' current plan to halt releases of 
     water from the Upper Missouri River reservoirs on 
     approximately November 22nd. We understand that the Army 
     Corps typically reduces and eventually shuts off water flows 
     during this time of the year in accordance with its Annual 
     Operating Plan (AOP) for the Missouri River, but doing so now 
     could result in such low water levels on the Mississippi 
     River that normal barge transportation would be impossible. 
     On November 13, flows from the Missouri river made up 61.1 
     percent of the Mississippi River, according to the U.S. 
     Geological Service gage.
       Ensuring that the Mississippi River is open to traffic is 
     vital to the manufacturing and agriculture communities, and 
     ultimately American jobs. The river system is the global 
     gateway for American products and commodities, and its 
     continued traffic flow is of the utmost importance.
       We ask that the Corps speed up the process of removal of 
     rock pinnacles at Grand Tower, IL and Thebes, IL. Removal of 
     rock in this area is essential for normal barge traffic to 
     continue within low water levels. We also ask that water 
     flows be maintained from the Missouri River until the rock 
     removal is finished.

[[Page H6577]]

       An industry review of the statute, regulations and 
     legislative and operating history demonstrates that Congress 
     specifically intended the Missouri River reservoir system be 
     operated to benefit downstream areas on the Mississippi River 
     as well as the Missouri. Corps management of the Missouri 
     reservoirs has deviated from the AOP during exceptional 
     circumstances. The navigation community recognizes the 
     legitimate needs of the other users of Missouri River waters, 
     and believes this problem can be solved without significant 
     impact on other water claimants.
       We trust that you recognize the importance of this issue to 
     U.S. jobs and industries, and are hopeful that you will work 
     with all parties involved in these impacted areas. Thank you 
     for your consideration of our request.
           Respectfully,
         Rep. Aaron Schock (IL-18); Rep. Ed Whitfield (KY-1), Rep. 
           Jeff Landry (LA-3); Rep. Spencer Bachus (AL-6); Rep. 
           Erik Paulsen (MN-3); Rep. Dave Loebsack (IA-2); Rep. 
           Elijah Cummings (MD-7); Rep. Wm Lacy Clay (MO-1); Rep. 
           Gene Green (TX-29); Rep. Steve Cohen (TN-9); Rep. Adam 
           Kinzinger (IL-11); Rep. Sam Graves (MO-6); Rep. Peter 
           Roskam (IL-6); Rep. Glenn `GT' Thompson (PA-5); Rep. 
           Gregg Harper (MS-3); Rep. Bobby Schilling (IL-17); Rep. 
           Leonard Boswell (IA-3); Rep. Cedric Richmond (LA-2); 
           Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (MS-2); Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, 
           IL (MO-5); Rep. Terri A. Sewell (AL-7); Rep. Jerry 
           Costello (IL-12); Rep. Mo Brooks (AL-5); Rep. John 
           Shimkus (IL-19); Rep. Tim Murphy (PA-18); Rep. Timothy 
           V. Johnson (IL-15); Rep. Steve Scalise (LA-1); Rep. Tim 
           Griffin (AR-2); Rep. Danny K. Davis (IL-7); Rep. Bruce 
           Braley (IA-1); Rep. Dan Lipinski (IL-3); Rep. Jim 
           Cooper (TN-5); Rep. Mark Critz (PA-12); Rep. Bobby L. 
           Rush (IL-1); Rep. Tim Walberg (MI-7); Rep. Robert J. 
           Dold (IL-10); Rep. Rodney Alexander (LA-5); Rep. Rick 
           Crawford (AR-1); Rep. Steven M. Palazzo (MS-4); Rep. 
           Billy Long (MO-7); Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-9); Rep. 
           Jo Ann Emerson (MO-8); Rep. Randy Hultgren (IL-14); 
           Rep. Tom Latham (IA-4); Rep. Alan Nunnelee (MS-1); Rep. 
           Todd Akin (MO-2); Rep. Mike Ross (AR-4); Rep. Charles 
           W. Boustany, Jr., MD (LA-7); Rep. Vicky Hartzler (MO-
           4); Rep. Brett Guthrie (KY-2); Rep. Steve Stivers (OH-
           15); Rep. Marsha Blackburn (TN-7); Rep. Bill Cassidy, 
           MD (LA-6); Rep. Stephen Fincher (TN-8); Rep. Collin 
           Peterson (MN-7); Rep. Dan Burton (IN-5); Rep. John 
           Kline (MN-2); Rep. Don Manzullo (IL-16); Rep. Judy 
           Biggert (IL-13); Rep. Diane Black (TN-6); Rep. Jason 
           Altmire (PA-4); Rep. Russ Carnahan (MO-3).-

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