Army Rejects Plea to Boost Water for Mississippi Barges
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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers rejected shippers’ requests to increase the flow from a major Mississippi River tributary, which a barge company said is needed to keep open the nation’s busiest waterway.
The Corps found there would be “significant negative effects” on the Missouri River system by increasing the flow, including depleting drinking water supplies, loss of marine-wildlife habitat and higher bills for hydropower users, Jo-Ellen Darcy, the Army’s assistant secretary for civil works, said in a Dec. 6 letter to Senator Richard Durbin, released today. Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, was among lawmakers seeking a study to help make the case for additional water flow.