Missouri River levee meets opposition from Sierra Club

Associated Press
Spokesman-Review

22 nov 03

ST. LOUIS, MO-- The Sierra Club is suing to stop the Army Corps of Engineers from building a huge levee along the Missouri River at Jefferson City, arguing that it would eliminate wildlife habitat and encourage construction in what is now undeveloped flood plain.

The suit also says the proposed levee would worsen flooding downstream in the St. Louis area and at other points along the 735 miles of the lower Missouri River.

The lawsuit, filed Friday in federal court, said the corps violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to study and measure potential damage in an environmental impact statement. Instead, the corps issued a less-detailed environmental assessment in April 2001 that concluded the project would create "no significant impact."

The suit noted that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has estimated that the levee would harm more than 38 acres of wetlands.

The $24.5 million levee would stretch 4.7 miles to protect about 1,500 acres containing the Jefferson City Airport, a National Guard facility, a wastewater treatment plant and two businesses. It would be 150 feet wide and as high as 22.5 feet.
A spokesman for the corps, Tom O'Hara, defended the action.

"The key corps message now is that the corps takes the environment seriously and looks carefully at the effect of any project, including this levee project," O'Hara told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "A lengthy environmental impact study process is not necessary for all projects."

The levee is designed to withstand a 1,000-year flood -- the highest that might be expected in a 1,000-year period. That would be double the protection of the Mississippi River flood wall in downtown St. Louis and the Missouri River levees in St. Louis County.