Corn Growers Find NRC River Report Encouraging

January 11, 2002

David Sieck, National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) member and Glenwood, IA, corn grower, finds the National Research Council report on the Missouri River “very promising.” While the report favored a flow change within the river, the NRC agreed there were possible problems, including transportation issues during the summer and severe flooding during the spring.

"The report has said what NCGA has been saying all along: There are problems and there is no clear-cut way to solve them," said Sieck. "The Army Corps of Engineers needs to able to look at options that would reach a compromise between groups wanting a flow change and groups fighting a spring-rise situation. There's too much at stake for it to be all or nothing."

Included in the report were options such as property buyouts and relocation for growers and families affected, but the study went on to say that could become a problem financially as well as psychologically for people not interested in selling their land.

Opposition to the study came from the Fish and Wildlife Service that has said the flow changes are the only way to comply with the federal Endangered Species Act. The federal endangered species list includes the river's pallid sturgeon and two species of shorebird -- the least tern and piping plover. Fifty other native fish species are listed as declining.

The report does not recommend specific changes or endorse any alternatives currently under consideration. In fact, the NRC calls for a moratorium on further changes until the corps seeks more input from affected parties as well as a panel of independent scientists.

Sieck, who has testified before Iowa state government panels on the negative effects of spring-rise, said a moratorium would provide the time for the opposing groups to find common ground on the issue. "It's ridiculous to move forward with a plan when there aren't solid facts to back it up, one way or the other."

Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) had voiced agreement in a prepared statement that the science behind the spring rise alternative "just doesn't cut it, and that the government should go back to the drawing board."

For more information on Missouri River issues, visit the NCGA website at http://www.ncga.com/transportation/main/index.html.