Washington DC) U.S. Congressman Sam Graves told the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment that flood control should be the top priority for managing the Missouri River in a hearing on Wednesday.

"I believe that we are asking the Corps of Engineers to juggle too many priorities,” said Graves. “We must make clear once and for all that the prevention of flooding has to be the number one priority.”

The hearing focused on the causes of the 2011 Missouri River flood that devastated homes, farms and small businesses from North Dakota to Missouri. Graves also noted the disparity in funding for projects on the river with $73 million being spent on wildlife restoration and only $6 million spent on levee maintenance and operations between Gavin’s Point Dam and the mouth of the Missouri.

“That’s 12 times more money on two birds and a fish than on levee maintenance,” said Graves. “We have got to get our spending priorities in order.”

Under questioning from Graves, U.S. Army Corps Brigadier General John McMahon admitted that the Corps would not be able to repair all the levees breached in the 2011 flood leaving communities, farmland and small businesses at risk for a repeat flood in 2012.

Graves pressed McMahon on why, given that information, he did not embrace a plan to lower the amount of water currently in the reservoir to decrease the chances of a flood in 2012. McMahon said that while it was within his jurisdiction to evacuate more water, it is becoming too late in the season to do that.

Also appearing before the Subcommittee was Holt County Clerk Kathy Kunkel. Kunkel testified about the effect of the 2011 flood on the citizens of Holt County. She also noted the support for making flood control the top priority.

“General McMahon asks in his letter when the citizens of the Missouri River Basin will become galvanized behind a central idea for river management,” said Kunkel in prepared remarks. “I believe we have. Six of the Basin State’s Governors have called on the USACE to make flood control the primary focus of Missouri River mainstem management – not unlike the primary purpose of the Mississippi River. The Missouri River Working Group, made up of Senators and Representatives from the Missouri River states have called for flood control as a priority. It is time the USACE is directed by Congress to make flood control the primary purpose – above all other authorized purposes.”

Graves has introduced legislation, H.R. 2993, to make flood control the top priority and to reduce the number of authorized purposes for the river. That bill has been referred to the Transportation Committee.

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