News Release
GOVERNOR MARTZ EXPRESSES DISAPPOINTMENT IN ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS' NEW MISSOURI RIVER MANUAL
3/2/2004
Kris Goss
406-444-3862
kgoss@state.mt.us
MISSOURI RIVER MANUAL
HELENA - Governor Judy Martz expressed her disappointment today in the
plan chosen by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to govern operations of the
Missouri River system that extends from Fort Peck to the Mississippi
River.
"We find ourselves in the fourth year of another drought with a new plan
that fails to provide the relief that we have sought," Governor Martz
said. "This winter Fort Peck has continued to drop several feet below previous record low levels. It appears that once again the Corps' plan is not going to offer needed attention to Fort Peck."
The plan released on Friday describes revisions to the Missouri River
Master Water Control Manual, or the "Master Manual", the document that
contains the criteria for operating the complex river system for the nation's longest river. Revision of the Master Manual began during the late 1980s in the early years of a six-year drought.
"Several years ago, Montana joined with six other basin states to agree
to a plan that would recognize the contemporary needs of the basin," Governor Martz stated. "That plan was a compromise between downstream and
upstream interests and proposed modest conservation measures for the reservoir system. It is disappointing to see that the Corps can not move from the status quo enough to embrace a plan that took effort on the part of seven basin states."
The Corps of Engineers settled a 1991 lawsuit over management of the
basin by pledging to the basin states and the federal court that it would no longer improperly assign priority to declining downstream uses over
upper basin uses. The judge in that action dismissed the case concluding,
"there is a reasonable expectation that the Corps' revised plan will reflect contemporary uses and needs of the Missouri River Basin."
"Despite the basin states' efforts at consensus, the Corps' new plan
takes water from the expanding economic activities of the upper basin and
uses it to subsidize economic activity in the lower basin," says Governor Martz. "This is neither contemporary or forward-thinking."
"We will continue to review the extensive documentation and share our
thoughts with the Corps," Governor Martz said. "I encourage Montanans
and interested parties to do so as well."
Comments on the multi-volume Final Environmental Impact Statement will
be accepted between March 5 and March 19. The documents are available on
the Army Corps of Engineers Northwestern Division website at
www.usace.army.mil .
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Kris Goss
Education Policy Advisor and Deputy Communications Director
Office of the Governor
State Capitol
Helena, MT 59620
(406) 444-3862
kgoss@state.mt.us
