Feb. 20, 2004
Army Corps Reform needed
Sierra Club and other environmental groups asked today for comprehensive reform of the Corps planning process before any new Corps projects are authorized.   In a letter to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, the groups state: "the Corps’ planning process is hopelessly biased to support the construction of large-scale projects, does not adequately protect the environment, results in the recommendation of projects that are not economically justified, and is based on flawed economic and scientific analyses."

Corps projects have a heavy impact on Missouri. The St. Johns Basin - New Madrid Floodway project and new, larger locks on the Mississippi River are two projects opposed by the Ozark chapter.

Read the full letter.

February 20, 2004

The Honorable James M. Inhofe, Chair
Environment and Public Works Committee
United States Senate
410 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

The Honorable James M. Jeffords, Ranking Member
Environment and Public Works Committee
United States Senate
456 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senators Inhofe and Jeffords:

On behalf of the 81 undersigned organizations who are members of the Corps Reform Network, and our millions of members and supporters, we write to thank you for your successful efforts to prevent inclusion of H.R. 2557, the House-passed Water Resources Development Act of 2003, in the recently passed Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2004. We also ask you to ensure inclusion of comprehensive reforms to the Corps’ project planning and implementation process in any Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) that moves through your Committee.

It is critical that both authorizing Committees and both houses of Congress fully consider and debate the important issues surrounding the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) and water resources projects before passing any WRDA, and no WRDA should be adopted through the appropriations process. It is equally critical that Congress include comprehensive reforms to the Corps’ planning and implementation process in the next WRDA. Our organizations strongly oppose authorization of new Corps projects unless Congress enacts reforms to protect taxpayers and the environment.

The very limited reforms included in H.R. 2557 fall far short of what is needed to protect our nation’s rivers, streams, coasts and wetlands; and to ensure that scarce tax dollars are not spent on poorly planned, ineffective, and overpriced projects that do not serve the national interest. H.R. 2557 also has many other significant problems. It adds almost $5 billion in new projects to the Corps’ already substantial project backlog, contains policy changes that increase the burden of water resources projects on taxpayers, and ensures additional destruction of the nation’s estuaries, coasts, rivers, and wetlands.

Our organizations have extensive experience with the Corps’ project planning and implementation process. We know first hand the devastating damage caused by Corps projects to our rivers and wetlands. We know too well the harm caused by Corps projects to the income of citizens who rely on a healthy environment for their livelihoods. We understand the very significant health risks posed by some Corps projects. And we can point to any number of fundamentally flawed environmental and economic analyses that the Corps is using to justify costly projects that do not serve the nation’s interest.

Our experiences are fully supported by a steady stream of studies from the National Academy of Sciences, the General Accounting Office, the Army Inspector General, federal agencies, and independent experts that have revealed fundamental and systemic flaws in the Corps’ project planning process. These studies show that the Corps’ planning process is hopelessly biased to support the construction of large-scale projects, does not adequately protect the environment, results in the recommendation of projects that are not economically justified, and is based on flawed economic and scientific analyses. Most recently, for example, a December 2003 National Academy of Sciences (NAS) study found that the Corps has continued to used flawed economic and environmental analyses in its review of lock expansion on the Upper Mississippi River, blatantly ignoring recommendations in an earlier NAS study and the agency’s own conclusions about the viability of the economic model used.

Comprehensive reforms are needed to ensure that water resource projects are environmentally sound and protect the ecological viability of the nation’s rivers, streams, coasts, and wetlands. Comprehensive reforms are also needed to ensure that Corps projects are economically sound and serve the American people instead of a handful of special interests.
Critically needed reforms include unbiased review of costly or controversial projects that is truly independent of the Corps’ control, full mitigation for the environmental impacts of those projects, increased public access to Corps project planning and mitigation information, fairer project financing to protect the nation’s taxpayers, modernization of the Corps’ planning guidelines, reduction of the Corps’ $52 billion project backlog, and reevaluation of outdated project studies.

Your leadership can help turn the Corps around. We look forward to working with you to ensure passage of comprehensive reforms as the Committee moves forward on WRDA 2004. For additional information or to discuss these issues, please contact Tim Eder (734-769-3351) or Melissa Samet (415-482-8150).

Sincerely,