Originally published by the Leavenworth Times on April 5, 2011
Click here for original link
Editorial by Matt Nowak
Leavenworth, Kan. — The City of Leavenworth is so fortunate to sit on the edge of the Missouri River and on the edge that is fairly deep because of the river channel.
If it had underwater turbines that were designed to work for that location, the city could be generating electricity for itself.
I am familiar with at least two possible ways to put turbines in the river based on communications with a company that builds them. One method is to place pylons in the river bed. They are placed in an array that allows multiple generators to be placed on the pylons like putting a glove over a hand.
Showing posts with label MRAPS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MRAPS. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
Mo. River Priorities Questioned At Meeting
Originally published in Yankton Press-Dakotan on April 2, 2011
Click here for original link
by Randy Dockendorf
blogmaster's note - This meeting was one of a series of public comment meetings about the Draft Scoping Summary of the Missouri River Authorized Purposes Study (MRAPS). Check out MRAPS website here: http://mraps.org/ . You can download the draft summary by clicking here.
Remaining meetings:
SIOUX CITY, Iowa — Bill Smith questions the current priorities for the millions of dollars spent each year on operating the Missouri River.
“The Corps of Engineers receives $6.5 million annually to manage the river for us, and then you multiply it by 67 years (since passage of the 1944 Flood Control Act),” the Sioux City man said.
Smith thinks upstream states could gain much greater attention — and resources — with the Missouri River Authorized Purposes Study (MRAPS) under way. Congress directed the Corps of Engineers to conduct the study of Missouri River usage.
However, Smith — the president of the Missouri Valley Waterfowlers Association — sees navigation interests and other parties fighting to block any changes in the river’s uses.
Smith pressed for the study during this week’s MRAPS public feedback meeting in Sioux City. He blasted those who are fighting a change of river priorities or blocking the discovery of new priorities altogether.
“They just want to protect the status quo. They don’t want the study to reveal anything new,” he said. “Special entities are keeping this low key. If the public knew more information, they would come unglued.”
Click here for original link
by Randy Dockendorf
blogmaster's note - This meeting was one of a series of public comment meetings about the Draft Scoping Summary of the Missouri River Authorized Purposes Study (MRAPS). Check out MRAPS website here: http://mraps.org/ . You can download the draft summary by clicking here.
Remaining meetings:
| Apr 4 | Nebraska City, NE | Lied Lodge Conference Center, 2700 Sylvan Rd. | |||
| Apr 5 | Kansas City, KS | Hilton Garden Inn, 520 Minnesota Ave. | |||
| Apr 6 | St. Louis, MO | Doubletree Hotel St. Louis at Westport, 1973 Craigshire Rd. |
SIOUX CITY, Iowa — Bill Smith questions the current priorities for the millions of dollars spent each year on operating the Missouri River.
“The Corps of Engineers receives $6.5 million annually to manage the river for us, and then you multiply it by 67 years (since passage of the 1944 Flood Control Act),” the Sioux City man said.
Smith thinks upstream states could gain much greater attention — and resources — with the Missouri River Authorized Purposes Study (MRAPS) under way. Congress directed the Corps of Engineers to conduct the study of Missouri River usage.
However, Smith — the president of the Missouri Valley Waterfowlers Association — sees navigation interests and other parties fighting to block any changes in the river’s uses.
Smith pressed for the study during this week’s MRAPS public feedback meeting in Sioux City. He blasted those who are fighting a change of river priorities or blocking the discovery of new priorities altogether.
“They just want to protect the status quo. They don’t want the study to reveal anything new,” he said. “Special entities are keeping this low key. If the public knew more information, they would come unglued.”
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Opinion Editorial: More than just a few things have changed since 1944
Blogmaster's note: this is an editorial published in the Bismark Tribune about the MRAP study. Click here for more on MRAPS. Click here for other locations of public meetings and a link to download the draft scoping summary.
Originally published on March 24, 2011, in the Bismark Tribune
Click here for original link
by Brian Gehring
A few weeks ago the Army Corps of Engineers released its draft scoping summary report on the Missouri River management known as MRAPS.
It stands for Missouri River Authorized Purposes Study. The study got it beginning back a couple years ago when Sen. Byron Dorgan called for a review of how the river system was managed.
That management study was based on a document adopted in 1944 when the dams were built along the river.
Dorgan said it when he led the push to have Congress study how the river has been managed: things have changed since 1944.
The MRAPS draft study, all 340-some pages, is available online at www.mraps.org. For those who do not have Internet, the draft study is available at the Bismarck Public Library through April 30.
The draft is the culmination of public meetings that the corps hosted up and down the river last summer, giving the public and various state and tribal representatives the opportunity to comment.
There is another set of meetings scheduled to allow the public and others another chance to comment.
That meeting is coming up Tuesday at the Doublewood Inn. The format of the meeting is same with a presentation from the corps from 5 to 6 p.m. and then public comment afterward.
Things have changed along the river in 60-some years but it’s not just the river. Usage has changed on our two reservoirs that are a part of the system.
The eight original authorized purposes are flood control, hydropower, water supply, irrigation, navigation, recreation, water quality and fish and wildlife.
Water quality, irrigation and hydropower are still top issues as far as North Dakota is concerned. The same goes for water quality, recreation and fish and wildlife.
The area that has been questioned over the years is that of navigation. Little or no navigation of consequence happens downstream.
When dollars are compared to what the water generates from fishing and recreation and navigation, you would think one would have a difficult time arguing in favor of navigation and managing the river for that purpose.
We have water back in our reservoirs now but the thing with people’s memories is they can be short when times are good.
We don’t mind sharing our water when the need is there and justified. And, we don’t mind holding the water back when, as has been the case in recent years, there is too much of it downstream in the spring.
We just don’t want to be charged for storing water that is ours.
And when you think about it, the Missouri River, post-dam era, is still in its infancy when it comes to a river.
Sixty-some years is a mere drop in the bucket comparatively speaking when talking about the age of a river.
We are still learning a lot about how management practices are affecting the overall health of the river system and those who derive benefits from, and often rely on the river for survival.
We have seen how fish like pallid sturgeon and paddlefish and shore birds like terns and plovers have been negatively affected.
They are the first species to give an indication something may not be right. It takes us humans a bit longer to come around most times.
A lot has changed since 1944. And now we are in the position to be there as it changes and hopefully do something positive as it is happening.
If you have a stake or an interest in the river, this is one of those issues or causes, call it what you will, to become involved in. Or, at the very least, become informed about what is on the line.
Originally published on March 24, 2011, in the Bismark Tribune
Click here for original link
by Brian Gehring
A few weeks ago the Army Corps of Engineers released its draft scoping summary report on the Missouri River management known as MRAPS.
It stands for Missouri River Authorized Purposes Study. The study got it beginning back a couple years ago when Sen. Byron Dorgan called for a review of how the river system was managed.
That management study was based on a document adopted in 1944 when the dams were built along the river.
Dorgan said it when he led the push to have Congress study how the river has been managed: things have changed since 1944.
The MRAPS draft study, all 340-some pages, is available online at www.mraps.org. For those who do not have Internet, the draft study is available at the Bismarck Public Library through April 30.
The draft is the culmination of public meetings that the corps hosted up and down the river last summer, giving the public and various state and tribal representatives the opportunity to comment.
There is another set of meetings scheduled to allow the public and others another chance to comment.
That meeting is coming up Tuesday at the Doublewood Inn. The format of the meeting is same with a presentation from the corps from 5 to 6 p.m. and then public comment afterward.
Things have changed along the river in 60-some years but it’s not just the river. Usage has changed on our two reservoirs that are a part of the system.
The eight original authorized purposes are flood control, hydropower, water supply, irrigation, navigation, recreation, water quality and fish and wildlife.
Water quality, irrigation and hydropower are still top issues as far as North Dakota is concerned. The same goes for water quality, recreation and fish and wildlife.
The area that has been questioned over the years is that of navigation. Little or no navigation of consequence happens downstream.
When dollars are compared to what the water generates from fishing and recreation and navigation, you would think one would have a difficult time arguing in favor of navigation and managing the river for that purpose.
We have water back in our reservoirs now but the thing with people’s memories is they can be short when times are good.
We don’t mind sharing our water when the need is there and justified. And, we don’t mind holding the water back when, as has been the case in recent years, there is too much of it downstream in the spring.
We just don’t want to be charged for storing water that is ours.
And when you think about it, the Missouri River, post-dam era, is still in its infancy when it comes to a river.
Sixty-some years is a mere drop in the bucket comparatively speaking when talking about the age of a river.
We are still learning a lot about how management practices are affecting the overall health of the river system and those who derive benefits from, and often rely on the river for survival.
We have seen how fish like pallid sturgeon and paddlefish and shore birds like terns and plovers have been negatively affected.
They are the first species to give an indication something may not be right. It takes us humans a bit longer to come around most times.
A lot has changed since 1944. And now we are in the position to be there as it changes and hopefully do something positive as it is happening.
If you have a stake or an interest in the river, this is one of those issues or causes, call it what you will, to become involved in. Or, at the very least, become informed about what is on the line.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
MRAPs releases Draft Scoping Summary
The Missouri River Authorized Purposes Study run by the US Army Corps of Engineers has released its Draft Scoping Summary. It's a 347 page document distilling the hundreds of public comments received last year during the first phase of the study.
Now MRAPs is moving into a public comment period on the Scoping Summary. Several meetings have been scheduled throughout the basin for public comment.
Click here for more information.
Click here to download the draft Scoping Summary (5.8 MB pdf)
Now MRAPs is moving into a public comment period on the Scoping Summary. Several meetings have been scheduled throughout the basin for public comment.
Click here for more information.
Click here to download the draft Scoping Summary (5.8 MB pdf)
Saturday, February 19, 2011
MRAPs Draft Scoping Summary and Public Feedback Meetings
(blogmaster's note: Last year the Corps of Engineers held public comment and scoping meetings throughout the Missouri and Lower Mississippi River basin as the first stage in a five-year study revisiting the 8 authorized purposes of the management of the Missouri River. This March, the draft summary of this stage of the study will be released online, followed by more public comment meetings. To check out the public comments submitted last year, click here. One more note - a lot of politicians have stated that this study is a repeat of the Master Manual study completed in 2006. Here's a link to a brochure the Corps published highlighting the differences between the two studies: http://mraps.org/sites/default/files/documents/study_scope_mm_vs_mraps.pdf )
Here's the press release from the Corps of Engineers about upcoming MRAPs activities:
(original link: http://mraps.org/mraps-draft-scoping-summary-report-be-available-online-feedback-meetings-scheduled )
Kansas City, MO - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will hold seven public meetings to collect feedback on the Missouri River Authorized Purposes Study (MRAPS) Draft Scoping Summary Report. Throughout the summer of 2010, the Corps received scoping comments to help define the study scope of the MRAPS. Those comments received by Sept. 20, 2010, have been taken into account, analyzed and addressed by the Corps in the Draft Scoping Summary Report. The draft report will be made available for online viewing in March 2011 on www.mraps.org .
Here's the press release from the Corps of Engineers about upcoming MRAPs activities:
(original link: http://mraps.org/mraps-draft-scoping-summary-report-be-available-online-feedback-meetings-scheduled )
Kansas City, MO - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will hold seven public meetings to collect feedback on the Missouri River Authorized Purposes Study (MRAPS) Draft Scoping Summary Report. Throughout the summer of 2010, the Corps received scoping comments to help define the study scope of the MRAPS. Those comments received by Sept. 20, 2010, have been taken into account, analyzed and addressed by the Corps in the Draft Scoping Summary Report. The draft report will be made available for online viewing in March 2011 on www.mraps.org .
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