On Friday, September 16, 2011, the Army released its cost estimate to repair the flood damage to levees, dams, and riverbanks in the Missouri Valley.  According to officials, it will cost approximately $460 million to fix the destruction wrought on engineering structures along both the flood-stricken Missouri and Columbia rivers.  The Army claims that the money must be forthcoming soon, and the damage must be fixed forthright, or the Missouri Valley and its residents will face grave danger during the 2012 runoff season.  Referring to the need for quick action along the Missouri, Jud Kneuvean at the Army’s Kansas City District stated, “…honestly some of them [the projects] can’t be delayed.  [Without repairs] There is a high likelihood for failure.  The consequences associated with failure are high.”  Kneuvean continued to stoke the public’s fear of another deluge in 2012 with the comment that “…time is our enemy.”

Kneuvean did not specify which structures are at risk of failure.  It is unclear whether he is referring to the potential erosion of riprapped banks, the collapse of weakened levees, or god forbid, the loss of an upstream dam.  His purposeful vagueness is an overworked but effective public relations ploy.  The Army wants to manufacture fear and worst-case scenarios.  It hopes that a frightened public will then accept the Army’s agenda for the river.  And the Army’s agenda is nothing short of the complete restoration of its Missouri River hydraulic system to its pre-flood condition.  That means the reconstruction of the defunct and flood-prone navigation channel, the repair of decrepit, useless levees, and the riprapping of blown-out bank lines.  The Army wants to re-establish the status quo along the Missouri.  Yet, it was that status quo that led to the Great Flood of 2011. Continue Reading »