Fact Sheet

Navigation Study

Following allegations by two senior Corps economists, the Army's Inspector General concluded that senior Corps officials had exaggerated the benefits of longer Mississippi River locks. Even so, the Corps continues to press for the $1.2 billion lock expansion project, ignoring the real transportation needs of farmers and the environment.

Despite the complaints of barge boosters, there has been no increase in Upper Mississippi River barge traffic in the last two decades. In particular, barge traffic has not increased since 1993 – contradicting Corps forecasts. Even so, the demand for longer locks continues.

Instead of developing new traffic forecasts models – as the National Academy of Sciences suggested – the Corps continues to rely on outdated, discredited models or ignores the need for reliable traffic forecasts altogether. And, the Corps has proposed a new planning process to study river traffic needs that is based on Corps opinion rather than economics, using "scenarios" developed by navigation industry consultants based upon overly optimistic estimates of foreign demand for American grain.

Unlike barge shipments, rail and truck shipments of value-added products like corn oil have increased dramatically in the last two decades. Value-added processing also creates jobs in rural communities rather than shipping jobs oversees. The Corps also continues to ignore less costly measures that can immediately reduce river congestion, including scheduling the arrival of barges to congested locks.

Additional barges would kill tens of thousands of fish and destroy thousands of acres of side channels and marsh plants used by migrating waterfowl. Even so, the Corps has not adequately studied the impacts of additional barges on river wildlife. Instead, the Corps has proposed to dramatically cut funding for the Environmental Management Program, the primary habitat restoration and research program for the Upper Mississippi River, and has refused to update illegal channel maintenance plans. The Corps has also narrowly focused on the incremental impacts of additional barge rather than the long-term impacts of dams, levees and channel training, and ignores the impacts of additional truck traffic to terminals.

Talking Points

• Barge Traffic has not increased – Despite the complaints of barge boosters, there has been no increase in Upper Mississippi River barge traffic in the last two decades. In particular, barge traffic has not increased since 1993 - contradicting Corps forecasts.
  
  
• Corps has not updated traffic forecast models – A key finding of the National Academy of Sciences was that the Corps' traffic forecast models were unreliable and that new models should be developed. As the NAS said, "many of the assumptions and data used as input to these models are flawed." Instead of developing new traffic forecasts models, the Corps continues to rely on outdated, discredited models or ignores the need for reliable traffic forecasts altogether.
  
  
• New Study Violates Corps Planning Rules – Rather than properly forecasting future traffic, the Corps has proposed a new separate "scenario-based" planning process to study Upper Mississippi river traffic needs that is based on Corps opinion rather than hard science and economics. Rather than cooking the books, the Corps has decided to get rid of the books altogether. This violates all Corps rules, regulation and statutes. In sum, this entire process is an illegal effort to evade the fact that traffic forecasts could not possibly justify huge new expenditures on longer locks.
  
  
• Economic scenarios developed by navigation industry consultants are no substitute for real science and economics – The economic scenarios developed by navigation industry consultants are based upon overly optimistic estimates of foreign demand for American grain, especially by China and India, ignores the competitive advantages of other exporters like Brazil and Argentina, and sharply underestimate domestic demand for grain, especially for ethanol.
  
  
• Corps ignores growth of value-added processing – The Corps' analysis continues to ignore growing demand for corn and beans to produce value-added products, which are shipped by rail and truck, not by barge. Unlike barge shipments, rail and truck shipments of value-added products like corn oil and ethanol have increased dramatically in the last two decades. Value-added processing creates jobs in rural communities rather than shipping jobs oversees.
  
  
• Corps ignores reasonable, less costly measures to reduce congestion – The Corps continues to ignore less costly measures that can immediately reduce lock congestion, including scheduling the arrival of barges to congested locks, the construction of mooring buoys, and greater cooperation between tow operators during lockage.
  
  
• Corps should help value-added transport – Corps should work with transportation officials to address needs of value-added processing, not barge shipments. Corn and beans will be increasingly shipped to value-added processing facilities, not to barge terminals, and transportation investments should focus on the real transportation needs of farmers, including rural road improvement and maintenance. Value-added processing creates jobs in rural communities rather than shipping jobs oversees.
  
  
• Corps continues to overstate rehabilitation cost savings – In fact, the Corps has never shown that its cost estimates for expanded locks include the costs of the items that would need to be rehabilitated. If the cost estimates do not, they cannot save rehabilitation costs.
  
  
• Corps ignores the impacts of additional barges – Additional barges would kill tens of thousands of fish and destroy thousands of acres of side channels and marsh plants used by migrating waterfowl. Even so, the Corps has not adequately studied the impacts of additional barges on river wildlife, despite the conclusion by the NAS that the Corps should expand research on "the links between the navigation system and river ecology." Instead, the Corps proposed to dramatically cut funding for the Environmental Management Program, the primary habitat restoration and research program for the Upper Mississippi River, in the agency's FY 2003 budget request, and the Corps has refused to update illegal channel maintenance plans.
  
  
• Corps continues to ignore the real needs of the river wildlife – Instead of focusing on the long-term needs of river wildlife, the Corps has narrowly focused on the incremental impacts of additional barges. The construction and maintenance of dams, levees and channel training structures is the primary threat to Upper Mississippi River habitat, but the Corps has historically ignored measures that would reverse the long-term loss of the side channels, islands and marsh plants that support hundreds of species of wildlife. The NAS said any assessment of additional traffic should consider the cumulative effects of more barges in combination with other threats to river habitat. The Corps should expand the scope of this study to consider potential restoration measures, including lower summer dam releases, removal of some training structures and levees, and installing fish passage. By ignoring these long-term cumulative environmental impacts, the Corps improperly underestimates the mitigation costs included in the Corps benefit-cost analysis of navigation projects and improperly separates "mitigation" from "enhancement" and "restoration" needs. The Corps should stop holding the environment hostage and immediately update channel maintenance plans and accelerate habitat restoration efforts. And, the Corps should stop ducking its responsibility to repair the damage they've caused for 170 years.
  
  
• Corps continues to ignore the needs of riverside communities – Many communities are revitalizing their riverfronts to boost opportunities for recreation and tourism. More than 4 million people already annually recreate on and along the Mississippi between Saint Paul and Saint Louis, annually spending more than $1.2 billion and supporting 18,000 jobs. The Corps' analysis continues to ignore the revitalization needs of riverside communities, and continues to ignore the impacts of additional truck traffic to terminals. By ignoring the costs of additional barge traffic on riverside communities, the Corps can continue to improperly underestimate the mitigation costs included in the Corps benefit-cost analysis of navigation projects.
  
  
• Corps has failed to mitigate – The Corps has routinely failed to mitigate for the impacts of Corps levees, dams and channelization projects nationally and locally. In particular, the Corps has not completed mitigation for Lock and Dam 26 and has not completed mitigation for many Lower Mississippi River flood control projects. Nowhere in the interim report does the Corps indicate how it will guarantee that mitigation would be completed, and be completed in a timely fashion.
  
  
• Corps failed to embrace independent review – Following the revelation that the Corps cooked the books to justify larger locks, the NAS called for independent review of the Corps' new study and "a careful scrutiny of the analysis." But, the Corps has not convened an independent panel to review this interim report, has hired navigation industry consultants to develop bogus economic scenarios, and has not committed to subject future reports to independent review.
  
  
• Corps failed to embrace reforms – In the wake of last year's scandal, the Corps has done nothing to restore trust in the Corps' planning process. The Corps has not agreed to subject large projects like the navigation study to independent review, has not agreed to make economic and environmental benefits co-equal goals of project planning, has not agreed to fully and concurrently mitigate for environmental impacts, and has not agreed to expand the role of stakeholders in project development.