FIRST REGULAR SESSION

HOUSE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR

House Concurrent Resolution No. 17

96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

0884L.03C                                                                                                                                                 D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk

            WHEREAS, the United States Corps of Engineers' five-year study of the Upper Mississippi River Basin, which is everything north of Cairo, Illinois, failed to produce a plan for flood control acceptable to all stakeholders; and

            WHEREAS, the Mississippi River Commission did recommend Plan H to the United States Congress; and

            WHEREAS, the Corps of Engineers has not recommended this plan to the United States Congress, citing the expense of the construction of 500-year levees along these Rivers (estimated to be $6 billion) as it does not meet current cost-benefit guidelines for federal funding; and

            WHEREAS, the Corps of Engineers additionally determined a need for a better data based upon new hydrology and flow studies and the need to study tributaries to the Mississippi River; and

            WHEREAS, the Corps of Engineers indicated that ramifications of the additional 500-year levees and their potential to cause additional flooding would need to be determined, and affected populations and communities informed and advised of the potential impact; and

            WHEREAS, the affected counties include the Missouri counties of Lincoln, Pike, and St Charles; and

            WHEREAS, Plan H designates only about half of the levees in the Missouri counties of Lincoln, Pike, and St. Charles be raised, while to the north a higher percentage of 500-year levees are recommended for both sides of the River; and

            WHEREAS, the stakeholders in the Missouri counties of Lincoln, Pike, and St. Charles desire the protections provided by the 500-year levees; and

            WHEREAS, the proposed Plan H, if implemented, denies the benefits of 500-year levees to those making a living along the Mississippi River, negatively impacting agriculture, transportation, businesses, industries, tourism, hunting, fishing, boating, infrastructures, and residences; and

            WHEREAS, over 6,500 citizens have signed petitions opposing the proposed Plan H; and

            WHEREAS, the Upper Mississippi River Basin should receive funding comparable to funding for the Southern Mississippi River Basin from Cairo, Illinois, to New Orleans, Louisiana:

            NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the members of the House of Representatives of the Ninety-sixth General Assembly, First Regular Session, the Senate concurring therein, hereby strongly urge the United States Congress to support a comprehensive plan for the Upper Mississippi River Basin that enhances system-wide flood control without creating adverse impacts on existing levees, levee districts, rural communities, and metropolitan areas. The plan should be based on analysis that quantify the impacts of enhanced flood control measures and acknowledges the importance of keeping agricultural land in production. The proposed Plan H is totally unacceptable to Lincoln, Pike, and St. Charles Counties and we ask the Missouri Congressional Delegation to support modifications of the comprehensive plan, by the Corps of Engineers, to this plan; and

            BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Chief Clerk of the Missouri House of Representatives be instructed to prepare properly inscribed copies of this resolution for each member of the Missouri Congressional Delegation.