Posted on June 27, 2017
By Glen Olson, Winona Daily News
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has agreed with calls from area legislators to extend public comment on its plans to dredge part of the Mississippi River near Wabasha.
Previously set to end Friday, the Corps said in a press release that it decided to extend the public comment period after listening to community concerns about its draft plan, and that the new deadline allows more time for the public to understand the proposal and provide alternatives.
The draft plan outlines Corps’ requirement to remove and permanently place more than 10 million cubic yards of dredged material from the Mississippi River’s Lower Pool 4 during the next 40 years.
Once the Corps finalizes a plan, it will guide maintenance of the nine-foot navigation channel.
The Corps said in the press release it will “continue working with its federal, state and local partners to explore opportunities to reduce costs associated with maintaining the channel as well as minimizing impacts to the communities.”
This is the second extension of the comment period after the plan was introduced May 11. First extended from June 9 to June 23, it will now run through July 14.
The stretch of water to be dredged is between Wabasha and Buffalo, Wis., and the area accounts for about 40 percent of the dredging in that district.
The plan would use four on-shore placement and transfer sites with river access, which include two sites closer to Wabasha, a temporary site, and the Alma Marina.
That would require about 470 acres of farmland in Minnesota and Wisconsin to permanently store the sand, and there was potential for eminent domain to be used to seize it.
Community members have packed open meetings on the issues, and federal legislators from Minnesota and Wisconsin have said they would like to see a different solution.
Sens. Al Franken, DFL-Minn., Amy Klobuchar, DFL-Minn., and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., sent a joint letter to the Corps of Engineer’s chief general saying that they have received an “outpouring of concern and alarm from our constituents.”
They said that Corps’ claims that they were required to go with the least costly option was not actually the law, so they could be waived.
“This least-cost option requirement is not in statute, but in Army Corps regulations,” the senators wrote in their letter. “We therefore ask that the Corps change or waive this regulation in this instance and find alternative locations for the dredge material.”
U.S. Reps. Ron Kind, D-Wis, and Jason Lewis, R-Minn., had also written a letter asking for the extension to allow more public input and comment.
After the extension was announced Friday, Kind said in a statement he was glad the proposal was being carefully examined and the timeline for public comment pushed back.
“Those of us who are lucky enough to live along the Mississippi River understand how critical the river is to our economy and quality of life,” Kind said. “It is important that any proposed plan is carefully vetted and the community has ample time to express their opinions on the proposal.”
Sens. Al Franken, DFL-Minn., Amy Klobuchar, DFL-Minn., and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., sent a joint letter to the Corps of Engineer saying that they have received an “outpouring of concern and alarm from our constituents.”
Source: Winona Daily News
