Archived Story

It's a river, not a franchise - Thursday, July 17, 2003

SUMMARY: Missouri River fight isn't between economic and environmental interests. It's between different sets of economic interests.

A federal judge last weekend ordered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reduce the amount of water draining from Montana's Fort Peck Reservoir and other Missouri River impoundments. Fort Peck is so low that a boater would have to look up to see the shoreline. That's a nuisance, but there are real problems as well: Chronic mismanagement of the dam-studded Missouri is wreaking havoc with fisheries, wildlife, tourism and recreation. The Corps of Engineers says it has no plans to comply with the new order.

Why is this happening? To a large extent, it's because the federal government manages the river flows to suit a certain range of uses. Last year, a different federal judge ruled that the Corps of Engineers should - as it is inclined to do - maintain stream flows for the benefit of barges and power plants in the Midwest. Too many years of drought have left the river incapable of being all things to all people.

Conflict over the river's flows - highlighted by the contradictory court orders - often gets cast as a clash between economic and environmental interests. But that isn't quite right. In fact, it's a clash between one set of economic interests and another. People who think the government is safeguarding commercial interests over environmental ones are mistaken. Rather, the government is appropriating a resource (water) for the benefit of barge operators and people in certain areas who don't wish to pay higher power bills at the expense of communities whose economies depend on tourism, recreation and a healthy river. The government is catering to some people while taxing others to mitigate the problems created.

It's fashionable for conservatives to rail against any inconvenient application of the Endangered Species Act. So it is that threats to endangered fish and birds attributable to mismanagement of the Missouri get flicked aside by many people, a judge and entire government agencies. But in this case, the interests of endangered species and conservatives ought to coincide. This isn't just about endangered species. The real issue is whether the Missouri is a river or a government-protected franchise. The federal government has many important responsibilities, but ensuring the transport of gravel or other material by barge to certain cities - rather than by truck or rail, which are good enough for the rest of us - isn't one of them.
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