![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bismarckmandanblog.com\/images\/corps_office_12640.jpg\")
<\/center>The Army Corps of Engineers has some tough questions to answer. I don’t envy them. A recent investigation<\/a> is turning up some very interesting emails regarding the Missouri River flood situation.<\/p>\nThe most notable passage I’ve read so far is where Todd Lindquist writes, “I’m headed home. I no longer look people in the eye and tell them the forecast is 85,000 cfs from Garrison.”<\/a> As it turns out, releases would eventually exceed that number by another 70,000 cfs… a fact North Dakota would be told only gradually.<\/p>\n There have been plenty of people making the case that the river was horribly mismanaged prior to the flood event<\/a>. I wouldn’t argue with that. Now it’s time to figure out where everything went sideways and to prevent it from happening again.<\/p>\n In a way, I have a lot of sympathy for the Corps of Engineers; after all, they have strict guidelines to which they must adhere, guidelines which result in quite a juggling act<\/a> as they struggle to make many competing interests happy. That’s quite an unenviable position.<\/p>\n Any investigation and resulting action that is taken in the aftermath of the Missouri River flood needs to be more than a simple headhunt. It also needs to take a long, hard look at the way the Missouri river system master management manual is written. Perhaps the dams should be returned to their original intended purpose: flood control. That way when barge traffic, recreation, and an endangered bird begin to cause mismanagement of the system, people’s lives and property don’t become casualties of the resulting mess.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Army Corps of Engineers has some tough questions to answer. I don’t envy them. A recent investigation is turning up some very interesting emails regarding the Missouri River flood situation. The most notable passage I’ve read so far is … Continue reading