Missouri tries to block plan to breach Mississippi River levee

Missouri's attorney general turned to a federal court Tuesday to stop a federal plan to blow a levee to ease pressure on the flood-engorged Mississippi River. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plan would flood more than 130,000 evacuated acres in southeastern Missouri, much of it in Mississippi County, said Attorney General Chris Koster. "The flooding would leave a layer of silt on the farmland that could take as much as a generation to clear, causing significant injury to the quality of the farmland for many years," Koster said in a statement about the lawsuit. James Pogue, chief spokesman in the Corps' Memphis office, said the Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway is a "safety valve" in the current crisis. "This allows us to do what nature will do anyway, (but) in a controlled system," he said. Koster also said a law requiring such action is unclear on whether the Corps has the authority to make a decision to detonate the levee. About 100 families live in the floodway, which has not seen such use since 1937. Federal officials say the families have known of easements and legal rights the government has for flood control...more

Yes, the Corps is renowned for doing things "natures way", now aren't they. The folks in the floodway should trust the the professionals and experts in the Corps to do the right thing - just like they did in New Orleans.