Summer is a time to catch up on reading that has been put off, and with the interest in the high water on the Missouri River I have some reading recommendations for people that are interested in the current flooding of the Missouri River. These books are long and comprehensive, but of a high academic quality.
Through my studying of the Pick-Sloan Plan two books I would recommend if you want a comprehensive history on the dams and the Corps are The History of Large Federal Dams: Planning, Design, and Construction in the Era of Big Dams, and Big Dam Era. Chapter 6 (p235-292) in Large Federal dams covers the Missouri River the building of the structures and the Pick-Sloan Plan. Big Dam Era covers the Missouri River from the implementation of the Pick-Sloan Plan to the 1990s. This book is about 200 pages. Granted both are written by the Corps, but they good comprehensive background histories. Luckily, they are now online in PDF format and the full text can be accessed on-line which is better than writing the Corps for a copy or trying to find them in a library.
If political history is more of your thing then I would suggest; Dammed Indians Revisited by Michael Lawson, Unruly River by Robert Kelly Schneiders, Cadillac Desert by Mark Reisner(Chapter 6 p170-213), and River of Promise River of Peril by John Thorson. It is alot of reading, but they are interesting books to give a perpective of the Corps, Janklow, South Dakota, and politics surrounding the dams. Finally, if your interested in the legislation of the Pick-Sloan Plan I would recommend The Missouri Basin's Pick-Sloan Plan A Case Study in Congressional Policy Determination by Marian E Ridgeway. In my opinion the best book that describes the legislative process of the Pick-Sloan Plan without reading thousands of pages of Congressional documents.
Summer reading List
The History of Large Federal Dams: Planning, Design, and Construction in the Era of Big Dams, and Big Dam Era.
Big Dam Era
Dammed Indians Revisited
Unruly River
Cadillac Desert
River of Promise River of Peril
The Missouri Basin's Pick-Sloan Plan A Case Study in Congressional Policy Determination
I know these are huge books and more time is required then the average reader might want to put in, but these are the best. So these are my recommendations for summer reading. Please leave comments on what you think or other good books or articles on the topic. If you read or had read any of these works feel free to comment on them.
Showing posts with label Corps of Engineers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Corps of Engineers. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Monday, June 6, 2011
Former Governor Rounds Tries to Blame the Corps for Mismanagement
Sunday Rapid City Journal reporter Kevin Woster interviewed former South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds about the flooding in Pierre. Rounds according to the Woster article Rounds put the blame of the flooding on the water mismanagement of the Corps of Engineers, and stated to Woster that he thought living by a flood preventing structure like the Oahe dam protected his property. With the high run off on the Mississippi and the Missouri it seems that flood waters will flood some areas of Pierre and Ft. Pierre. Rounds comments seems like political pandering instead of anger and frustration.
The dams did their job by preventing the floods. They were never designed to protect land. No structure provides 100% protection. The Corps knew that they were going to have higher than normal precipitation in the basin, but not this high. The Blog the Interested Party had reported on this as early as January, and the Corps mentioned it in a article in Yankton Press and Dakotan February.
My sympathy does go out to the families who are hurting because of this flood, but the reality is preventative measures could have been taken by these residents or land owners. If people wanted to protect their investment from flooding, the mechanism available to them was Federal Flood Insurance. People like M. Rounds who now complains that the Corps had failed to do their job by not protecting his property on the flood plain need to look back less than sixty years ago at the 1952 flood. If they would have looked at what flooded back then they would have known that they had a possible risk of flooding. Blaming the Corps now because he did not take the correct precautions is not the Corps fault. Does Rounds have an alternative to the Corps?
Two popular alternatives to the Corps and the dams are the Missouri Valley Authority (MVA) or get rid of the dams. The MVA was supposed to mimic the Tennessee Valley Authority. During the creation of the Pick-Sloan Plan part of the Flood Control Act this idea was brought up by President Roosevelt other regional supporters like the Farmers Union. The MVA would work like the TVA. The MVA failed because the states did not want a bureaucratic body appointed by the Executive branch to regulate the water. The states through the Missouri River States Committee (MRSC), a group of the 10 basin governors and a state representatives, decided to side with the Corps and the Bureau of Reclamation. The MRSC believed that the plan would go through Congress with little changes, and the states at that time had a good working relationship with the Corps.
The other option would be to get rid of the dams an idea posed by Dr. Robert Kelly Schienders and Stephen Ambrose. If this option happened people living along the river would have to move to higher ground or risk yearly flooding. The river would be less static and more difficult for barge transportation in the South and recreational purposes in the North. Both regions economies would be affected greatly by this decision.
If people knew these options, we could have an honest discussion instead of the yearly blame the Corps. This flood is probably a once and a lifetime occurrence hopefully, but we need to have adult conversations for anything to be fixed. Rounds complaints sound like political positioning instead of anger or frustration.
The dams did their job by preventing the floods. They were never designed to protect land. No structure provides 100% protection. The Corps knew that they were going to have higher than normal precipitation in the basin, but not this high. The Blog the Interested Party had reported on this as early as January, and the Corps mentioned it in a article in Yankton Press and Dakotan February.
My sympathy does go out to the families who are hurting because of this flood, but the reality is preventative measures could have been taken by these residents or land owners. If people wanted to protect their investment from flooding, the mechanism available to them was Federal Flood Insurance. People like M. Rounds who now complains that the Corps had failed to do their job by not protecting his property on the flood plain need to look back less than sixty years ago at the 1952 flood. If they would have looked at what flooded back then they would have known that they had a possible risk of flooding. Blaming the Corps now because he did not take the correct precautions is not the Corps fault. Does Rounds have an alternative to the Corps?
Two popular alternatives to the Corps and the dams are the Missouri Valley Authority (MVA) or get rid of the dams. The MVA was supposed to mimic the Tennessee Valley Authority. During the creation of the Pick-Sloan Plan part of the Flood Control Act this idea was brought up by President Roosevelt other regional supporters like the Farmers Union. The MVA would work like the TVA. The MVA failed because the states did not want a bureaucratic body appointed by the Executive branch to regulate the water. The states through the Missouri River States Committee (MRSC), a group of the 10 basin governors and a state representatives, decided to side with the Corps and the Bureau of Reclamation. The MRSC believed that the plan would go through Congress with little changes, and the states at that time had a good working relationship with the Corps.
The other option would be to get rid of the dams an idea posed by Dr. Robert Kelly Schienders and Stephen Ambrose. If this option happened people living along the river would have to move to higher ground or risk yearly flooding. The river would be less static and more difficult for barge transportation in the South and recreational purposes in the North. Both regions economies would be affected greatly by this decision.
If people knew these options, we could have an honest discussion instead of the yearly blame the Corps. This flood is probably a once and a lifetime occurrence hopefully, but we need to have adult conversations for anything to be fixed. Rounds complaints sound like political positioning instead of anger or frustration.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Some Thoughts on the Flooding of the Missouri River
Disclaimer: I have been studying the damming of the Missouri River now for about four years. My M.A. thesis has primarily been about the South Dakota's role in damming Missouri River from 1915 to 1950. That is the perspective that I bring to this article.
As I was reading Mount Blogmore blog posting today. It brought to mind some interesting points think about this situation such as; are where does the water go from the Missouri, why were the dams built in the first place, and would the flooding be even worse without the current infrastructure? I hope to answer these questions below.
Where does all the water go? All the water from the Missouri travels to the Mississippi River. Right now the Mississippi is at record stages any more water now or earlier would have increased the flooding on the Mississippi, and the Corps are using plans and safeguards developed after the 1927 to combat that flood. You can wish that they did something, but suffering was either going to be felt here or down river. I believe that the Corps were trying to ease pain down river, and did not intentionally do this.
This flood reminds me of the flood of 1943 and 1952. The prevailing wisdom at that time was to build high head dams to serve multiple purposes such as; flood control, irrigation, navigation, and hydroelectric power. The damages caused by the 1943 and 1952 floods inundated the same area with about 4 feet of water before the dams. Corps of Engineers officials had testified in Congress and had made statements that flood of 1952 would have been prevented with the high head dams. The Oahe dam is a high head dam.
Which brings me to my final point. The Missouri is meandering river. It moves around and is fairly uncontrollable and the flooding would have been worse without the current infrastructure. If you want to put the blame on Corps for the possible flooding of Pierre and Ft. Pierre, we also have to blame ourselves for some of the decisions we have made as South Dakotans.
To conclude the blog post my thoughts are with the people of Pierre and Ft. Pierre and wish them luck on their struggle.
As I was reading Mount Blogmore blog posting today. It brought to mind some interesting points think about this situation such as; are where does the water go from the Missouri, why were the dams built in the first place, and would the flooding be even worse without the current infrastructure? I hope to answer these questions below.
Where does all the water go? All the water from the Missouri travels to the Mississippi River. Right now the Mississippi is at record stages any more water now or earlier would have increased the flooding on the Mississippi, and the Corps are using plans and safeguards developed after the 1927 to combat that flood. You can wish that they did something, but suffering was either going to be felt here or down river. I believe that the Corps were trying to ease pain down river, and did not intentionally do this.
This flood reminds me of the flood of 1943 and 1952. The prevailing wisdom at that time was to build high head dams to serve multiple purposes such as; flood control, irrigation, navigation, and hydroelectric power. The damages caused by the 1943 and 1952 floods inundated the same area with about 4 feet of water before the dams. Corps of Engineers officials had testified in Congress and had made statements that flood of 1952 would have been prevented with the high head dams. The Oahe dam is a high head dam.
Which brings me to my final point. The Missouri is meandering river. It moves around and is fairly uncontrollable and the flooding would have been worse without the current infrastructure. If you want to put the blame on Corps for the possible flooding of Pierre and Ft. Pierre, we also have to blame ourselves for some of the decisions we have made as South Dakotans.
To conclude the blog post my thoughts are with the people of Pierre and Ft. Pierre and wish them luck on their struggle.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)