Review of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Restructured Upper Mississippi River-Illinois Waterway Feasibility Study Second Report (2004) / Chapter Skim
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4 Implementation
4 Implementation
Pages 64-72
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From page 64... ...
Although the Upper Mississippi River system has been designated by Congress as a nationally significant ecosystem as well as a nationally significant commercial navigation system, the feasibility study has been conducted thus far for a single, authorized purpose: inland navigation. In order to obtain project authorizations and appropriations and proceed with implementation of the study's recommendations, the Corps requests that ecosystem restoration be added as a second, coequal project purpose.
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From page 65... ...
Authorization is recommended for a continuing program of studies and monitoring, to include the further development of inland navigation economic models, increased collection of data on global grain markets, and so forth. The costs of these studies would be borne equally between the Inland Waterways Trust Fund and general funds.
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From page 66... ...
All ecosystem restoration projects after the first 15 years will require a new feasibility study, which would incorporate the experience and knowledge developed in the first 15 years. For the projects and program proposed for immediate authorization, however, adaptive management would apparently be accomplished through the mechanism of project implementation reports, although details of this process are not provided.
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From page 67... ...
Navigation Improvement Cost Sharing Since passage of the Water Resource Development Act of 1986, the cost of navigation improvements and major rehabilitation has been shared with the Inland Waterways Trust Fund. The trust fund receives revenue from the Inland Waterways User Tax, a $0.20 per gallon fuel tax applicable to commercial navigation.
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From page 68... ...
This may represent the state of the art, but as project development continues, the Corps may wish to seek methods not only to more closely integrate navigation and ecosystem restoration projects, but also to link them to flood management projects, the refuge system, and efforts to improve water quality in the basin. Box 4-1 Integration and Interconnections in the Upper Mississippi River and Illinois Waterway After completion of the Upper Mississippi River 9-foot channel project, the navigation dams maintained river levels higher than they normally would have been during the low-water season, which increased the seepage rate through the levees.
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From page 69... ...
As this report has made clear, designing and conducting a comprehensive and credible feasibility study that incorporates the engineering, economic, environmental, and other dimensions of proposed Upper Mississippi RiverIllinois Waterway lock extensions represents a major analytical challenge. The Corps of Engineers has put forth a sustained and considerable effort in conducting its UMR-IWW feasibility study, and the agency is to be credited for broadening and deepening the study in many useful ways.
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From page 70... ...
, while envi- provements with ronmental mitigation The Corps requests new navigation and flood and monitoring were authorities for environ- management consid never fully funded mental management erations should be and the Fish and demonstrated Wildlife Coordina- A staged implementation tion Act report was plan is proposed, in never finalized creasing the prospects for adaptive manage ment Corps draft feasibility report-EIS is more bal anced, but ecosystem management and resto ration are only weakly integrated with naviga tion and flood manage ment considerations NOTE: EMP = Environmental Management Program; EIS = Environmental Impact Statement.
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From page 71... ...
The economic benefits of lock extensions or replacements were estimated on the basis of five alternative scenarios of future barge traffic, using both the Tow Cost Model (TCM) and the ESSENCE model.
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From page 72... ...
One helpful outcome of this effort has been the development of a Preferred Plan that explicitly incorporates incremental implementation, based on continuing data collection, improved modeling techniques, and evaluation. If this plan is carried out as proposed in the restructured feasibility study, some of the problems noted in this report could be addressed through the application of methods of adaptive management.
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