Barge companies are urging President Barack Obama to declare an emergency on the Mississippi River.
After a summer of drought, water levels there are near record lows and will worsen in the coming weeks. Towboat operators fear the lack of water will soon run their industry aground.
Craig Philip, CEO of the Nashville-based Ingram Barge Company, believes immediate action is necessary.
“When emergencies happen you take emergency action and we think that’s what’s called for here,” Philip said.
River commerce between St. Louis and Cairo, Illinois could come to a screeching halt in less than two weeks because the Army Corps of Engineers recently reduced the flow of water from the Missouri River upstream. Shippers want the Corps to remove rock outcrops near Thebes and Grand Tower, Illinois and divert more water from the Missouri River. But the Corps says it can’t ... or at least not yet. At a recent news conference, Philip and others who depend on this river for commerce said that wasn’t acceptable.
“The agricultural community will be affected. We won’t be able to get fertilizer in up here so that farmers can begin planting for their spring planting. We won’t be able to get the grain out,” Philip said.
About 60 percent of the country’s grain exports and 20 percent of its coal for electric generation travel by river. Those barges keep lots of big trucks off the road. Each tow boat with 15 huge rusty metal barges can haul the equivalent of more than a 1,000 tractor trailers.
So nobody wants shipping here to grind to a halt. But even with dredges in the middle of the river and lighter loads on barges, it’s still not enough.
Now it comes down to blowing up underwater rock pinnacles - a highly specialized job, according to the Corps’ St. Louis District Commander, Colonel Chris Hall. He hopes that work will begin by the end of January and it could last for two months.
“It really boils down to what can you actually do physically,” Colonel Hall said. “It just takes time and it’s a very technical process to go through to remove this material. It’s not an easy job.”
That’s not fast enough for Mike Toohey, head of the Waterways Council, a river industry trade group.
“Starting December 10th, commerce will be interrupted and we will have no solution until March. There’s just no sense of urgency in the government that this is a crisis and needs to be addressed,” Toohey said.
The Corps is releasing less water from reservoirs on the upper Missouri River. That water is used for irrigation, recreation and other uses and acts as a water insurance policy in case of persistent drought. That drought could threaten water supplies in small towns and even put hydroelectric power at risk.
Even if the Corps wanted to give the Mississippi River more of the Missouri’s water ... it says it can’t. The Corps’ Jody Farhat says it is required to follow the Missouri River Master Manual.
“We cannot vary our operation to serve things that are not included in the Master Manual. And the Master Manual includes no provisions to provide support to Mississippi River interests,” Farhat said.
So there are really few good options here. Even if the Corps could blow up the underwater rocks tomorrow, that project would shut down navigation for at least half a day for up to two months.
Politicians up and down the river are pleading with the Corps to release more Missouri River water, but it appears the barge industry will need more than political support.
What it really needs to keep this river viable for freight is lots and lots of rain.
