Environmental Groups File Suit To Stop Channel Construction On Upper Mississippi

Several environmental groups have filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as part of an attempt to stop navigation channel construction on the upper Mississippi River that they believe has contributed to record flooding the past 20 years.

Melissa Samet, an attorney with the National Wildlife Federation, said the corps’ plans for river navigation are 35 years old and ignore science, which suggests navigation structures could come out of the river or be modified to reduce the threat of flooding.

“We’re not trying to stop navigation or shut it down, but we are saying ‘Corps of Engineers, you need to do this in a modern way,’” she said. “There are changes that you can make that will keep people safer and improve the health of the environment.”

The construction projects on the river are in southern Illinois and Missouri and don’t impact navigation in Wisconsin, but the River Alliance of Wisconsin, which works to reduce polluted runoff is a plaintiff in the lawsuit.

Denny Caneff, the executive director of River Alliance of Wisconsin, said they want to have an effect on the corps’ decision-making.

“It might not have a direct effect on Wisconsin, but it certainly has an effect on the corps and how it views the Mississippi, and we would like that view to be changed,” Caneff said.

Officials with Corps of Engineers aren’t commenting on the lawsuit.