ICYMI: Graves touts need for flood control on river

"Unequivocally, the (South St. Joseph Drainage and Levee) district considers the most important purpose to be flood control," said Joel Euler, a Troy, Kan., attorney representing the district.

The district believes that unless flood control is made the primary emphasis of the Missouri River system, at some point flooding and high water events will occur with such frequency that the real estate located behind the levee structures will no longer be viable, Mr. Euler said.

Mr. Graves agreed.

"Unfortunately, managing the river for economic benefits has become less important than facilitating other objectives of little dubious economic value," Mr. Graves said.

Kathy Kunkel led off the hearing with an overview of Holt County. With 40 percent of the county's 456 square miles situated in the Missouri River floodplain, what the corps does or doesn't do has a direct impact on Holt County's ability to survive, said Mrs. Kunkel, the county clerk.

She said Holt County had floods in each of the four years before the big flood of 2011. During that time, the corps has been buying more river bottom land and taking it off the tax rolls, Mrs. Kunkel said.

There is a rumor that there will be another round of buyout letters coming from the corps, Mr. Graves said.

Jody Farhat, the corps' Missouri River water management chief, said the agency still was in the process of buying an additional 100,000 acres of Missouri River land between Gavins Point and St. Louis.

Land purchased by the corps also is removed from agricultural production, further impacting the local economy, Mrs. Kunkel said.

Lanny Frakes, an area farmer, levee board member and vice president of the Missouri Levee and Drainage District Association, reminded the congressman that the 100,000 acres the corps wants to buy is bottom land soil, which "can produce enough calories to feed over 1 million people for an entire year."

Mr. Frakes didn't think much of the corps' efforts at what it calls "flood risk reduction."

"The corps' new approach to flood control has little to do with keeping the Missouri River between its banks, Mr. Frakes said. "This is not an approach to flood control. It is a recipe for disaster."

Mr. Euler reminded the congressman that in 2011, invested capital in the South St. Joseph District exceeded $2 billion. Yet, funding to repair St. Joseph levees damaged in the 1993 flood hasn't been allocated in the upcoming federal budget, he added.

Mr. Graves reminded the audience of more than 50 people that Congress no longer has earmarks, which was the primary way to allocate money for specific projects. He said he'd work to find levee funds.