Bill Would Boost Flood Protection Along Mississippi Levees

(TNS) -Legislation to give levee districts along the upper Mississippi River more flexibility to prepare for floods has been introduced by a bipartisan coalition of Illinois representatives in the U.S. House.

The Upper Mississippi River Levee Safety Act was introduced Tuesday by U.S. Reps. Darin LaHood, R- Peoria, Mary Miller, R- Oakland, Mike Bost, R- Murphysboro, and Eric Sorenson, D- Moline.

The act would benefit local levee districts from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, to Guttenberg, Iowa, by giving them more flexibility to maintain their systems by reducing the federal regulatory challenges that make maintenance and improvements difficult.

Changing weather conditions have altered flow frequency profiles on the upper Mississippi River, according to a fact sheet about the act provided by Miller’s office, but the region’s current level of protection has not been updated to coordinate with these changes.

The problem is the current policies of the Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency regarding levee maintenance don’t match, said Mike Klingner, chair of the Upper Mississippi, Illinois & Missouri Rivers Association.

Maintaining the level of protection is voluntary and done at local expense.

“This bill doesn’t obligate the federal government to do anything other than give us the right to maintain it,” Klingner said. “This legislation maintains what Congress and the Corps originally intended.”

The proposed legislation puts FEMA and the Corps in the same position on the importance of maintenance and allowing it to be maintained while avoiding a lot of red tape, Klingner said.

“The act would also benefit conservation areas protected by levees,” Klingner said.

The act is supported by the Upper Mississippi, Illinois & Missouri Rivers Association, as well as the Corn Belt Ports and the Illinois Farm Bureau.

“In central and northwestern Illinois, inland waterways are critical to the economic viability of our communities and allow small businesses, farmers and manufacturers to export commodities around the world,” LaHood said.

“This bill is a critical step to ensure that levee operators have the tools and flexibility they need to do essential maintenance along the Mississippi River,” Miller said. “The Mississippi levees protect countless homes and thousands of acres of farmland.”

An effort is under way to introduce a similar bill in the Senate, with hopes of including it in the Water Resources Development Act bill in 2024.

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