Another Voice
By Kristin Perry

Corps’ dumping of soil in the Missouri River isn’t in the spirit of conservation

Editor’s note: Another Voice is an opinion column that provides perspective on issues that affect agriculture. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of Today’s Farmer or MFA Incorporated. Submissions should be 700 words. Send submissions or inquiries to Todaysfarmer@mfa-inc.com.

The Army Corps of Engineers is working on a series of 22 projects in Missouri to create habitat for the pallid sturgeon in the Missouri River. As a part of those projects, it is dumping massive amounts of soil into the Missouri River by digging huge ditches through nearby farmland. This is not in-river dredging. The agency is digging through farmland it has purchased along the river and dumping the soil into the river.

At one of these projects, Jameson Island near Arrow Rock, the Corps is dumping 4.5 million cubic yards of soil (5.4 million tons) directly into the river. That project is 300 feet wide, more than 9 feet deep and 1.85 miles long. If you put it in terms of 2 tons of soil per acre, river soil deposition from that single project would be the equivalent of 2.7 million acres (which is more than the total of 2.63 million acres of corn harvested in the entire state of Missouri last year).

Calculated in terms of nutrients, that much solid pumped into the river is loading the Missouri with 11.1 million pounds of nitrogen, 9.3 million pounds of phosphorus and 100 million pounds of carbon. That is the same amount of fertilizer you would have if you dumped 795 semi-trailers trucks (holding 46,000 pounds each).

And this is just one of 22 projects. The cost of all the projects is $54 million this year and $86 million next year.

For years now, federal agencies have pointed toward agriculture as a culprit of hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico. Hypoxia is a condition found at estuaries and at the mouths of major rivers like the Mississippi. Essentially, it is an area of deoxygenated water from the eutrophication effect of the river. The condition is natural to some extent but can be magnified by water that is high in nutrients. When fingers are pointed at agriculture for hypoxia in the Gulf, I’d like the Corps to admit they are contributing a huge part of the pollution. The USGS Survey for Missouri River Valley Sediment and Nutrients lists agricultural fertilizer as the top cause of nutrient loading. The Corps’ dumping needs to be listed as one of the leading causes. And doesn’t this all sound counterproductive to all our efforts to stop erosion on farm ground? Why have CREP, CRP, CSP and EQIP and the rest of the farm program acronym stable if another federal agency is openly flouting the ideals of soil conservation.

I serve on the Missouri Clean Water Commission in the seat to represent knowledge of agriculture. I am very concerned about what this dumping will do to the reputation of agriculture. If the truth be told, apparently some in DNR and the Corps think it is OK for the Corps to do this dumping because they believe the sediment is needed in the Missouri River. But you can’t dump soil without dumping the nutrients in the soil. If that is scientifically defensible, then everyone should be allowed to dump. Why do these agencies make everyone else have a permit and clean the sediment OUT of the water? Why does the Corps get to dump and no one else?

On April 23, the Clean Water Commission met and by unanimous vote instructed our legal staff to “Notify the U.S. Corps of Engineers to stop dumping soil into the Missouri River within one week of receipt of our notice. If they fail to do so voluntarily, we instruct our legal staff to seek a temporary restraining order and injunction to stop them from dumping soil until the Corps proves they are not adversely affecting the quality of water in Missouri and further to have the Corps demonstrate why they do not have to abide by the same regulations affecting other landowners, municipalities, and industries in Missouri.”

A week later, the Corps issued a press release that said dumping would be put on hold until the soil was tested.

Subsequently, the Commission has opened hearings and taken public comment on the issue. I hope that common sense is the result. Soil loss from erosion contributes to problems downstream. And soil lost from a farm, we have been taught, is productivity lost forever. But the erosion of the good standing of agriculture is just as permanent. Federal agencies dumping soil straight into the river without taking responsibility for the effects has an eroding effect on the reputation of agriculture. It is time to stop it.

Kristin Perry is Vice-Chair of the Missouri Clean Water Commission.