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NFC: Support the Army Corps Reform Act of 2000
Dear Friend,
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Support the Army Corps Reform Act of 2000 in the House!
Support the Army Corps Reform Act of 2000!
Call or email your Representative and urge him/her to co-
sponsor the Army Corps Reform Act of 2000, which will be
introduced by Representative Ron Kind (D-WI) this week.
The Army Corps Reform Act of 2000 will:
· Require independent review for large ($25 million
or more) or controversial projects;
· Require full, concurrent mitigation for project
impacts;
· Empower the Corps' Environmental Advisory Board to
oppose projects when impacts cannot be cost-effectively or
successfully mitigated;
· Require monitoring of completed projects;
· Create a stakeholder advisory group to guide
project development; and
· Make economic benefits and environmental
restoration co-equal goals of project planning.
EMAIL OR CALL TODAY!
You can call your Representative by calling the
Congressional Switchboard at 202-225-3121. Or visit
CongressMerge at
http://www.congressmerge.com/onlinedb/index.html to
identify your Representative and get direct phone numbers.
If you have questions or want more information on partners
involved in the effort to reform operations of the Corps,
please see the American Rivers’ Corps Reform page at
http://www.amrivers.org -- click on “Corps Reform” in
the “River Campaigns” section. Or contact Jeff Stein at
jstein at amrivers_org at 319-884-4481 or Scott Faber at
sfaber at amrivers_org or 202-347-7550 x3015.
BACKGROUND:
The need for Corps Reform is greater than ever:
· No Oversight -- The absence of civilian and
congressional oversight has allowed Corps planners and
project boosters to bend the rules to support questionable
projects. Examples include Upper Mississippi River locks,
Yazoo Pumps, Big Sunflower dredging, New Madrid levee,
Columbia River deepening, Delaware River deepening, and the
C&D Canal Deepening.
· Self-Promoting Agency -- The Corps has become a
self-perpetuating agency, promoting rather than analyzing
projects.
· Benefit-Cost Analysis Flawed -- Corps methods for
predicting benefits and costs are fundamentally flawed.
Half of the segments of the Inland Waterway System have few
or no barges, and flood losses have doubled.
· Inadequate Mitigation -- In many cases, the Corps
only replaces a fraction of the habitat their projects
destroy. In some cases, the Corps has simply failed to
mitigate for the environmental impacts of levees, dams and
channels, or mitigation projects have failed to produce
promised benefits.
· Species loss -- Corps projects are one leading
cause of freshwater species loss and endangerment in North
America, according to scientists. But the Corps continues
to repeat the environmental mistakes of the past.
Additional background information can be found on American
Rivers’ Corps Reform page at
http://www.amrivers.org -- click on “Corps Reform” in
the “River Campaigns” section.