Mississippi River Is the Focus of St. Louis Meeting This Week
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO) -- WASHINGTON, DC -- September 11, 2012 -- A gathering in St. Louis this week of mayors from Minnesota to Louisiana marks the beginning of a plan to bring national attention to the Mississippi River's problems at a time when money to fix them has grown scarce.More than 20 mayors are scheduled to be on hand Thursday and Friday for the inaugural event of the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative as many river communities suffer from the one-two punch of drought and Hurricane Isaac.
But even before the summer's low water forced river closures and the storm damaged wetlands in the lower river, local officials had grown concerned about diminished attention to a host of river issues ranging from crumbling ports to aging locks and dams.
Mayor Francis Slay said he agreed to take a leadership role because of his belief that rivers -- and water in general -- are increasingly important to cities.
"I know that in the Mississippi River, we have a gem," he said. "With resources so tight, I think it's important to have an organization of mayors representing cities and towns up and down the Mississippi to be an advocate for a sustainable river."
Memphis Mayor A.C. Wharton Jr. said in an interview that policy-makers need to understand that the Mississippi "is much more than a highway for barges. It is truly the mighty Mississippi in the sense that there is something to gain for everybody in keeping it as America's premier river."
He noted his efforts to return Memphis to the status of a "true river city," albeit one that recently landed a Mitsubishi electrical transformer plant that opens next year.
Thus far, more than 40 mayors have signed on to a new initiative aimed at arguing the river's case collectively to Congress and federal agencies such as the Army Corps of Engineers, the Agriculture Department and the Environmental Protection Agency. Federal officials will be on hand for the meeting.
The Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative is being funded from a $250,000 grant from the Walton Family Foundation.
The mayors' initial focus will be pressuring Congress to pass the five-year farm bill, which contains disaster relief and a new insurance program that could better protect against drought. The mayors also intend to press for flood insurance legislation more robust than a relatively weak flood insurance bill crammed into catch-all legislation earlier this summer.
The mayors plan to present a detailed platform of the river's needs in Washington early next year, a time when budget-cutting in the Congress is likely to be worrisome to local governments and organizations who rely on federal funds.
"We have to keep an eye on the ball as far as these cuts because already programs such as disaster mitigation and watershed management have fallen away," said Colin Wellenkamp, director of the initiative.
But Wellenkamp added that the new effort "is not mayors asking Washington for a bunch of money. ... They see all these issues first-hand, and a lot of jobs in their cities are dependent on the river. They are, pardon the pun, all in the same boat."
Brad Walker, a rivers specialist at the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, said he hoped mayors would get a better understanding of the benefits of a restored river, including better flood protection.
"I don't know how much opportunity there will be for that kind of discussion, but I'm hopeful that good things can come out of this meeting," he said.
Otis Williams, director of the St. Louis Development Corporation, believes that the new collaboration among cities can yield dividends.
"What we have here is a group of people speaking as one on issues that matter to them all," he said.
(c)2012 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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