Editorial: Pressure Is Increasing For The Closure Of MR-GO

As we tackle the subject of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet, it is not our intent to pontificate on the value of closing the waterway but to pose a question about the slippery slope we believe could exist if the plaintiffs win their case against the government and are successful in blaming the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for death and destruction in New Orleans’ 9th Ward. Neither is it our intent to suggest that closing the outlet would be a bad decision. We just don’t know.

As we reported last week, the state of Louisiana joined a legal action to close the canal. Residents of St. Bernard blame the waterway for providing a direct route for storm surge waters that decimated most of the parish and surrounding areas in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina last year. The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported that “the action marks the state’s first courthouse clash with the federal government since Katrina over hurricane protection measures and Army Corps of Engineers’ projects that failed or have been blamed for intensifying flooding.”

If the government loses its lawsuit, does that mean that everyone who suffered flood damage in New Orleans from surge water will be able to join a class-action suit to recover monetary losses? And if they can, does that mean that anyone who ever suffered hurricane or other storm losses because water, flood or otherwise, topped a floodwall or levee built by the Corps can sue the agency? Once the camel gets its nose into the tent, watch out!

If what we fear could happen does, would that mean that every environmental organization or other entity that placed legal obstacles in the path of the Corps over the years as it attempted to improve the 350-mile levee system would also be fair game? Would every governmental group and industry organization that supported channel construction also be prime targets?

Right or wrong, there has been much obstruction-building against Corps projects over the years. And this includes opposition by politicians, who usually are immune from everything, regardless of what havoc they cause.

The MR-GO was authorized by Congress in 1956. Construction was completed by 1965. The purpose of the 66-mile-long channel was to provide a shorter route between the Gulf of Mexico and the New Orleans Inner Harbor. It also was intended to accommodate larger ships that could not utilize Industrial Canal Lock.

Most river projects of this magnitude take a long time. If mistakes have been made in planning, if expected results do not occur, it doesn’t take long for users and opponents to let the Corps know. In the case of the MR-GO, erosion is said to have increased the channel from its original width of 650 feet to today’s 1,500 feet. Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti claims that the Corps failed to heed numerous warnings about the channel from state and federal agencies, including one dating back to 1958 by the Department of the Interior.

It occurs to us that the lawsuits involving the MR-GO must be handled gingerly, with every attention being paid to the possibility of opening Pandora’s box.

It is not the prerogative of the Corps to dream up river projects. The idea about constructing the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway was introduced almost a century before it ever hit the drawing board. And it took a lot of public support to get it that far. As with all water projects, it had both opponents and proponents. The Tenn-Tom developed fast in some ways not expected and more slowly in others. It soon became a world-class fishing area. Barge traffic may not have developed as fast as some expected, but business began to materialize and last week we reported that industrial development is accelerating along the waterway. The financial value to the region adjacent to the Tenn-Tom has been enormous.

The Arkansas Waterway also has produced great results as we can see from the monthly reports from the Tulsa Port of Catoosa. As we reported last week, the City of Tulsa-County Port Authority gambled 33 years ago that a $1.7 grain elevator, now a $7.77 million grain elevator, would pay for itself. It has. The entire complex was completed by the fall of 1974. Since then more than 385 million bushels of grain have gone over the Tulsa docks. That’s 23.1 billion loaves of bread worth.

Obviously the MR-GO has not achieved such success and popularity (despite businesses located along its banks) due to the negative environmental impact of the project. The visit by Katrina most likely has sealed its fate. What impact closing of the channel would have is the subject of a Corps study mandated by Congress in June. Fortunately, relocation costs for the six businesses located along the waterway are part of the discussion. The study is due to be completed by December. A federal response to the lawsuit is due November 20.

For years the Cross-Florida Barge Canal was the subject of a deauthorization battle, and finally it was closed. Florida is still there. Life goes on. One cannot accurately describe what might have developed if the canal had been completed.

With the MR-GO, we are not dealing with unknowns. The channel has been utilized to one degree or another for decades. There has been sufficient time elapsed for both the good and bad to be recorded. All we can do is stay tuned for the outcome.

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