Mississippi River Mayors Focus On Drought, Plastics At MRCTI Meeting

As severe drought once again lowered river levels and restricted cargoes on the Mississippi River, mayors of cities and towns along its length met in Bemidji, Minn., near the river’s headwaters in Itasca State Park, to address river-wide issues—including chronic drought. The annual meeting of the Mississippi River Cities & Towns Initiative (MRCTI) ran from September 12 through 14 and officially kicked off with a press conference on September 13.

The conference brought together dozens of mayors from 10 states as well as global stakeholders. The meeting sought to increase infrastructure to reduce plastic pollution, solidify partnerships to equip Mississippi River cities with tools to best implement resources from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and address the drought impacts currently gripping the corridor. In addition, MRCTI completed a historic agreement between the indigenous nations of the headwaters region.

“This is a historic meeting for middle America for two critical reasons,” said Jim Strickland, mayor of Memphis and MRCTI co-chair. “One, we’re releasing with the United Nations Environment Program and University of Georgia our final plastic pollution report for the whole river. And two, we’re signing an historic new agreement with the three indigenous nations of the headwaters region for a new level of engagement and partnership with those who have preserved our corridor for millennia.”

Drought Efforts

Mitch Reynolds, mayor of LaCrosse, Wis., and MRCTI Wisconsin state chair, introduced the part of the press conference that described MRCTI’s collaborations with the Corps of Engineers and other federal agencies on drought initiatives.

“America’s most critical agricultural states are along the Mississippi River, and they are swiftly approaching ‘go-time’ for our export economy,” Reynolds said. “Barge companies are announcing load restrictions, low water stages are being exceeded in multiple cities, and short-term relief is uncertain at this point. The 30-year drought of 2022 saw the lowest recorded levels of the Mississippi in the Memphis region. Over 40 days of closures and restrictions on the river resulted in price convulsions throughout the supply chain. We’re hoping that scenario doesn’t play out this fall, but signs are pointing that way.”

Mayors pledged to continue to work directly with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on establishing a comprehensive drought policy for the nation. MRCTI proposed and worked with Congress to establish the nation’s first national drought council in 2013. The Drought Council has been led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and has “made tremendous strides in developing the science and monitoring associated with drought,” according to MRCTI. But the mayors stress that the United States still lacks national drought policy. The mayors have proposed the following drought resilience policies:

1. Award federal disaster declarations to states for drought;

2. Allow cities to spend FEMA funds addressing drought impacts;

3. Make drought mitigation a spending priority for IIJA grants;

4. Develop national incentives for manufacturers to build out water recycling;

5. Allow for more adaptive multi-watershed management so river systems can be managed at basin scale to mitigate for climate impact;

6. Allow farmers and landowners to be compensated for voluntarily rotating acreage out of irrigation to alleviate drought; and

7. Make agricultural credits for climate mitigation available under Title II, Subtitle C of the Inflation Reduction Act applicable to drought resilience activities.

Plastic Pollution Report

The plastic pollution report is the culmination of a citizen science report along the entire Mississippi River that provides an accurate map of the plastic pollution intensity along the corridor and offers a brand audit to encourage plastic reduction commitments. Since it was released 12 years ago, a free Debris Tracker app has been used by citizen volunteers to document and map the location of dozens of categories of floating debris items in the river. So far, 87 million pieces of debris have been mapped within 10 miles of the river, according to Jenna Jambeck with the New Materials Institute at the University of Georgia, who helped develop the report.

“We are pleased to be partners on this important initiative with cities along the Mississippi River, just as countries worldwide are negotiating the first international, legally binding treaty on plastic pollution,” said Rafael Peralta, North American regional director for the United Nations’ Environment Program. “We need a full system transformation–backed by policy, transparency and regulatory change–to eliminate plastic pollution. A system that builds new business models and market opportunities creates jobs along the supply chain and brings justice to vulnerable communities.”

“We are proud to be the science partner for the Mississippi River Plastic Pollution Initiative (MRPPI) to facilitate community-based data collection with Debris Tracker,” Jambeck said. “There’s power in the data all along the river now for the mayors and community members to engage companies and industry, apply for grants, expand infrastructure and more.”

In tandem with the release of the report, mayors announced a new and innovative partnership to equip MRCTI cities with the tools and capacity to implement plastic circularity components such as broader recycling.

“This is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to create infrastructure that respects resource value, enhances communities through trust and transparency and builds true wealth,” said Mark Armen, founder and CEO of Replenysh, an “enterprise circularity platform” helping institutions recover and recycle their waste materials. “We are honored to partner with MRCTI to collect and market recyclable material that has historically ended up in the Mississippi River or a landfill. Together, we will restore our relationship with natural resources by transforming what has been seen as trash into an asset.”

Tribal Agreement

MRCTI mayors and the three indigenous nations of the headwaters region signed a memorandum of understanding to work together to improve the Mississippi River Corridor’s ecology from Bemidji to the Gulf of Mexico. Indigenous nations represented in the new agreement are the Red Lake Nation, the White Earth Nation and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe.

“Here at this meeting, we have achieved a beginning by entering a new and historic memorandum of common purpose,” said Jorge Prince, mayor of Bemidji. “It lays the groundwork through which the indigenous nations of the headwaters region and mayors along the corridor can work toward developing a way we can cooperate more consistently, eventually involving all the indigenous nations of the Mississippi River.”