We’re not getting a pulse…or good answers
By Jessica McCormack, 3/22/06

The Army Corps of Engineers announced that because of low water levels in the Missouri River reservoir system, the ever-so-controversial spring pulse would not be happening this month.

The long time debate encompasses many environmental agencies, the corps, farmers and government officials.

The corps designed plans for unnatural releases of water, also known as pulses, on the Missouri River in March and May. This rise, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, would hopefully encourage spawning by the endangered pallid sturgeon.

With that, farmers threw up their red flags and contested that a release of water could flood fields, devastate crops and even homes along the MO River.

“Environmental experiments should not come before the well-being of hardworking farm families,” Senator Bill Stouffer (R-Napton) said. “There is no proof that man-made ‘spring rises’ will benefit wildlife. What it will do, however, is increase the risk of flooding in the Missouri River basin and escalate drainage problems on Missouri farms.”

Eight of the nine counties Stouffer represents in the Missouri Senate border the Missouri River.

In December 2005, the United States Department of Agriculture decided flooding from the pulses would not be covered by federal crop insurance because they weren’t an act of nature. That led to the huge debate that has ensued since early January. Eventually, the dispute led to a special hearing on the floor of the Missouri state legislature on Tuesday February 28, 2006.

“Given the RMA’s (Risk Management Agency) mission is to “promote, support, and regulate sound risk management solutions to preserve and strengthen the economic stability of America’s agricultural producers” and to “provide crop insurance to American producers,” the agency should not exclude farmers’ potential crop losses from insurance coverage under this scenario,” Congressman Ike Skelton (D-MO) said.

Several other legislators attended the special hearing including Congressman Kenny Hulshof, Missouri, Congressman Bob Etheridge, North Carolina, and Congressman Jerry Moran, Kansas.

The corps announced on February 28, 2006 that a pulse wouldn’t be released in March due to low levels of water in the reservoir system. There have been no statements released regarding whether or not the pulse will happen in May. To date, the May pulse is still scheduled to occur.

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