River Relief

April 26, 2010

Public Comment meetings on MRAPS scheduled

The process of the Missouri River Authorized Purposes Study (MRAPS) is entering its next phase, the public scoping process. There will be 30 public comment open-house meetings throughout the basin, and 11 tribal meetings.  Click here for a list of scheduled open-house meetings»

This is the first time since the 1944 passage of the Pick/Sloan Flood Control Act that the authorized purposes of the management of the Missouri River have been revisited. It's important that citizens, tribes, businesses and other stakeholders in the basin submit their comments to the process.

You do not have to attend these meetings to submit your comments. The public scoping comment period will run through September 20, 2010. During the scoping phase, you are invited to provide formal comments, suggestions, and recommendations to the Corps regarding the study. These can be mailed to:

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Attn: CENWO-PM-AA
1616 Capital Avenue
Omaha, NE 68102-4901

or emailed to: mark.harberg@usace.army.mil

or you can submit an online comment form on the MRAPs website»

If you have questions, you can call Mark Harberg at 402-995-2554

Issues addressed in MRAPS

Here's a list of the issues/topics to be addressed in the study:

• Flood Risk Prevention
• Water Supply
• Navigation
• Recreation
• Fish and Wildlife
• Hydropower
• Power Plants and Cooling Water
• Irrigation
• Cultural Resources
• Social, economic and other impacts from construction of the main stem reservoir system
• Ecosystem Restoration
• Sedimentation
• Future Development
• Tribal Water Rights
• Impact of climate change on the basins water supply
• Economic and other costs and benefits

Results from MRAPS Accessment Focus Groups

Last fall, the MRAPS process kicked off with a series of focus group meetings bringing together a variety of stakeholders to provide guidance on what this process should look like. These meetings were facilitated by the OSPREY Group. They completed their report of the focus groups and you can read these here»

The Corps hosted a couple meetings to present these results. You can view their slideshow here»