Herald Whig - U.S. Rep. Sam Graves Promotes Regional Approach to River Issues

News Article

By Doug Wilson

River supporters in Missouri, Illinois and Iowa are working together to get the kind of comprehensive flood control on the upper Mississippi River that has been used on the lower Mississippi for more than 85 years.

U.S. Rep. Sam Graves, R-Tarkio, met Friday with members of the Upper Mississippi, Illinois, Missouri River Association to announce the effort to "work regionally" on river issues. In a letter sent this week, Graves and four other members of Congress called on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to work on a comprehensive flood control plan and river management plan.

"We've got $250,000 that's being appropriated," Graves said.

He wants to get to the point where funding is closer to the $300 million a year that's spent on the lower Mississippi.

Graves said one of the big problems now is that disparate funding levels are used in the upper basin and coordinating priorities for the betterment of the entire basin would be a better course of action.

River association Executive Director Megan Kaiser said the regional approach to flood control is a great first step. She said an upper Mississippi comprehensive plan started to take shape after the record flood of 1993, which caused 47 deaths and more than $30 billion in damage along the river. Although a plan was presented by the corps in 2008, it has not progressed without funding from Congress.

"Twenty-two years after the flood of '93, we're no further along. We have no idea where the water is going to go," Kaiser said.

Graves also spoke about other modes of transportation during a media interview in Hannibal. He's chairman of the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, which has a deadline of May 31 to forward ideas for a federal highway bill.

Graves expects to propose a long-term highway plan of six years or more. He believes the federal fuel tax will remain unchanged but new revenue streams will come from royalties on new oil and gas leases on federal land and some of the repatriated money brought back into the United States by multinational companies and taxed.

Supporters of that funding plan don't know how much it will generate, and they know that repatriation might be a one-time revenue source that won't work for future transportation plans.

Graves said because of a ban on congressional earmarks, he can't seek extra money for replacement of the U.S. 54 bridge at Louisiana. He supports the return of congressional earmarks because that power was never taken away from the president and he believes members of Congress have a better idea about priorities in their districts.

Later in the day, Graves was headed to Monroe City to present a military medal to Donald Wheeler, a veteran of the Vietnam War.

"Doing medal presentations is one of my favorite things to do. A lot of veterans never received the commendations they earned," Graves said.

Wheeler's release from the Army was expedited because of the death of his grandfather, which prevented him form obtaining the medals due him. The medals include the National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal with bronze service star and silver service star, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Ribbon with Device, and a Marksman Badge with Rifle Bar. Wheeler says he plans to place the medals in a shadow box that his stepdaughter made for him.

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