Washington (Platts)--7Dec2012/353 pm EST/2053 GMT
The Army Corps of Engineers has rejected a plea by several US lawmakers to reopen a South Dakota dam to raise the level of the Mississippi River before it falls too low for barge traffic. In a letter released Friday by Senator Dick Durbin's office, the agency said it cannot legally alter its wintertime plan for managing the Missouri River. The Corps decides each fall how much water to impound on the upper Missouri to meet the needs of communities above the Gavins Point Dam. Durbin, Democrat-Illinois, and nine other US senators asked the agency to consider releasing some of that water to prevent the Mississippi from falling dangerously low between St. Louis and Cairo, Illinois. Jo-Ellen Darcy, the Corps' assistant secretary for civil works, said opening the dam would deplete already-low water storage on the upper Missouri. The entire region has suffered from severe drought this year. "More significantly, any such Missouri River releases are insufficient to maintain navigation on the middle Mississippi River without additional rainfall," Darcy wrote in the letter dated Thursday. But Darcy said the Corps has started to address concerns about Mississippi navigation through other means. It advertised an expedited contract to remove underwater rock boulders threatening to halt barge traffic near the Illinois towns of Thebes and Grand Tower. The agency met with potential contractors Tuesday and expects crews to start exploding the rocks sometime this month, Darcy said. The Corps also plans to dredge about 21 sediment shoals in the middle Mississippi. "I assure you that the Corps continues to undertake all measures within its authority and available resources that are necessary to maintain navigation on the Mississippi River during these drought conditions," Darcy wrote Durbin. Barges carry crude oil, petroleum products, coal, grains and other commodities on the Mississippi year-round. A coalition of groups representing barge owners said the low water conditions threaten to halt the shipment of 3.8 million tons of coal, 1.3 million tons of petroleum products and 700,000 tons of crude oil in December and January. The American Waterways Operators used a rate of 7 to 8 barrels per ton to convert those figures to up to 10.4 million barrels of refined products and up to 5.6 million barrels of crude. --Meghan Gordon, meghan_gordon@platts.com --Edited by Robert DiNardo, robert_dinardo@platts.com