De-authorizing navigation on the Missouri River would do wonders to ensure a robust water supply for irrigation and recreation in the Midwest—although at a cost to certain interest groups, many of them downstream.
Every option is on the table as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers launches a study to challenge whether the “eight purposes” enshrined in a 66-year-old federal act that governs water management policy on the Missouri River are still valid and, if necessary, how those priorities should be changed.