Iowa’s Missouri River Authority is meeting today in Des Moines to discuss a major river study that’s about to get under way. Bernie Hoyer, an assistant to the director of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says the review was authorized over the agency’s protests.
Hoyer says, "Iowa wasn’t in favor of the review actually, but at this point, I would guess that what Iowa wants is a fair review of all the uses by various river segments so we can look at what the benefits are to all the portions of the Missouri." Hoyer says now that the study is getting underway, Iowa has to be involved with it.
"My experience tells, you want to shape it from the beginning," Hoyer says. "It’s a lot harder to change things after people feel like they’ve already settled it. It’s important to be in on the front end of it."
The study, to be done by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, will review the Flood Control Act of 1944 and how conditions and uses on the river have changed since then. Hoyer says the authority will also talk about a vision for the Missouri River.