COLUMBIA, MO. -- Missouri 9th District Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer is leading the fight to block funding for a $25 million duplicative study of the Missouri River.
The Missouri River Authorized Purposes Study comes after a comprehensive 17-year, $35 million study that made changes to the Missouri River Basin.
Missouri’s entire House delegation recently voted to defund the measure.
Luetkemeyer said recommendations from the new study would hurt barge traffic and agriculture in Missouri.
The study would improve economic and recreation benefits of a few upper Missouri River interests at the expense of broader interests in the lower Missouri River Basin.
Luetkemeyer said, “It’s a basic fight over water rights. We like the situation the way that it is. We don’t want to change it. We’re fearful that the study is an excuse to be able to leverage a change in what’s allowed on the river. We tried to kill the measure.”
The congressional proposal to defund the new Missouri River Study is now in the U.S. Senate.
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