The Army Corps of Engineer blew up a levee on the Mississippi River in order to alleviate flooding further downstream. The flooding of the Mississippi throughout the month of May will continue to make headlines as this catastrophe unfolds all the way to New Orleans.
This is another example of the loss of states’ rights under the tenth amendment. As the state of Missouri tried to legally block this action, their case was not even considered by the US Supreme Court even though 100 homes and 130,000 acres of farmland will now be destroyed.
Missouri officials said the incoming water would crush the region’s economy and environment by possibly covering the land under sand and silt and rendering it useless.
This is only the beginning as the Army Corps is looking at additional forced breeches to ease the flooding.
Illinois levee breached by explosion to handle rising rivers
Army Corps of Engineers’ action is expected to inundate 130,000 acres of
Missouri farmland and about 100 homes, while easing pressure on the structure
and relieving record flooding around Cairo.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers blew a hole in a Mississippi River levee late Monday night in an effort to protect a small Illinois town by flooding Missouri
farmland.
The blast, and more to follow, are expected to open a 2-mile-wide breach in
the Birds Point levee to relieve pressure caused by spring rains that have
drenched the Midwest and imperiled Cairo, a southern Illinois town of 3,000 at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.
The expected flood levels are expected to be over 60 feet in mid May.
David DeGerolamo
Additional articles:
No dice: Floods force closure of Mississippi River casinos
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS BATON ROUGE LA
River, stream flooding continues in Tipton County
Yes, this may be a clear violation of State sovereignty…
If the allegation in the following article(s) is valid, however, the decision makes more sense:
http://www.dailyimpact.net/2011/04/28/mississippi-rising-apocalypse-now/
http://www.dailyimpact.net/2011/04/30/mississippi-rising-update/
The land owners around Bird Point, Missouri, should have been knowledgeable about plans attached to the “1928 Flood Control Act” and made their decisions for residence and industry with full knowledge of the potential consequences.
I do not attempt to justify the 1928 Act or the current action by the Corps. I merely point out that rational humans incorporate facts into their decisions while irrational humans attempt to deny reality and complain later that life is unfair.
Hans makes a good point concerning the 1928 Act. The United States is built on the concept of equal justice under our illustrious 14th amendment:
It would appear that the Federal government can deprive states of their rights for equal justice: breach a levee in Missouri to save a town in Illinois. The town of Cairo has already been evacuated. If the town is evacuated for flooding, why breach the levee in Missouri?
We will see how well the 1928 Act will impact New Orleans if the locks above the city fail and the Mississippi River is rerouted as nature intended.
A caution regarding use of the term “States Rights” …
A legitimate “state” or “individual” has sovereignty, and a state may have “powers” delegated to it by the sovereignty of its citizens.
Rights are inherent only in Man.
The 9th Amendment to the US Constitution properly attributes Rights to “the people” (man).
“The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”
The 10th Amendment properly describes the delegation of “powers” by the people to the general government.
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
If only everyone could understand this distinction that you point out.
How were the individual rights of the people who owned the 100 homes impacted? If all of the homes were in a designated flood plain, I would agree that this is a consequence of bad judgment and time has caught up with them. My point is that this same logic could be used to apply to New Orleans under the equal justice of the 14th amendment.
Was the 14th Amendment legally ratified?
@Hans
We both know that the 14th amendment is unconstitutional as does the Supreme Court.
This is just ridiculous! I can’t believe they did this!