Army Corps: 'We need to do a better job'

by Elizabeth CIEPIELA<br
| October 5, 2006 9:00 PM

Agency admits lack of communication, flow management errors led to summer flooding

Mere feet from the very river whose waters wrought so much damage on dikes and land in June, farmers, landowners and legislators from Montana, Idaho and Canada appealed to the Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies for the first part of an After-Action Review after the June flooding of the Kootenai River.

Held at the Kootenai River Inn, the event was the first public meeting held by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers since the June flooding of the Kootenai River. The corps manages the dam along with the Bonneville Power Administration.

Representatives from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its various branches (including the NOAA Weather Service, the NOAA Northwest River Forecast Center and NOAA Fisheries), were part of the panel.

And representatives from the corps were clearly willing to admit fault and areas for improvement.

Lt. Col. John Leighow, the Deputy Commander of the Corps’ Seattle District, took the lead early in the meeting. He rattled off the lessons learned.

“We need to do a better job at risk management and risk analysis,” he said. Second, communication internally within the corps and externally among partnering agencies like USFWS must improve. And third, implementation of the VARQ — the variable flow strategy used by the corps to manage flows — merits improvement, Leighow said.

Briefly, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service authored the biological opinion for the endangered Kootenai River white sturgeon, while NOAA played various roles this summer in predicting weather and river forecasts. All three agencies — the UFWS, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and NOAA — have been bound by legal requirements to operate in a way that helps preserve salmon, sturgeon and bull trout under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA).

In operating the Libby Dam, the corps itself juggles numerous factors that are part of dam operation decisions.

These included providing hydropower, sensitivity to weather forecasts and how they can affect water levels, Columbia River Flood Damage Reduction, operating under ESA guidelines to protect various endangered fish species, being mindful of U.S-Canadian treaties, maintaining safe reservoir levels and following the Clean Water Act.

The point came across on a projected computer screen shot during the explanatory side show. On the screen, a decidedly overwhelmed-looking stick figure was shown scratching his head.

Next to him were the words, “How did we get here?”

During a question and answer session, Jim Abbott, a member of parliament representing Kootenay-Columbia in Canada, said Canadians should be allowed more input in the dialogue, especially as it relates to the treaty renewal process of the Columbia River Treaty. The Treaty is an international agreement between the U.S. and Canada on the development and operation of the upper Columbia River basin, whose waters flow into Lake Koocanusa, the reservoir at Libby Dam.

In response to a question posed by Bonners Ferry Mayor Darrell Kerby, Cindy Henriksen, chief of the Reservoir Control Center for the corps in Portland, said the corps kept Libby Dam full in May because it didn’t know what the later operations would be in June.

Bill Bishop, Director of the Idaho Bureau of Homeland Security, was the first, but not the only, to ask the corps, NOAA and the USFWS to be more inclusive in information gathering.

“I’m not thinking anybody liked the outcome of this spring’s events,” Bishop said. He said the corps and the other agencies should form a task force to allocate information sharing between all stakeholders for future flooding emergencies.

“I’m saying that the corps didn’t have the benefit of input from all the various agencies — Montana, Alberta, Canada, the city of Bonners Ferry,” Bishop said. “I honestly think if there had been more complete information earlier, there’d be more room (for water) at Libby Dam.”

That task force will become a reality, Leighow said.

Bill Michalk, a farmer who owns land adjoining the Kootenai River in Bonners Ferry, lambasted the panel members, claiming the flooding caused a loss of life — an assertion strongly disputed by Leighow and representatives of NOAA and USFWS.

“You all endangered my life. You endangered my family’s life. To me that’s attempted murder through negligence,” Michalk said, asking if the loss of life will be taken into account in the corps’ After Action Review and if the corps would support an independent review of the flood event.

Leighow said he’s willing to consider an independent review. He reiterated that public safety is the corps’ paramount concern.

Boundary County Disaster Services Coordinator Bob Graham asked that the current flood stage at Bonners Ferry of 1,764 feet above sea level be lowered.

“Seventeen sixty-four is way too high for our flood stage in Bonners Ferry,” Graham said. The problems from water seepage started long before the water hit that level, he said.

Kootenai Tribe representative Gary Aitken drew a smattering of applause after he referred to the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) bringing lawsuits against the corps, the NOAA, and the USFWS for allegedly failing to properly look after endangered fish in the Kootenai River.

“We are sitting here being held hostage over these NGOs and threatened lawsuits,” Aitken said. “Are we gonna listen to the NGOs or are we gonna listen to the communities? The NGOs don’t live here.”

Boundary County Commissioner Dan Dinning asked Leighow if the corps could guarantee that the county won’t find itself in the same situation the same time next year, given inclement weather.

“I’m not a soothsayer, so I can’t guarantee anything,” Leighow said, adding that that’s probably not the answer anyone wants to hear. The corps needs to do a better job with risk analysis and risk management, Leighow said.

Leighnow said he anticipates part two of the discussion to continue in a public meeting some time in November. The date and location have yet to be chosen.

Jean Plato, a landowner in Bonners Ferry along the river, posed a question to the panel members, asking each to answer individually.

“How many of you would trade places with me when every time I open my back door, I can see the river peeling off land” and know what the river can do when it reaches a low spot? she asked.

One by one, each agency representative admitted they wouldn’t.

Complete copies of the slideshow presented by corps representatives and other panel members should be online at the Army Corps of Engineers Web site at: