ClydeR
05-03-2011, 10:56 AM
Should the government be able to destroy a hundred homes and thousands of acres of valuable farmland to save thousands of other people's homes? We're not talking about destroying some people's property to save other people's lives. Instead, we're talking about destroying some people's property to save other people's property. Is this any different from the government taking some people's land and giving it to a private developer?
(CNN) -- With a series of blasts that briefly illuminated the night sky like lightning, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began blowing up a Mississippi River levee overnight, flooding about 200 square miles of rich farmland in an effort to bring down historic river levels and spare the city of Cairo, Illinois and other communities.
More... (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-cnn-levee-missouri,0,1487166.story)
Missouri officials took the Corps to court over the plan, questioning the agency's authority to intentionally breach the levee. The state argued the flood waters would deposit silt on the some 130,000 acres of farmland that Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon described as "literally the most productive part of our continent."
The silt, he said, would take years to clear, causing long-lasting damage.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene in the case on Sunday, clearing the way for Walsh's decision to blow the levee.
Nixon estimated it will take tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars to recover from the intentional flooding.
(CNN) -- With a series of blasts that briefly illuminated the night sky like lightning, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began blowing up a Mississippi River levee overnight, flooding about 200 square miles of rich farmland in an effort to bring down historic river levels and spare the city of Cairo, Illinois and other communities.
More... (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-cnn-levee-missouri,0,1487166.story)
Missouri officials took the Corps to court over the plan, questioning the agency's authority to intentionally breach the levee. The state argued the flood waters would deposit silt on the some 130,000 acres of farmland that Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon described as "literally the most productive part of our continent."
The silt, he said, would take years to clear, causing long-lasting damage.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene in the case on Sunday, clearing the way for Walsh's decision to blow the levee.
Nixon estimated it will take tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars to recover from the intentional flooding.