Mississippi River Basin Water Resource News for the Week - Lake Wobegon Edition

It's Been a Quiet Week in Lake Wobegon
And inside the Capital Beltway, as well, as most of the nation's politicians have fled DC's heated air and its even more heated debates for home soils, vacation vistas or international junkets.  But the waters of the Mississippi River basin continue to flow south to the Gulf in large quantities, carrying nitrogen and phosphorous along for the ride, invasive species continue to move north into an ever-widening reach of streams, and people still contribute to solving or exacerbating those and many other River Basin problems - both purposely and (mostly) unintentionally.  That's all conveniently captured in the following summary of the week's news.

Notable @UpperMiss Twitter Postings for the Week: 

Agriculture -

• USDA Economic Research Service: The Ethanol Decade: An Expansion of US Corn Production, 2000-09 http://1.usa.gov/roRURD
• Iowa Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative project highlighted in Dubuque Telegraph Herald http://bit.ly/n04c7j
• Op-ed: "Iowa, the leading state for political hypoxia" leads to a damaging fresh & coastal water http://bit.ly/pLY4fU
• China’s struggle to meet growing middle class demands could upend corn's world trade flows http://on.wsj.com/r50F4p

Water Quality-

• Paper mill admits fish kill fault as dead fish flow into Louisiana's Lake Pontchartrain http://bit.ly/nXXdyT
• Gulf of Mexico sends warning to SD about agriculture's contributions to hypoxia http://bit.ly/opeTJ0

Water Resource Management (Floodplains, Dams, Navigation, Flooding, etc.) -

• Missourians opposed to "Plan H" Mississippi River-taming effort http://bit.ly/o6oJCV
• CBS St Louis: Another year, another "flood of the century'' on the Mississippi River; is river taming worth it? http://cbsloc.al/oh4KaZ
• Op-ed-"Nation needs fresh view of its rivers"-Mark Davis, Inst on Water Resources Law & Policy, Tulane Law School http://bit.ly/pJtlFa
• Missouri River governors to meet with Army Corps on flood issues http://bit.ly/p2LmSa
• This year's "once-in-500-year" Missouri River flood may not be so once-in-a-500-ish http://bit.ly/qwuTax
• Army Corps budget cuts may slow Birds Point, MO levee rebuilding http://bit.ly/qJdrPj
• >100 years after Chicago River flow was reversed, engineers consider re-reversing out of Mississippi basin http://bit.ly/pNIQV8

In the States -

• Environmental groups file notice of intent to sue EPA to move water quality authority from Iowa DNR http://bit.ly/pGe8ay
• Iowa CCI files ethics complaint against environmental commissioner  claiming conflict of interest http://bit.ly/pLvPQZ

Biodiversity, Wildlife and Invasives -

• Evidence of invasive Asian Carp found in St. Croix River by MN DNR http://cbsloc.al/pwo1Rz
• MN DNR: Asian carp may be in or may soon be in some of MN's largest waterways http://bit.ly/qcS1rp
• Asian (Bighead) carp caught by angler in Lower Wisconsin River http://bit.ly/pnGVv5
• MN DNR dispatches fisheries crews to search for Silver Carp in St. Croix River http://bit.ly/o3f42X

Federal Budget -

• Focus now on Congressional committees of jurisdiction - have until Oct 4 to send recommendations to debt supercommittee http://bit.ly/oN2031

Gulf Coastal Area-

• Public meetings ongoing re: Louisiana's Coastal Master Plan & recommending specific actions for saving coast http://bit.ly/o9JWiW

Resource extraction -

• Poll: Appalachian voters oppose mountaintop mining; favor regulation http://bit.ly/pi0IDC
• Seeking a safer future for electricity's coal ash waste [National Geographic] http://bit.ly/oAotar
• Circuit Court judge strikes down ban on fracking by Morgantown, WV  http://bit.ly/o8VpT9
• Environmental Integrity Project coal waste report spotlights IL-home to 2nd highest number of US ash dumps http://bit.ly/nINLDW
• Enviro groups' report on 37 states highlights "inadequate" coal ash state regulations http://bit.ly/oGscUB

Events -

• 2011 Horinko Group Water Resources Summit; October 25; U of MD College Park http://tinyurl.com/3zganno
• Public meetings ongoing re: Louisiana's Coastal Master Plan & recommending specific actions for saving coast http://bit.ly/o9JWiW
• Save the dates: Oct 18-19 Memphis TN workshop: Assessing Recreation Impacts from Hydrokinetic Energy Projects http://bit.ly/qY0ecN
• 13th biennial Governor's Conference: "Illinois River: A National Opportunity" Oct 5-6; Marquette IL http://bit.ly/qbuwRp & http://bit.ly/8YbqO
• Screening of "The Big Uneasy", award-winning documentary of New Orleans & Katrina; Sept 8; 6:45 pm, Minneapolis MN http://bit.ly/p7uYAb

e-Newsletters, Publications and Journals -

• The latest Minnesota Forest Insect & Disease Newsletter from @MNDNR:  http://bit.ly/3q1juD
• The U of MN River Talk blog has moved over to its new web site at http://bit.ly/rp6X1A

Other news-

• River cruising poised to return to the Mississippi next year http://on.msnbc.com/qO30tn
• Obama to use USDA and SBA to attract venture capital to rural areas (announcement Tuesday) http://bit.ly/nTu7ts

Political Scene -

• Democrats survive in final Wisconsin recalls http://politi.co/pV5rQQ

Last Word - The labor monument at Lewis and Clark Landing in Omaha, Nebraska on Tuesday, when the Missouri River was measured at 33.98 feet; the first time that the River had been below 34 feet since June 20.