So my Facebook feed and e-mail blew up this week with warnings about a pending public hearing that could fundamentally effect the outcome of a school district that is very close to my wife and I (Orchard Farm).
The Army Corps of Engineers, through the Mississippi River Commission, published a purposed plan (Plan H) in 2008 on its recommendations for flood plain management in the future.
I was hearing a lot of talk about the pending results of this plan and its potential effect on mostly small towns in the lower portion of the Upper Mississippi River Basin. Essentially the plan calls for increased and improved levees along most of the basin, but primarily on the Illinois side of the river. This of course means one side of the river, and its towns, would remain protected, while another side would essentially become a holding tank for water when the river rises (which of course is happening with more and more frequency as man continues to try to manipulate the river).
Of course this news got a lot of folks fired up in "these parts," as well as it should. I did some investigating this week as I wanted to mainly see Plan H for myself. Not only was I able to obtain the plan, I was informed by a representative of the Corps that the plan WASN'T endorsed by the Corps of Engineers or the Assistant Secretary of Army in letters to various congressional committees. Like most commissions, they did recommend continued study for protection of critical infrastructure and reconstructions of existing flood damage reduction systems.
The entire plan is pretty cumbersome, and I still have yet to digest it all, but I would encourage anyone planning to attend the Wed night hearing on Plan H at Orchard Farm High School, to at least do some due diligence on this issue before they attend under the guise that the school district is in danger of disappearing.
You can read the full report for yourself here.
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