Gov. Blunt Targets "Wasteful Spending"

Gov. Matt Blunt sent a letter to Missouri's Congressional delegation to ask for help in removing an "unnecessary and wasteful" spending provision from a federal water development bill.

Blunt's office claims the provision authorizes expenditures of $25 million dollars to complete another study of the primary uses of the Missouri River. A similar $35 million dollar study was completed in 2004.

"Such a study has already recently been conducted and changes implemented," wrote Gov. Blunt in the letter. "Those changes benefited the Upper Missouri River basin states at the expense of the residents of the Lower Basin. This funding would be used for a wholly unnecessary and wasteful project and is merely an attempt to shift even more water to the Upper Basin for recreational uses at the expense of navigation, power generation, flood control and drinking water supply for the lower states."

Blunt said a 2004 study provided a plan that provided more water to support upstream interests at the expense of downstream uses. "That study created years of uncertainty that was detrimental to the navigation industry and other uses that rely on the river," according to the Blunt release.