By Kevin Lavery, KWMU
St. Louis – The future uses of the Mississippi River were the focus of a conference Tuesday in St. Louis.
The Army Corps of Engineers is studying several alternatives for the river, which include rebuilding the lock system and raising shipping fees to reduce congestion.
But some environmentalists say the Corps is overestimating navigation needs. The Sierra Club's Mark Beorkrem says it's reminiscent of the scandal in which the Corps was accused of inflating its data to justify spending.
"I think it is still lingering, and I think the use of these wildly optimistic scenarios is cheating out in the public; it's cheating right out in front of us," Beorkrem said. "And we think that these scenarios are so wildly optimistic that they are, in essence, following the same pattern that we saw in 1999."
The Corps is also considering a 50-year, $5 billion environmental restoration plan for the Mississippi.