Corps politics and annual spring pulse

Every year we hear something like, "Army Corps mulling Spring Pulse." This year in the Rapid City Journal it went:

The Army Corps of Engineers said it might cancel the March surge of extra water meant to help an endangered fish in the Missouri River. The so-called spring pulse below Gavins Point Dam is meant to replicate a natural spring rise that prompts the pallid sturgeon to spawn. The corps said the two-day March pulse could be canceled if the river level is already high from spring runoff. The corps said implementing a second pulse planned for May also will depend on the river level.

Todd Epp apparently has heard it before, too.

From a superlative trove of events on the Missouri River called the Big Muddy News is this from February:

Corps of Engineers discuss ‘liquid highway’ by Marshall White originally published in St. Joseph News-Press - February 9, 2011 original link: http://www.newspressnow.com/localnews/26814051/detail.html
KANSAS CITY — The liquid highway is at St. Joseph’s western doorstep and will be about as good as it can get in 2011. That was the word from Army Corps of Engineers officials, in Kansas City on Wednesday to meet with navigators, shippers and boaters. “For Missouri River users, this is as good as it’s going to get,” said John LaRandeau, the corps’ navigation program specialist. In fact, this may be the best the river has been in about the last 40 years, he said.

The path leads to Roy Blunt's door.