Red state governors share 2011 flood blame; RFK murder 1968

Let's face it: it's a poor craftsman that blames his tools and the Corps is a tool, not a brain. The fact that former South Dakota governor Rounds is diverting attention from his own complicity is telling yet hardly surprising.

KW sez:

Rounds doesn’t question the magnitude of the inflows. He understands the force of nature. What he and other unhappy evacuees can’t figure out is why the Corps couldn’t have released more water from the nearly full reservoirs during the months leading up to the wild, admittedly unexpected spring surge.

Sounds like a cover-up of the even more serious charge of culpability to me.

The Master Manual is subject to input from all stakeholders, especially from the governors within the Missouri drainage system. From the National Governor's Association 2010 policy position:

The primary responsibility for managing the nation’s vital water resources is properly vested with the states. The holistic approach utilized by many states that focuses on water supply, quality and conservation, public drinking water source protection, flood protection, flood plain management, land use, and fish and wildlife resource protection is the best way to achieve water quality standards. Effective floodplain management is a federal-state-local partnership. Governors emphasize that efforts to guide development away from high-risk flood-prone areas and efforts to mitigate flood damage to existing development must be continued and strengthened. Governors believe it is critical to reduce the potential for existing and future flood damage through the implementation of comprehensive floodplain management programs.

Madville Times takes on the Noem spin. Note outstanding comment from our friend, The Angry River Rat.

FEMA report from June 3. Note Bureau of Reclamation releases from Lake McConaughy in Nebraska.