Mississippi River levels have risen in the lower basin again, as annual snowmelt makes its way south. Mayors of cities and towns along the river have experienced increased flooding, heavier rainfall, and more frequent droughts in recent years. Now they are lobbying Congress for help.
“Everything that has to do with the river affects Vicksburg,” said Mayor George Flaggs Jr., co-chair of the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative, a nonprofit organization advocating for town and city leaders. Mississippi experienced catastrophic flooding in 2019, with its namesake river rising up to a height of 50 feet in Vicksburg, where the flood stage is 43 feet.
Members of the initiative traveled to Washington last week to ask leaders to support funding for flood control programs and shipping infrastructure along America’s largest river. While the group is not shying away from using words like “climate” and “resilience” in their policy goals, its members are uncertain how much federal support they can count on, given recent government cutbacks.
“We have learned recently to temper our expectations and look more aspirationally to how we can achieve these goals,” said Mitch Reynolds, mayor of LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and co-chair of the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative, during a press conference Thursday.
Flaggs hopes focusing on the economic value of the river and its bipartisan business interests will “make certain that our voice is heard.”
Wide-ranging budget cuts
The group’s meeting in Washington took place amid the chaos surrounding threats of federal funding freezes, firings and strict import tariffs. Firings at the U.S. Geological Survey, Department of Agriculture and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration could have far-reaching impacts on flood mitigation and reducing agricultural pollution in the river.
”When everything is up in the air … all of the uncertainty that that brings also makes it really challenging to move forward,” said Kelly McGinnis, executive director of the Mississippi River Network, an advocacy group. She and Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative members expressed worries about firings at NOAA, the agency that monitors severe weather and works with the National Weather Service to issue flood warnings.
“There’s a lot of concern that they just don’t have the capacity to implement the programs that they’re supposed to implement,” McGinnis said.
“We’re like the rest of the world,” Blytheville, Arkansas, Mayor Melisa Logan said. “We’re waiting, we’re kind of watching to see what happens.”
LaCrosse mayor Reynolds said the effects of trade tariffs could be “debilitating” for river shipping.
McGinnis and Logan are watching Washington as river restoration projects and green infrastructure, intended to address flooding, could be subject to funding and staff cuts.
“We understand that any working river needs a working ecological system,” Logan said.
Flood mitigation and shipping
More frequent flooding was the main subject at the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative’s annual meeting. Its leaders pushed for three key policy items: reviving previous proposals such as the Facilitating Hazard Mitigation Projects Act and the Shelter Act as well as reauthorization of the Agricultural Improvement Act, more commonly known as the Farm Bill, a wide-reaching measure with billions of dollars in appropriations typically renewed every five years.
Introduced by U.S. Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, and Gary Peters, D-Michigan in October 2023, the Facilitating Hazard Mitigation Projects Act aims to simplify the way FEMA gives out hazard mitigation grants, making the money easier to get.
Logan and the group’s executive director, Colin Wellenkamp, who is also a state representative in Missouri, said the water subcabinet, established under Trump’s first term, could help address key policy gaps such as flood and drought control as well as disaster response for cities and towns in the Mississippi River basin.
The Shelter Act, introduced in June 2023, would give tax credits of up to 25% on flood mitigation projects, such as elevating homes or installing flood proofing, a way to curb the worst effects of catastrophic flooding for individuals and communities on the front end and avoid more costly disasters.
The latest version of the Farm Bill has been caught up in Congress since 2023. MRCTI urges passage before it expires in September, providing funding for flood control and hazard mitigation programs, and supporting farmers with services such as crop insurance and funds for climate resilient farming.
“The importance of our region and its impact on U.S. trade, the U.S. supply chain … it’s pretty indisputable,” Logan said.
The Mississippi River is a major vein of shipping in the United States, moving hundreds of millions of tons of agricultural cargo such as soybeans and corn across the globe. The Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative supports a $2 million increase in grant funding for the Marine Highway Program, which funds shipping infrastructure, including terminals, along the river.
McGinnis said that “using that economic message” as a way to drum up support for funding and policy can be an effective tool, “but making sure you’re really still talking about conservation and what you can do to help mitigate some of these impacts” plays a role in whether that funding happens.
This story is a product of the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, an independent reporting network based at the University of Missouri in partnership with Report for America, with major funding from the Walton Family Foundation. MRCTI also receives Walton funding.
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