From 1965 to 1967, I worked as a budget examiner for the U. S. Bureau of the Budget (BOB), now Office of Management and Budget (OMB). (For a moment it was called the Office of Budget and Management until an unfortunate acronym appeared.) My job involved reviewing programs and budgets of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works program, particularly flood control, flood plain management, and small boat harbors. At the time, BOB was housed in the Executive Office Building, a privileged place to work.
In the summer of 1967, I was scheduled to make a trip to review and understand Great Lakes Small Boat Harbors, which were built by the Corps. Alas, my decision to leave the government and attend law school cost me that 1967 trip. But now we live on the North Shore where the Corps has constructed several such harbors, some called Safe Harbors and some called Small Craft Harbors. The latter harbors are not as sheltered as the Safe Harbors. So I recently visited the Safe Harbors at Silver Bay and Taconite Harbor as well as Grand Marais Safe Harbor. Those visits triggered these thoughts.
Most people have only a vague idea of the Corps of Engineers’ work. Perhaps we are aware that the Corps is the construction arm of the U.S. Army, building bases and installations worldwide. During our current pandemic, we saw hospitals rising overnight around the country as hospital “systems” were strained. But the most omnipresent work of the Corps is river and harbor navigation, flood control, hydroelectric power, recreational lakes behind hydro and flood control dams, dams for low flow control on rivers including five in Minnesota, and the small boat harbors. Unless we read the signs at tourist points, we likely are unaware of the Corps’ involvement.
Most projects involve a local cost-sharing element. Despite 50 years of flood plain management efforts, some 15 million people live in the plain of a 100- year flood. (We had two of those in the Twin Cities in 1965 and 1969; the 100-year flood is a statistical prediction, not a guarantee.).
Two aspects related to the work of the Corps that Arrowhead people encounter are flood plain management and shoreland protection. The former involves moving valuable development out of the flood plain instead of building dams and levees to protect what is essentially un-protectable land from floods. The national flood insurance program that homeowners have encountered while buying and selling real estate is another part of flood plain management. It is designed to shift some of the costs of flood plain occupancy to its users.
Still, another part of that flood plain management is flood proofing: altering buildings and land uses so that the inevitable floods do less damage. Windows get sealed, first floor uses put less at risk or can move upstairs, and flood-prone land is used for parks and golf courses instead of housing, businesses, or, in some cases, farming. The fertile bottomland is tempting to farmers, understandably. Arrowhead lake property owners have no doubt run across county ordinances under the Shoreland Act as they locate their septic systems, decide where to build, and cut down a few trees to view their lake.
The history of the United States Army Corps of Engineers can be traced back to June 16, 1775, when the Continental Congress organized an army with a chief engineer and two assistants. It was not until 1779 that Congress created a separate Corps of Engineers. Army engineers, including several French officers, were instrumental in some of the Revolutionary War’s hard-fought battles, including Bunker Hill, Saratoga, and the final victory at Yorktown.
At the end of the Revolutionary War, the engineers mustered out of service. In 1802, Congress created a separate Corps of Engineers. At the same time, Congress established a new military academy at West Point, New York. Until 1866, the superintendent of the academy was always an engineer officer. During the first half of the 19th century, West Point was the major, and for a while the only, engineering school in the country.
From the beginning, many politicians wanted the Corps to contribute to both military construction and works “of a civil nature.” Throughout the 19th century, the Corps supervised the construction of coastal fortifications. They mapped much of the American West with the Corps of Topographical Engineers, which enjoyed a separate existence for 25 years (1838-1863). The Corps also constructed lighthouses, helped develop jetties and piers for harbors, and carefully mapped the navigation channels.
If the history of the Corps of Engineers interests you, Wikipedia has a long article. The Corps publishes its own official history. What you will not read in the official history is the politics of the Civil Works process. The term “pork barrel” has often meant Corps’ projects sought by businesses and local governments. During the Depression, and after creation of the Bureau of the Budget, the concept of economic benefit was introduced to screen out those unworthy projects. Without a cost/benefit ratio of 1 or more, Congress will not consider funding a project. Needless to say, determination of the damages being prevented or transportation or power costs saved is the subject of much pulling and hauling.
Note that the Corps of Engineers’ territory is the eastern 50 percent of the country. River projects for the 17 western states (beginning with I-29’s states) are the province of the U.S. Interior Department’s Bureau of Reclamation. Most upstream water projects are handled by the Agriculture Department’s Soil and Water Conservation Service. The politics of those projects are wildly different from Corps projects; western projects are dominated by the issues of water rights and the rights of individual farm owners versus perceived needs of the whole.
Perhaps we knew or suspected that our Safe Harbors on the North Shore were the tip of a huge government iceberg we rely on
Steve Aldrich is a retired Hennepin County lawyer, mediator, and Judge, serving from 1997-2010. He and his wife moved here in 2016. He likes to remember that he was a Minnesota Super Lawyer before being elected to the bench. Now he is among the most vulnerable to viruses. Steve really enjoys doing weddings, the one thing a retired judge can do without appointment by the Chief Justice. He has never officiated at a Skype, Zoom or Google Team wedding.
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