Plan H Opposition Continues

(ST CHARLES)--  Residents and officials from three Missouri counties reaffirm opposition to a flood-control proposal known as Plan H.    At a meeting in Saint Charles, opponents vow to continue their fight even though funding for implementing Plan H will probably not be approved by Congress anytime soon.  The group Neighbors of the Mississippi was formed to fight the proposal. Members say more study is needed before Iowa, Illinois and northern Missouri are given the federal green light to build taller levees.
Plan H would allow all but about 20 of the 140 levees along the Upper Mississippi to be raised to 500-year flood levels.
Left out of the equation would be large parts of Pike, Lincoln and Saint Charles counties in Missouri, where significant development has taken place in the last 20 years.

Thousands of Missouri residents and dozens of state and federal officials have signed petitions against Plan H or voiced opposition to it.

Supporters say Plan H is the best and least costly method of preventing the kinds of floods seen in 1993 and 2008.
Opponents have blasted Plan H as nothing more than a way to turn thousands of acres of Missouri into holding basins for floodwaters as areas to the north are protected.