Flooded Mo. Farmers File Suit Against Government

Twenty-five Missouri farmers filed a class-action lawsuit against the government Tuesday. They're seeking damages caused by the intentional flooding of their farmland. The Army Corps of Engineers breached a river levee by their land to relieve water pressure that would've triggered flooding of nearby towns. Michele Norris talks with Lester Gooden, one of the farmers involved in the lawsuit.

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MELISSA BLOCK, host: This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Melissa Block.

MICHELE NORRIS, host:

And I'm Michele Norris.

Late last night, the Army Corps of Engineers blew a two-mile wide hole in the Birds Point levee. That's good news for the people of Cairo, Illinois. They'd seen their small city nearly inundated by the swollen Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. But it's bad news for the roughly 200 people, many of them farmers, who depend on the Missouri farmland the levee was meant to protect. We're talking about 130,000 acres and much of it is now underwater.

Already, a class action lawsuit has been filed against the U.S. government and the Army Corps by a group of flooded farmers. Lester Gooden is one of them. He has two farms in Mississippi County, Missouri. He grows corn and soybeans, among other things. I asked him about the land that's been in his family for years.

Mr. LESTER GOODEN (Farmer): My father, Michele, says, this dirt is so good, you put a little salt on it, you could eat it.

NORRIS: OK. Is it safe to assume that there's a good deal of tension right now between the folks that are in that floodway in Mississippi County and the people of Cairo, Illinois, whose property was saved from more serious damage because of this decision to blow the levee?

Mr. GOODEN: Sure. Some people feel that way. I don't. I mean, the people of Cairo are due all of the flood protection to which they're entitled. And the levee system has blessed everybody who lives in the Mississippi Valley. Millions of acres have been protected by the Jadwin Act. And the floodway is one part of the Jadwin Act that we disagree with because we don't think it'll work, for one thing.

But Cairo was protected pursuant to the same act. So we've reaped benefits from the Jadwin plan.

NORRIS: It sounds like you've taken a very stand-up position on this. You understood that farming in this area was a risk.

Mr. GOODEN: Right.

NORRIS: And I guess to you, an acceptable risk.

Mr. GOODEN: Right.

NORRIS: So, why sue the government and the Army Corps?

Mr. GOODEN: We're bringing suit to assure that we receive fair value for what has been taken by this action. We are also organizing to reclaim this land as soon as the floodwaters recede, be that one month or a year from now, so that we can reclaim our land and our lives and our livelihood.

NORRIS: What will it take for your farmland to get back to normal? How do you restore that farm if you've lost much of the topsoil?

Mr. GOODEN: I have no idea what my farm is going to look like when the floodwaters recede. Michele, you learn to live and work with the river. We all know too well that plans don't always go according to plan, especially when Old Man River is involved. It has time after time fooled people who weren't fools.

NORRIS: Mr. GOODEN, thank you very much for making time for us. All the best to you and your family.

Mr. GOODEN: Thank you so much, Michele.

NORRIS: That's Lester Gooden. He farms in Mississippi County. He's one of 25 farmers in the area who are part of a class action lawsuit filed today against the federal government. Their farms have been flooded as part of the Army Corpse of Engineer's plan to relieve pressure on levees holding back floodwaters from several towns.

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Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/05/03/135963034/flooded-midwest-farmers-file-suit?ft=1&f=1003

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