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Court won’t block plan to blast Missouri levee

The Columbian
Published: April 30, 2011, 12:00am

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (AP) — A federal appeals court is refusing to block the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from blowing a hole through a Mississippi River levee in Missouri to try to prevent flooding in a small Illinois town.

The decision made early Saturday by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals clears the way for the Corps of Engineers to use explosives to breech the Birds Point levee.

The state of Missouri had asked the court to stop the agency’s plan, which would potentially prevent flooding in Cairo, Ill., but flood tens of thousands of acres of farmland in southeast Missouri. Many residents of the sparsely populated area started moving out Friday.

Army Corps spokesman Jim Pogue said Saturday that the agency hasn’t decided whether to go through with its plan.

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