Comments
Department of Defense

PEER Challenge To Corps Of Engineers Upper Mississippi River Study
On August 20, 2003, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility ("PEER") filed a Data Quality challenge to a Corps of Engineers' study of the feasibility of six infrastructure investments relating to navigation on the upper Mississippi River. The complaint asserts that the study must be considered inaccurate and biased because the proprietary models on which it is based are influential information that has not undergone peer review, and that the Corps has meanwhile contracted with the National Research Council for review. PEER alleges that dissemination of the study before completion of the NRC review is a direct violation of the Data Quality Act and the OMB and DOD guidelines, and that therefore the study must be withdrawn and disavowed. The complaint does not identify specific Data Quality defects in the study.