USACE has completely ignored public and scientific criticism and implications of raising the water level of the Little Miami River, a highly popular scenic and recreational place. This decision is especially dangerous and ill-timed, since it coincided with Senator JD Vance’s birthday family boating excursion on his birthday. A spokesperson for Vance added that neither he nor his staff had any knowledge of the Secret Service’s request. They were never informed in advance of this move.
The only recent change in water level came at the first of this month, just in time for the scheduled boating excursion. This controversial move has been under blistering fire from political figures, including Marcy Kaptur, a Democratic congresswoman from Ohio. She then went on social media to express her anger. She called on the USACE to be more transparent and she highlighted the long-term ramifications on public safety and accountability.
“Outrageous! Must be why he wasn’t available to meet about his Big Bonanza for Billionaires Bill which will devastate Ohio manufacturing jobs and our rural hospitals,” – Marcy Kaptur
The Secret Service takes their mission of protecting our public officials seriously. To make them more secure, they requested military engineers to raise the river levels as a defensive measure. In a statement, a representative for Vance said, “The Secret Service often employs protective measures without the knowledge of the vice-president or his staff, as was the case last weekend.”
As Kaptur pointed out, this incident has drawn comparisons to a notorious episode in 1999 involving former Vice President Al Gore, who faced significant backlash after a local utility increased the water flow in the Connecticut River to prevent him from running aground during a canoe trip. Critics have asked why the same ethics apply in Vance’s case.
When pressed by The Guardian, Vance’s office eventually sat on its hands to justify the dramatic water-level decrease. USACE response The water level changes were consistent with the operational criteria detailed in the Water Control Manual for Caesar Creek Lake. They verified that no departure from regular procedures was required.
The Secret Service emphasized that policy decisions on river levels were made without any input from the Vice President’s office. As you can imagine, these were decisions that agents made as part of our normal advance planning process. The Office of the Vice President was not involved in this process at all.”
Political leaders and their constituents are understandably outraged at what transpired here. Now, they are continuing to push for an enforceable standard that protects the public with greater transparency and accountability.