Officials decide against comment period.
It also called for a review of the findings by the National Academy of Sciences. A memo and timeline issued Tuesday by the corps' northwest division said that based on Westphal's decision, officials were working toward a 60-day public review. The comment period would have been a victory for foes in lower-basin states and their allies in the farming and shipping industry, because it would delay a key step toward updating an overall plan for altering the river's flow. Rather than October, the wildlife service's biological opinion would have been issued in November and the corps plan in December. Gathering comments on the biological document would have been unprecedented, agency officials say, and the crowd of more than 100 Missourians gathered in the Washington High School auditorium applauded when they heard the news Wednesday.