President Donald Trump recently appointed Maj. Gen. Richard G. Kaiser as the president of the Mississippi River Commission (MRC) and Col. Paul E. Owen as a member of the commission.
Commission appointments are nominated by the President of the U.S. and vetted by the U.S. Senate.
Kaiser is the commander and division engineer of the Mississippi Valley Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, headquartered in Vicksburg. He serves as the senior military officer in the division, responsible for water resource engineering solutions in a 370,000-square-mile area, extending from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and encompassing all or portions of 12 states.
The division’s work is carried out by six district offices located in St. Paul, Minnesota; Rock Island, Illinois; St. Louis, Missouri; Memphis, Tennessee; Vicksburg; and New Orleans.
The Mississippi River Commission was created by an Act of Congress on June 28, 1879, to plan and provide for the general improvement of the entire length of the Mississippi River.
The commission studies and reports on modifications or changes made to the Mississippi River and Tributaries project, a project that delivers dependable navigation and flood risk management to the Mississippi River valley.