It’s the fight against the flood.

A gaggle of bipartisan politicians are throwing down the gauntlet on the US Army Corps of Engineers who plan to go ahead with a man-made flood on the Missouri River. Dubbed the “spring rise,” the purposed flooding comes at pretty atrocious time considering Missouri is in the midst of a major flood crisis after a fierce storm last week.

Gov. Matt Blunt, Attorney General Jay Nixon and Senator Kit Bond are all feverishly calling for a cancellation of the flooding. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is reporting that Nixon filed a lawsuit Monday to stop the spring rise. Bond has written President George W. Bush and Blunt is appealing directly to Colonel Steven R. Miles with the Army Corps of Engineers.

“When I am getting several updates a day on our response to mother nature’s flood, man-made flooding makes about as much sense as fighting a forest fire with gasoline,” Blunt said in a recent press release.

Blunt also said the flooding has affected “tens of thousands of Missourians,” including five flood-related deaths and damages to property.

Missouri’s rivers have caused major flooding, impacting 70 of Missouri’s 114 counties as well as St. Louis city.

“It is unthinkable that just as we are beginning damage assessments and the recovery process, the federal government has authorized a man-made flood in Missouri,” Blunt said in the release. “The Army Corps of Engineers should stop this reckless action which will only aggravate the flooding that has already hurt many Missouri families.”

The spring rise is a scheduled flooding meant to encourage the spawning of the pallid sturgeon, an endangered fish, by fabricating natural seasonal flooding which will start at midnight tonight, lasting 48 hours and causing a 6 inch rise in flood waters. This is supposed to having every March and May under Fish and Wildlife Service guidelines, but it has routinely faced opposition from state politicians.