| | AMO National President Tom Bethel greets Great Lakes Legislator of the Year for 2010, Congresswoman Betty Sutton (D-OH), at the briefing for the Great Lakes Congressional delegation. |
| | AMO National Vice President for the Great Lakes Don Cree, SIU Vice President for Lakes and Inland Waters Tom Orzechowski and ILA Assistant General Organizer John Baker congratulate Congresswoman Betty Sutton (D-OH) on her receipt of the Great Lakes Legislator of the Year Award for 2010. |
Congresswoman Betty Sutton, a Democrat representing Ohio's 13th District, was named Great Lakes Legislator of the Year by the Great Lakes Maritime Task Force at their 15th annual Briefing for the Great Lakes Congressional delegation.
"Rep. Sutton has a strong commitment to saving and creating jobs for Americans, including support of labor and American manufacturing," said AMO National Vice President for the Great Lakes Don Cree, who serves as third vice president of the task force.
Elected in 2006, Rep. Sutton serves on the powerful House Committee on Energy and Commerce and serves as co-chair of the Congressional Task Force on Job Creation, where she worked with colleagues to pass the Jobs for Main Street Act in December. The legislation, currently awaiting action in the Senate, contains a number of provisions to boost U.S. shipping.
Rep. Sutton has made significant contributions to Great Lakes shipping. She voted for the Water Resources Development Act of 2007, which accelerated dredging in the region.
Progress was made in 2009 toward digging out the estimated 15 million cubic yards of sediment that impede movement on the Great Lakes, but if Congress does not appropriate more funds for dredging in 2010, the backlog in dredging will start to grow again, said James Weakley, president of the task force, in his prepared remarks at the Feb. 4 briefing.
An increase in the dredging backlog is "unnecessary," Weakley argued. There is a surplus of nearly $5 billion created by the disparity between funds collected under the Harbor Maintenance Tax and funds spent to dredge ports and waterways à the stated purpose of the tax. "Give the [Army Corps of Engineers] just four percent of that surplus and the dredging crisis is history," he said.
The Water Resources Development Act also "authorized full federal funding for a second Poe-sized lock at Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.," said Patrick O'Hern, second vice president of the task force. "If the Poe lock ever fails for a lengthy period of time, the iron ore, western coal and export grain trades [on the Great Lakes] will slow to a trickle." In 2009, construction started on coffer dams that precede construction of a second Poe-sized lock at Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.
Rep. Sutton voted for the Coast Guard Reauthorization Act of 2009, authorizing construction of a needed Coast Guard heavy icebreaker for the Great Lakes. Her support was crucial because, in 2008, "U.S.-flagged lakers suffered more than $1.3 million in ice-related damages because the Coast Guard did not have enough icebreakers to keep the shipping lanes open. The fourth sea coast needs a twin to the icebreaker Mackinaw and another 140-foot icebreaking tug transferred to the Lakes," Cree said.
These improvements will bolster U.S. shipping, "the greenest mode of transportation," said John Baker, first vice president of the task force. "Ships use less fuel and produce fewer emissions than trains and trucks." Recent Environmental Protection Agency rulings threatened to cripple Great Lakes shipping, putting many more trucks on already congested highways and increasing pollution. Fortunately, former Great Lakes Legislators of the Year Rep. David Obey (D-WI) and Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN) brokered a compromise with the EPA allowing vessels in the region to continue to operate.
The Great Lakes Maritime Task Force is the largest labor/management coalition representing workers and industries dependent upon Great Lakes shipping. The annual Great Lakes Legislator of the Year award has been presented since 1998. |