House approves Water Resources Development Act

House approves Water Resources Development Act

Great Lakes industry leaders cite critical need for dredging, second large lock at Soo

The House of Representatives in April approved the Water Resources Development Act of 2007--legislation containing key provisions for Great Lakes shipping--by a vote of 394 to 25.

Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN), chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment, recommended the legislation for quick action in the Senate.

This legislation would authorize approximately $15 billion for water resources studies and construction projects by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Among other things, elements of the Water Resources Development Act of 2007 (H.R. 1495) would "expedite the operation and maintenance, including dredging, of the navigation features of the Great Lakes and connecting channels for the purpose of supporting commercial navigation to authorized project depths." The bill would also authorize, at federal expense, the construction of "a second lock, of a width not less than 110 feet and a length not less than 1,200 feet, adjacent to the existing lock at Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan."

The need for dredging has become a critical issue in Great Lakes shipping. As a result of lower water levels and inadequate dredging, U.S.-flagged lakers have consistently been forced to carry lighter loads on voyages, markedly reducing the efficiency of the waterborne cargo transportation system.

Addressing a meeting of the Great Lakes Maritime Task Force May 2, Joseph Carrabba, president and CEO of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., highlighted the impact of inadequate dredging and light loading on mining and the entire regional supply chain.

"It's the cumulative impact that really tells the story,"Carrabba said. "A 1,000-footer will carry about 50 cargoes a year. If the vessel that light-loaded by 12,000 tons on April 6 is limited to that degree all year, 600,000 tons of pellets will remain in stockpile. Few of our steel mill customers have the ability to receive iron ore by train, and even if the railroads had enough rolling stock, the delivered cost would be significantly higher.

"The dredging crisis is worsening," he said. "Budget shortfalls have cancelled dredging in several ports this year, including Huron, Ohio. That port can receive more than 700,000 tons of iron ore in a given year, but the channel is so clogged that the first cargo of 2007 represented only 77 percent of the vessel's rated capacity."

H.R. 1495 would also authorize construction of a second Poe-sized lock. At Sault Ste. Marie, only the Poe Lock can accommodate ships longer than about 750 feet. Many ships in the Great Lakes fleet, including the 13 1,000-foot self-unloading bulk carriers, traveling between Lakes Superior and Huron must use this lock.

"The case for a second Poe-sized Lock is really the case for Great Lakes shipping," said Lake Carriers' Association 3rd Vice President James Weakley during testimony in the Michigan House of Representatives. "Over these waters move as much as 200 million tons of cargo each year."

Weakley pointed out that ships carrying large cumulative volumes of key cargoes for the Great Lakes region, including iron ore, coal, limestone and grain, transit the Soo Locks.

"Cargo movement through the Soo Locks has averaged about 80 million tons a year this decade," Weakley said.

He added: "Hundreds of thousands of family-sustaining jobs depend on the Soo Locks. The products that those cargoes produce--steel, electricity, highways, schools--are in turn the foundation of our standard of living and hope for the future."

Similar legislation to H.R. 1495 passed the House in the 109th Congress but stalled in House-Senate conference negotiations. No water resources authorization legislation has been enacted since 2000.

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