[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 117 (Wednesday, July 19, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1473-E1474]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1996
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speech of
HON. STEVE GUNDERSON
of wisconsin
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, July 12, 1995
The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of
the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 1905) making
appropriations for energy and water development for the
fiscal year ending September 30, 1996, and for other
purposes:
Mr. GUNDERSON. Mr. Chairman, my amendment would restrict the Corps
from using funds appropriated under this bill to study the capacity
needs of the Mississippi River above Lock and Dam 14 in the vicinity of
Moline, IL, and Bettendorf, IA. The amendment explicitly protects the
Corps' environmental baseline studies required to comply with the
National Environmental Policy Act.
The Gunderson amendment is necessary because the resources required
to improve the lock and dam system will be available only for those
locks and dams that are insufficient to handle increasing commercial
barge traffic. For that reason, we must limit the resources
appropriated under this bill to those locks where navigation
improvements are most needed.
The Upper Mississippi River System is extremely rare among large
rivers. It is a vital navigation channel and its five refuges provide
vital habitats for fish and waterfowl of all types. Recreation on the
upper river yields $1.2 billion annually in economic benefits. For
these reasons, Congress has recognized the Upper Mississippi as a dual-
purpose waterway: a nationally significant ecosystem and a significant
commercial navigation system.
Congress authorized the current 9 foot navigation channel and system
of locks and dams in 1930. The system has flourished ever since, and
today the Upper Mississippi System includes 37 locks and dams and over
360 terminals. The navigation system carries a large portion of this
Nation's coal and corn--over half the corn exported from this country
is shipped via the Upper Mississippi River by barge.
Gradual increases in commercial barge traffic, especially in the last
30 years, have strained the lock and dam system on the lower portion of
the Upper Mississippi River. Cargo transported on the Upper Mississippi
has increased from about 27 million tons in 1960 to 91 million tons in
1990--about a 340-percent increase. Because many of the locks were
designed to handle only a fraction of this traffic, backlogs on the
lower locks have formed. Much of this is due to the confluence of
several large rivers below Lock and Dam 20--the Missouri River, the
Illinois Waterway, and the Upper Mississippi.
Evidence of the delays on the lower locks has begun to mount. In a
November 1994 newspaper article, the Corps indicated that there is a
bottleneck at four or five locks just above St. Louis. Barges delayed
because of heavy traffic cost consumers, farmers and businesses a great
deal of money. In 1992, tows at the Upper Mississippi River locks 20
through 25 were delayed a total of 87,000 hours at a cost of $35
million.
Mr. Chairman, the Corps began the Upper Mississippi River-Illinois
Waterway System Navigation Study in 1993 to assess the need for
expansion at all 37 locks in the system. In addition, the study is
designed to determine the potential impacts on the river, navigation,
the economy and the environment and to prioritize infrastructure
improvements over a 50-year time frame. Although I agree with the need
to assess the needs for additional investment on a system-wide basis,
Mr. Chairman, the fiscal realities are that no significant lock and dam
improvements will be done above Lock and Dam 14. In fact, the Corps
itself does not foresee any major improvement projects in that area
before the year 2050.
At a time when the Congress is trying to balance the budge in 7
years, we must insist that the money we do allocate is used
efficiently. Locks 1 through 14 on the Upper Mississippi have the
lowest proportion of traffic, so substantial navigation improvements
are not a high priority in that area. My amendment would recognize this
need by restricting the Corps' navigation study to the lock and dam
system below Lock and Dam 14 near Moline, Illinois. However, the
amendment specifically allows the Corps to fulfill its responsibilities
for conducting baseline environmental studies under the National
Environmental Policy Act, and for determining the economic impacts of
projects on the lower portion, if such impacts can reasonably be
foreseen above Lock and Dam 14.
Substantial improvements on the first 14 locks on the Upper
Mississippi River will not be funded in the next 50 years because the
Inland Waterway Trust Fund does not have sufficient funds to pay for
such improvements. Improvements on the inland navigation system,
including on the Mississippi River, are funded 50 percent by the
Federal Government and 50 percent by the inland Waterway Trust Fund.
The commercial navigation industry supports the trust fund through a
fuel tax.
Assuming a current rate of increase, the trust fund will not even be
able to support major improvements to the most heavily congested locks
on the upper river, let alone locks 1 through 14. In fiscal year 1994,
the trust fund had a net increase--receipts minus appropriations--of
$21 million; in fiscal year 1995, the trust fund had a net increase of
$43 million. Assuming a net increase of $50 million a year, and not
considering other construction projects undertaken by the Corps--for
example, Ohio River improvements, by the year 2025, the Inland Waterway
Trust Fund would only contain approximately $1.8 billion. The cost of
building a new lock, by Corps estimates, is $350 million. Given that,
construction of six new 1200 foot locks in the most congested areas of
the river would cost as much as $2.1 billion in fiscal year 1995). The
trust
[[Page E 1474]]
fund's 50-percent share would be enough only to cover the required
projects if the Corps did not undertake navigation projects on any
other river.
Given that estimate, and by the Corps' own conservative estimates,
new projects above Lock and Dam 14 seem unlikely. According to a Corps
analysis of the trust fund through 2025, under a scenario considering
the very highest possible revenues, projects above Lock and Dam 14
could not feasibly be undertaken until well after 2025. That analysis
estimates a balance of $22.6 million at the end of 2024, with estimated
receipts of $161.3 million for fiscal year 1995. In order to avoid a
trust fund deficit, only 5 of the most important 6 projects, all below
Lock and Dam 20, could even be started before 2025.
Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the importance of commercial navigation on
the Upper Mississippi River and believe it is important to assess the
needs for navigation improvements to the lock and dam system. I offer
this amendment to limit the geographical scope of the study, however,
because I do not want to see scarce and valuable resources used to
examine a portion of the lock and dam system that will not see any
significant structural improvements for the next 50 years. Any study of
the system above Lock and Dam 14 completed now would, without a doubt,
have to be repeated by the time new projects in that area were
undertaken, as the Corps, quite understandably, does not have the
modeling capabilities to accurately foresee 50 years into the future.
So let's not expend energy and money on a study that will not provide
any useful results.
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