[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 142 (Tuesday, October 21, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2039-E2040]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        IMPROVE THE SAFETY OF BOATERS IN SOUTHERN LAKE MICHIGAN

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 21, 1997

  Mr. BLAGOJEVICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of locating a Coast 
Guard search and rescue helicopter in the southern end of Lake 
Michigan. Currently, there is only one Coast Guard search and rescue 
helicopter which serves southern Lake Michigan. Until 1995, this 
helicopter was located at the Coast Guard Air Station Chicago in 
Glenview, IL. In 1995, the Glenview facility was downgraded to a 
seasonal air facility. Subsequently, the Coast Guard decided to move 
the helicopter facility to Muskegon, MI. While the justification for 
the move from Glenview is clear, I respectfully disagree with the Coast 
Guard's choice of Muskegon as the alternative location for the air 
facility. Located 120 nautical miles from the southern end of Lake 
Michigan, Muskegon is simply too far away from where the majority of 
boating activities and accidents occur in Lake Michigan. I believe the 
Gary Regional Airport, in Gary, IN, is a more appropriate location for 
the facility.
  Events during the course of the last few months have highlighted the 
need for a helicopter rescue team which can respond quickly to 
emergencies in southern Lake Michigan. On April 6, two fishermen died 
in a boating accident near east Chicago, IN, despite search efforts by 
boat and helicopter. A Coast Guard rescue helicopter had already been 
flying for more than an hour when it arrived in Gary, IN, to refuel and 
join the search for the missing boaters. The Coast Guard estimates that 
a person wearing a lifejacket can survive for about 4 hours in 40-
degree water. It is clear that even 1 hour could mean the difference 
between life and death when boaters are in an emergency situation in 
Lake Michigan.
  In June of this year, a man and his disabled jetski floated for 2 
nights off a Chicago beach, waiting to be rescued. This event 
highlights the fact that emergencies which require helicopter search 
and rescue response occur within a few hundred yards of Chicago's 
beaches. Although this man was fortunate to

[[Page E2040]]

have been able to float on a jetski, his experience demonstrates that 
there could well be a time when someone must survive in the icy cold of 
Lake Michigan waiting the hour it takes for the Coast Guard to fly from 
Muskegon to Chicago.
  According to July 1996 Census Bureau statistics, the population of 
counties bordering Lake Michigan in Indiana and Illinois is 6.4 million 
people. Michigan's shoreline population in the counties south of 
Muskegon is only 715,748. It stands to reason that the more populated 
areas of the Lake Michigan shoreline are at greater risk for boating 
accidents. In addition, Northwest Indiana's casino boats, which carry 
thousands of people each year, Chicago's dinner and sightseeing boats, 
which carry over 1 million passengers each year, and the over 1,000 
flights a day which make their final descent over Lake Michigan 
accentuate southern Lake Michigan's need for Coast Guard helicopters 
that can respond very quickly to emergencies.
  On an average day in the summer, there are roughly 2,000 boats in the 
water along the 70 miles of shoreline from Gary to Waukegan. This 
tremendously heavily traffic gives rise to an average of 10 to 20 Coast 
Guard search and rescue boat missions a day within 3 to 5 miles of the 
Waukegan/Gary shoreline. These overburdened Coast Guard boats are 
responsible for not only the shoreline, but also the Chicago River, the 
Calumet River, and the Cal-Sag Channel west to Joliet. The increased 
risk to boaters due to this situation was brought to light by a recent 
Chicago Sun-Times article which reported that almost seven times more 
people have died in the lake waters near the Gary to Waukegan shoreline 
or connecting rivers in the past year than that in the previous year. 
Twenty-six people have died since October 1, 1996, compared to just 
four during the previous fiscal year. Even the Coast Guard's acting 
commander of the Chicago area has remarked that this number is, 
``extremely high.'' Nine of these deaths were the result of plane 
crashes, 11 deaths involved boating incidents, and 2 people died in jet 
skiing accidents.
  Gary, IN, which is only 10 minutes flying time from Chicago, is 
ideally situated to provide the quick emergency response service needed 
in southern Lake Michigan. While some have suggested Waukegan as an 
alternative site, it takes a helicopter 19 minutes to fly from Waukegan 
to Chicago--9 minutes longer than from Gary. At the same time, a 
helicopter based in Gary can reach Chicago's north shore communities in 
26 minutes--almost half the time as a helicopter flying from Muskegon. 
Moreover, with a control tower operating 24 hours a day and the second 
longest runway in the region, the Gary Regional Airport is already 
equipped to handle a helicopter station and would need no expensive 
improvements to maintain an air facility. Moving the Coast Guard search 
and rescue helicopter from Muskegon to Gary has the support of a 
majority of the Chicago and Indiana congressional delegations, 
including Senators Durbin, Mosely-Braun, Coats, and, Lugar, as well as 
Mayor Daley, Governor Edgar, Governor O'Bannon, and Illinois Secretary 
of Transportation, Kirk Brown.
  Mr. Speaker, although it may cost slightly more to locate a Coast 
Guard helicopter in Gary, the question before us is about saving lives, 
not about saving money. Clearly, a helicopter based in Gary has the 
potential to save more lives than one which sits over 45 minutes away 
in Muskegon, MI. This is why I, along with Representatives Visclosky 
and Lipiniski, requested the GAO to conduct an independent, 
nonparochial assessment of which location best protects the safety of 
those who live and recreate in southern Lake Michigan. It is my hope 
that the results of this study will impress upon my colleagues the need 
for more timely Coast Guard search and rescue helicopter response 
service in southern Lake Michigan. I look forward to working with my 
colleagues on this issue in the days ahead.

                          ____________________