[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 52 (Thursday, March 26, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E784]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         H.R. 1747, THE GREAT LAKES ICEBREAKER REPLACEMENT ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JAMES L. OBERSTAR

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 26, 2009

  Mr. OBERSTAR. Madam Speaker, I today introduce H.R. 1747, the ``Great 
Lakes Icebreaker Replacement Act''. U.S. industries in the heartland of 
the United States are totally dependent on Great Lakes icebreakers to 
keep them supplied with raw materials during the winter months. Without 
them, steel mills would shut down for want of iron ore and electrical 
generation would halt for want of the coal necessary to power 
generators. People could not just lose their jobs--but their lives.
  During the 2006-2007 winter season, transportation of 10,400,000 tons 
of iron ore on the Great Lakes supported 100,000 jobs at Minnesota and 
Michigan iron ore mines and lower Lakes steel mills and 300,000 jobs at 
supplier industries. That same winter, 6,400,000 tons of coal were 
shipped on the Great Lakes to keep the region supplied with 
electricity. However, we don't have the icebreaking capacity on the 
Great Lakes that we have had historically. During the spring of 2008, 
U.S.-flag vessels operating on the Great Lakes suffered more than $1.3 
million in damages to their hulls because the Coast Guard did not have 
sufficient assets to keep the shipping lanes open.
  People who are not from the Great Lakes region probably do not 
realize that there is ice on the Lakes and their interconnecting 
channels from early December until April. Some years, the Coast Guard 
has been breaking ice in the St. Mary's river until mid-May. Think of 
these icebreakers as the snow plows for Great Lakes shipping. It is the 
Federal Government's responsibility to keep these marine highways open 
so the needs of the public can be met.
  In 2006, the Coast Guard took delivery of the new icebreaker 
MACKINAW. Unlike the old MACKINAW, this vessel is a combined 
buoytender-icebreaker so that it can execute Coast Guard missions year-
round. Five of the Coast Guard's icebreakers on the Lakes are close to 
the end of their useful lives. Further, the buoytenders on the Lakes 
are having difficulty breaking ice of the thickness that is commonly 
found on the Lakes.
  The $153 million authorized in H.R. 1747 authorizes the funding to 
build a sister ship to the MACKINAW. The design of the MACKINAW is 
proven and the vessel has shown that is it up to the job of breaking 
ice on the Lakes during the winter and tending buoys during the spring, 
summer and fall months. Not only will this funding ensure that our 
nation's vital industries are supplied during the winter--construction 
of this icebreaker will create jobs at U.S. shipyards and the related 
supplier industries at a time when job creation is so vital to an 
economy losing some 600,000 jobs per month.
  For all of these reasons, it is critically important that we provide 
the Coast Guard with the resources necessary to build a replacement 
icebreaker for the Great Lakes region.

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