Modernization of Locks, Rivers Issues Focus of Barge Tours (8-2-04)

Media, businesses and government officials will get a close-up look at the need for modernized locks on the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers during a series of barge tours, National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) CEO Rick Tolman said today. The tours, which begin Tuesday at Joliet, Ill., will be held for two weeks and are hosted by the Illinois and Iowa corn grower associations, the Illinois Farm Bureau, the Illinois Soybean Association and the Midwest Area River Coalition (MARC 200O), of which NCGA is a member and Tolman is chairman.

Each tour will host about 140 people per tour, said Martin Barbre, an Illinois Corn Growers Association member. “These tours give us the opportunity to show first-hand the deteriorating conditions of the locks,” Barbre said. “Each tour will go through a lock so that Congressional staff, media and others can first-hand the importance of maintaining our river infrastructure.
The tour schedule includes:

For more information on the lock modernization issue, log on to www.newlocks.org. To send a personal message to elected officials, go to the legislative action center at www.ncga.com.

Last reviewed August 2, 2004