 |
| The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved
legislation Wednesday that authorizes construction of seven
new locks on the upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers. |
NCGA Pleased with Progress on Lock Modernization Legislation
(6-24-04)
The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) commends the Senate
Environment and Public Works Committee for advancing a bill Wednesday
that authorizes construction of seven new locks on the upper Mississippi
and Illinois rivers.
The bill was inserted
into the 2004 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), which was
approved on a unanimous voice vote by the
committee. The proposal, which calls for $1.46 billion in authorized
funding for the new locks and an equal allotment for ecosystem
restoration, was approved with no debate over the lock provisions.
Exactly half of the funding for navigation improvements – $730
million – will come from the Inland Waterways Trust Fund,
which draws its revenue from a 20-cent-per-gallon fuel tax assessed
on commercial barge lines.
NCGA Chairman Fred Yoder
said Wednesday’s action represents
a major step toward strengthening future export market opportunities
for corn growers. Each year, approximately 60 percent of U.S. bulk
agriculture exports are moved to world ports via the upper Mississippi
and Illinois rivers, he said.
“It was a huge day for corn growers – and the tens
of thousands of other Americans who depend on a modernized, efficient
river system,” said Yoder, who will testify today at a House
Transportation Committee hearing on the need to upgrade navigation
infrastructure and ecosystem on the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. “For
more than a decade, our members have made new locks a top priority.
These new locks will significantly improve the efficiency of the
system and keep freight rates down.”
The bill also includes immediate implementation of small-scale
measures, such as lock guidewall extensions and switchboats to
help alleviate congestion. Lawmakers say WRDA could come up for
a full Senate vote as early as July. If the Senate approves its
own WRDA bill, differences would still have to be worked out with
the House.
“We urge Congress to pass this bill as expeditiously as
possible – we can’t afford to lose any more time on
this issue,” Yoder said. “And we’re also encouraging
President Bush to endorse the project immediately. The Corps has
already spent $70 million and nearly 15 years studying the problem.
Now it’s time for action.”
Yoder said the rapid
advancement of WRDA is due in part to the combined efforts of
commodity groups, the navigation industry and
the laborers who will build the new locks. “We would have
never gotten this far without the alliance of ag, labor and industry
put together by MARC 2000 (Midwest Area River Coalition),” he
said. “NCGA also thanks the senators who made this bill possible.
They obviously heard what their constituents were saying and took
action.”
To read Yoder’s
testimony, click here.