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Missouri
Transportation Letter
April 30, 2002
The Honorable John
Duncan
Chairman
Subcommittee on Water Resources and the Environment
U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
B-376 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Chairman Duncan:
As your subcommittee
considers reauthorization of the Water Resources and Development Act
(WRDA), we respectfully request that you include initial authorization
for lock and dam modernization on the Upper Mississippi and Illinois
Rivers in the bill.
Modernizing the
inland waterway transportation system in the Upper Mississippi River
Basin remains a priority for farmers and ranchers in Missouri. With
nearly two-thirds of all grain and soybeans exports sent to market on
the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, improving the efficiency of locks
and dams on the Upper Mississippi would help maintain the United States’
competitive advantage in the export market. Unfortunately, according
to a National Corn Growers Association Study, should we choose to not
invest in river infrastructure improvements, it is possible that farmers
could lose nearly $360 million annually over the next 20 years.
To fully understand
the need for appropriate infrastructure upgrades on the Mississippi
River, it is important to understand that the system was designed and
built primarily during the Great Depression. The planned life span of
this system was 60 years. Obviously, we are well past that point now.
The lock and dam system on the Upper Mississippi was intended to move
two million tons of waterway traffic per year. It now moves more than
120 million tons per year. The river infrastructure which has served
us so well for so many years is proving less capable of meeting contemporary
demands each and every year.
While we continue
to debate the merits of lock expansion, our foreign competitors will
be investing millions to modernize their river systems. We have heard
firsthand reports on the advances being made by our competitors. For
example, Brazil now transports soybeans on vessels specially designed
to navigate the Amazon River. This has allowed lower cost access to
vast areas of inland production.
After 10 years of
study, we believe that the time has come to proceed with lock and dam
modernization on the Upper Mississippi River. This project has strong
grassroots support and the Missouri General Assembly recently passed
a resolution in support of this effort. It is essential that we act
now to modernize those locks and dams for the 21st Century.
We thank you in
advance for your consideration of this request.
Sincerely,
(signed)
Kenny Hulshof (R)
Jo Ann Emerson (R)
Sam Graves (R)
Ike Skelton (D)
Todd Akin (R)
William Clay (D)
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