Alton Telegraph-Herald  08-05-02
Barge industry calls for river navigation improvements
August 05, 2002
By STEVE WHITWORTH
Telegraph city editor

Advocates of the nation's barge industry hope the release of an interim
report on a long-awaited study of navigation issues on the Upper
Mississippi
and Illinois rivers will prompt Congress to pass legislation to
modernize
the system of locks and dams on those rivers.

Last week, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released the interim report
on
the Upper Mississippi River and Illinois Waterway System Navigation
Study.
The final version of the study itself is scheduled for completion in
2004.

Even so, officials of the barge industry and their supporters are trying
to
use the interim report to garner support for their push to begin
improvements to locks and dams on the two great rivers, even before the
final version of the full study is released.

"It's time to promote responsible economic development, promote the
advancement of the least environmentally intrusive mode of transporting
commodities," said Don Huffman of MEMCO Barge Lines, based in
Chesterfield,
Mo. "And with a lot of pre-construction work ahead, it just makes sense
to
begin this process now, instead of waiting until 2004. Otherwise, we are

really jeopardizing the economy of the Midwest at a time when we should
be
promoting a system that has proven itself to work."

Barge industry leaders say they hope the release of the interim report
will
prompt federal lawmakers to pass the Water Resources Development Act
legislation later this fall.

The navigation advocates point out that 25 congressional representatives
and
six senators from the basin states signed letters earlier this summer
supporting the authorization of pre-construction design and engineering
planning for the project, which is expected to take 10 to 15 years to
complete after authorization. The Illinois General Assembly also has
passed
a resolution supporting immediate action toward lock modernization, as
have
the state legislatures in Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Nevertheless, the authors of the interim report clearly state that it
"is
not a decision document.

"The full economic and environmental evaluations necessary to support a
potential recommendation for construction of navigation improvements and

implementation of ecosystem restoration measures will be contained in
the
final feasibility report, scheduled for completion in 2004," the interim

report's executive summary says.

Although the corps traditionally has supported projects intended to
facilitate river navigation and to improve aging locks and dams, the
UMR-IWW
System Navigation Study has been mired in controversy. Environmentalists

have questioned the integrity and impartiality of the study, and a
longtime
corps employee who works in the St. Louis District filed a whistleblower

action in 2000 that resulted in the study being halted in March 2001 by
order of Lt. Gen. Robert Flowers, chief of engineers for the corps.

Flowers and other top corps and Army officials ordered the resumption of
the
Navigation Study on Aug. 2, 2001. They have said the study would refocus
on
environmentally sustainable development of the river system.

The executive summary of the interim report opens with an assertion that

environmental concerns will be given full consideration in the drafting
of
the Navigation Study.

"The Upper Mississippi River and Illinois Waterway System Navigation
Study
has been restructured to give equal consideration to fish and wildlife
resources and navigation improvement planning consistent with
recommendations from the National Research Council and the Federal
Principals Group," the executive summary says.

According to the executive summary, sustainability is defined as "the
balance of economic, ecological and social conditions so as to meet the
current, projected and future needs of the Upper Mississippi River
System
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their
needs."

The report outlines those navigation improvement and ecosystem
restoration
measures that will be carried forward for evaluation. In terms of
navigation
improvement, the structural measures include guidewall extension, lock
extensions and new locks.

"Ecosystem restoration measures include those beneficial adjustments to
system operation and maintenance, ecosystem restoration opportunities
and
environmental enhancement opportunities related to the navigation
system,"
the executive summary says. "Examples of these measures include traffic
impact prevention and reduction; channel modifications; systemic fish
passage and water level management; backwater, secondary channel and
island
rehabilitation."

The UMR-IWW System Navigation Study began as a multi-year study to
investigate the feasibility of navigation improvements on the rivers
over a
50-year planning period. The study area includes 854 miles of the Upper
Mississippi, with 29 locks and dams, between Minneapolis-St. Paul and
the
mouth of the Ohio River, as well as 348 miles of the Illinois Waterway,
with
eight locks and dams, that connect the city of Chicago and the Great
Lakes
with the Mississippi just upstream of the Melvin Price Locks and Dam 26
at
Alton.

Navigation industry leaders have argued that many locks and dams built
in
the 1930s were designed to accommodate 600-foot-long tows. Modern tows
routinely approach 1,100 feet in length, making it necessary for them to
be
broken into two sections in order to pass through the 600-foot locks.
That
causes delays in transportation time, the barge industry advocates
argue,
resulting in higher costs. The industry wants more 1,200-foot locks,
such as
the main lock at Alton, which also has a 600-foot lock.

"After $26 million invested in this study for environmental restoration
needs alone, we can finally start moving toward making a healthier, more

efficient river system," said Looman Stingo, chairman of the Midwest
Area
River Coalition 2000, a group made up largely of barge industry
interests.
"Along with $76 million more for a monitoring system under the
Environmental
Management Program and the work toward the Habitat Needs Assessment that
has
been identified, it's clear that it's time to stop talking about
ecosystem
enhancement and actually begin working toward a better river for
everyone.
It's time for action."

Other advocates of lock modernization say it would boost the region's
economy. Terry Nelson, executive secretary-treasurer of the Carpenters'
District Council of Greater St. Louis and Vicinity, said the project
would
create 3,000 to 6,000 jobs in the region each year.

"The process of modernizing our locks will boost the economy in our
area,
and the result from the project will finally get the Midwest prepared
for
the transportation needs for the 21st century," Nelson said.

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