January-February 2014 • Volume 6, Issue #1
VP BIDEN: “INLAND WATERWAYS
ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL”
“Inland waterways are the absolutely critical
ingredient in our transportation network,” declared
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on February 19 at
America’s Central Port in Granite City, Illinois.
Speaking to hundreds in the audience inside one of
the port’s warehouses, Vice President Biden
channeled a President Abraham Lincoln quote,
saying, “The best way to predict your future is to
create it” when it comes to transportation
infrastructure. That’s a familiar sentiment among
stakeholder groups in the Upper Mississippi Basin
that have been pushing lock modernization.
Lock modernization for seven key sites on the
Mississippi and Illinois Rivers has been held up by
several factors, including the ban on
Congressionally-directed spending (earmarks), the
current balance in the Inland Waterways Trust Fund
and corresponding over-budget, behind schedule
completion of Olmsted dam. Additionally, the 2004
Chief’s Report has yet to be transferred to Congress
by either the Bush or Obama Administrations.
Pre-construction engineering and design (PED) for
the seven 1,200-foot locks last received funding in
FY 2011. It, along with the ecosystem restoration
provisions in the project, collectively known as
NESP (Navigation-Ecosystem Sustainability
Program), continue to be touted as ‘shovel ready
‘by stakeholders. Yet, due to a provision authorized
in the 2007 Water Resources Development Act,
NESP would be placed on a list of projects that
could be subject to de-authorization if it does not
receive funding by FY 2017.
The vice president closed with a caution about
taking infrastructure for granted, saying, “No single
infrastructure project, when finished, says ‘Well, we
got it done now.’ It constantly has to be
modernized.”
The Administration has an opportunity to do just
that with the January release of the Consolidated
Appropriations Act of 2014, which includes up to
four new starts - projects to be selected from inland
navigation, flood control and storm damage
prevention, and ecosystem restoration programs.
One of the projects must be from the ecosystem
restoration portfolio, while up to two projects may
be selected from the other three categories. The
Corps has until approximately March 1 to select
projects for these additional funds, and the new
starts.
The Inland Marine Transportation System Capital
Projects Business Model , or capital development
plan designed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
and the Inland Waterways Users Board,
recommends two new immediate starts on the
Upper Mississippi River System: at Lock 25
(Winfield, MO) on the Mississippi River and
Lagrange Lock (Versailles, IL) on the Illinois.
Very specific guidance is provided for using the
funds: a project must have received funding in one
of the last three years; will reach a significant
milestone or produce significant outputs in 2014; or
is selected as a new start. The Corps must also
develop a project rating system, and consider giving
priority to projects benefitting the national economy
or enhancing national, regional or local economic
development. Job creation, economic impact on the
local, regional and national economies if the project
is not funded, and ability to obligate funds and
complete the project are also listed as factors that
will also be taken into account.
January-February 2014 • Volume 6, Issue #1
WCI released a media statement on the other
provisions of the FY 2014 Appropriations bill,
which can be viewed here. We await the
Administration’s action on NESP.
PUBLIC COMMENTS NEEDED on LOCK
CLOSURE
Your comments are needed in response to the Great
Lakes Mississippi River Interbasin Study
(GLMRIS), which presents a range of options and
technologies available to fight the spread of
invasive species, but also includes several options
of “separating” the Chicago Area Waterway System
(CAWS) from Lake Michigan, essentially shutting
down river navigation.
Comments can be made online at this link through
March 31.
The study team needs to hear your voice! Express
your opposition to the study options that include
closing or modifying the movement of barges on the
CAWS. “Physical separation” should be a nonstarter based on the GLMRIS’ estimated 25-year
implementation timeline and its massive cost
estimates between $15-$18.4 billion.
In reality, there are far too many unknowns
impacting final cost, stretching out the timeline
implementation, calling into question the benefits
achieved vs. the costs to physically separate CAWS
from Lake Michigan.
A recent study by DePaul University, “Gaining
Insight Into GLMRIS,” examines factors not taken
into account by GLMRIS and reveals a truer cost of
separation to be $13-$34 billion over a 50 horizon.
Water quality changes from a separation would
require additional treatment facilities to provide a
bypass for water from those barriers. That
decreased water quality would also require
extensive environmental review and regulatory
compliances. A physical separation would require
extensive land acquisition to accommodate flood
risk management, the cost of which is not estimated
by GLMRIS.
GLMRIS also fails to ascertain the impact to the
future growth of commercial passenger,
recreational, charter and fishing boats, among other
non-cargo users.
With so much uncertainty and unknowns as to cost,
effectiveness, aptitude, and benefits borne, among
others, we should focus on the one thing that is
certain – the region should be utilizing river
transportation more efficiently to alleviate traffic
congestion and its associated social and
environmental footprint that impacts everyone.
GLMRIS forecasts a 45 percent increase in
commercial traffic between CAWS and Lake
Michigan through 2020. Closing the CAWS would
have devastating negative impacts for operators of
barges and towboats, deep draft vessels and the
countless shippers and suppliers, manufacturers and
producers, and ultimately every member of the
population within the region.
The CAWS is a transportation corridor that
provides the lowest-cost, most environmentally
friendly and least socially intrusive mode of moving
commodities that are the underpinnings of our
nation’s economy. Redirecting that freight to other
modes due to full closure or limited use of the
CAWS would have unintended negative
consequences.
January-February 2014 • Volume 6, Issue #1
In addition, the CAWS provides an economic
engine for the region and, ultimately, the entire
country. The “Economic Impacts of Waterborne
Shipping on the Indiana Lakeshore” study of 2008
reveals 17,655 jobs are supported and $1.9 billion in
economic activity are attributed to O’Brien lockages
by Indiana barge movements alone.
No small carp (the size used in the study, 2-4 inches
in length, and the size that would be the most likely
to be impacted by tow movement) have been found
within 131 miles of Lake Michigan. The closest an
adult carp has come to the lake is still 55 miles
away along the Illinois River. The report indicated
the Corps will conduct two more years of testing
We have a path forward with the existing electric
barriers as a starting point. The Asian carp
population front hasn’t advanced since 2007 and
remains over 50 miles away from Lake
Michigan. No carp has been found to swim through
the barrier. The barrier, and other technologies
(both current and future) should be examined to
control the proliferation of invasives as best as
possible. That still does not address the fact that
Asian carp have other pathways to Lake Michigan,
including the human factor (bait buckets, etc..) from
either accident or malicious intent.
More recently, the Corps submitted the Great Lakes
Mississippi River Interbasin Study (GLMRIS) to
Congress on January 6. The report presents a range
of options and technologies available to prevent
movement of 13 invasives, or “aquatic nuisance
species” (ANS) along the Chicago Area Waterway
System, between the Great Lakes and Mississippi
River Basins.
ASIAN CARP STUDY, REPORT
RELEASED
A new report on Asian carp’s ability to pass through
the electric barrier in the Chicago area was released
late last year. The findings concluded that no Asian
carp have passed through the electric barriers
designed to prevent their migration to Lake
Michigan, thus entering the Great Lakes.
The findings, described as preliminary, revealed
testing done on tethered and caged fish to monitor
their behavior around the barrier while tows pass
over. Simulations with models were also
conducted. The report showed that very small fish
may be able pass through the barrier, principally
through being swept up in a slow-moving tow’s
wake. Faster moving tows drive fish the opposite
direction.
The report is not a decision document, nor does it
rank, rate, or make a recommendation among the
options presented. It does provide eight alternatives
and evaluates their estimated costs, implementation
time, and mitigation requirements to control the
inter-basin spread of the 13 ANS, including fish
(such as Asian carp), algae, virus, crustaceans and
plants in all life stages, with a high-or medium-risk
for transfer between the two basins.
Alternatives range from continuing current
activities, to technology concepts, to complete
separation of the watersheds to hybrids with a
technology concept and physical barriers. The
alternatives listed include the following:
1. Continuing current efforts (i.e., the electric
barriers) with “No New Federal Action —
Sustained Activities”;
2. Nonstructural control technologies (i.e.,
education, monitoring, herbicides, ballast
water management);
January-February 2014 • Volume 6, Issue #1
3. A technology concept involving a
specialized lock, lock channel, electric
barriers and ANS treatment plants at two
mid-system locations in the CAWS;
4. A technology concept (CAWS buffer zone)
using the same technologies as number 3,
preventing downstream passage from Lake
Michigan at five points and preventing
upstream passage at a single point at
Brandon Road Lock and Dam;
5. Lakefront hydrologic separation with
physical barriers separating the basins at
four locations along the lakefront of Lake
Michigan;
6. Mid-system hydrologic separation with
physical barriers separating the basins at two
mid-system locations;
7. A hybrid of technology and physical barriers
at four mid-system locations, leaving the
Cal-Sag channel open;
8. A hybrid of technology and physical barriers
at four mid-system locations, leaving the
Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal open.
Data collection for GLMRIS consisted of three
major tasks: (a) identify potential connections
where species can transfer between basins, (b)
identify species of concern established in one of the
basins with the risk for transfer to the other; and (c)
identifying potential technologies to prevent the
transfer of these species. The goal of GLMRIS was
to be adaptable to those potential future
technologies.
HOUSE T&I ANNOUNCES SPECIAL
PANEL LOOKING AT PUBLIC-PRIVATE
PARTNERSHIPS
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA) announced, along
with Ranking Member Nick Rahall (D-WV) on
January 16 a special panel will be established to
focus on the use and opportunities for public-private
partnerships across all transportation modes. By the
rules of the Committee adopted at the beginning of
the Congress, the Chairman can establish special
panels to serve for a period of six months.
The “Panel on Public-Private Partnerships” will be
chaired by Rep. John Duncan (R-TN) with Rep.
Michael Capuano (D-MA) as ranking member.
According to the T&I website, the panel will The
panel will examine the current state of P3s in the
United States to identify: (1) the role P3s play in
development and delivery of transportation and
infrastructure projects in the U.S., and on the U.S.
economy; (2) if/how P3s enhance delivery and
management of transportation and infrastructure
projects beyond the capabilities of government
agencies or the private sector acting independently;
and (3) how to balance the needs of the public and
private sectors when considering, developing, and
implementing P3 projects.
WRRDA includes a provision to allow up to 15
river navigation projects to be used as a pilot
project.