Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH, second from left) accepts her Great Lakes Legislator of the Year award from GLMTF.  Joining the Congresswoman were (from left) Mark Barker, Interlake Steamship, Pat O'Hern (Bay Shipbuilding Company, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), and Dan Smith, American Maritime Officers. 

GLMTF Annual Washington Briefing Focuses on Dredging

The 13th Annual Informational Briefing for the Great Lakes Delegation was held on April 2 with five members of Congress in attendance including Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH), Jim Oberstar (D-MN), Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), Vern Ehlers (R-MI) and Dennis Kucinich (D-OH).  

Stephanie Tubbs Jones
The Task Force recognized Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones as the "Great Lakes Legislator of the Year" and applauded her efforts to advance legislation providing a waiver of the harbor maintenance tax for Great Lakes short sea shipping. 

Keynote address
Daniel J. Cornillie, manager of marine and raw material logistics for ArcelorMittal USA at Indiana Harbor, discussed the impacts of the dredging crisis on his company in his keynote address.
 
Cornillie said the lack of adequate dredging means that it takes a vessel six trips to deliver what it did in five trips 20 years ago. He said the constraint is the draft available and the"culprit is deferred dredging in the context of low lake levels". This is impacting the North American steel industry.  Cornillie explained that it takes 26 million tons a year of Lake delivered materials to sustain ArcelorMittal's production and jobs at its mills along the Great Lakes and without Great Lakes shipping the mills would not be located in the Region. 
 

On April 30, a national coalition of maritime users and shipping interests told the U.S. House Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee that the dredging crisis is crippling the nation's ports and waterways.  In 2007 the Federal government collected $1.4 billion in Harbor Maintenance Taxes, but spent only $751 million to maintain the nation's deep-draft ports. The Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund currently holds a $4.7 billion surplus.

March U.S.-Flag Great Lakes' Cargos Stagnant 

March cargos of the U.S.-Flag Great Lakes fleet equaled 2.5 million tons, matching the totals of March 2007.  March is not a full month of navigation with many fleets not underway until the Sault Ste. Marie locks opened March 25.  Rampant lightloading was a major factor in the static total.

Coal shipments up

Coal shipments on the Great Lakes totaled 1.6 million net tons, a gain of 27 percent compared to last year. Strong demand for coal loaded at Lake Erie ports and destined for Canada drove the surge.  However, the largest load in March was only 58,944 net tons, on a 1000 foot vessel that could carry nearly 71,000 tons if the Lakes were dredged to project dimensions.

Dredging issue

These cargo loads are significantly below rated capacity because of the dredging crisis. When current cargos are compared to the record cargos during the period of high water in 1997, they are up to 17 percent lower.  An estimated 18 million cubic yards of sediment would need to be removed to restore the Great Lakes navigation system to project dimensions at an estimated cost of $230 million.

Congress increased the Army Corps of Engineers' FY08 dredging budget for the Lakes to $138 million, which should enable the Corps to remove one million cubic yards of backlog this year.  For FY09, the proposed Administration budget cuts Lakes dredging funds to less than $90 million.

Canadian Firm to Begin Short Sea Service

Seaway Marks 50^th Navigation Season 

When the navigation season began on March 26 at the St. Lambert Lock, it marked the start of the 50^th season for the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway system.

At opening ceremonies, Richard Corfe, President and CEO of the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (SLSMC), discussed the recently completed Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Study.  The study identified opportunities to utilize the system's present locks and channels to alleviate congestion in an era of rapidly rising fuel prices. The importance of revitalizing Seaway infrastructure was also noted in the study.

Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation Administrator Collister "Terry" Johnson, Jr. discussed the importance of its new asset renewal plan that will provide substantial capital investments if fully approved by Congress.  The requested funds to modernize the U.S. Seaway assets will help follow the SLSMC's lead in renovating the Seaway.

The SLSMC, with the support of Transport Canada, will invest $270 million to refurbish the system over the next five years.

The system's official 50^th anniversary will take place next year.  The Seaway was commissioned in 1959.

Wisconsin lawmakers passed the Great Lakes Water Resources Compact and implementation language by an overwhelming margin in both State houses on May 14. Wisconsin is the fifth state to pass the Compact.  There was only one vote against the Compact in each house. Governor Doyle signed the legislation ratifying the Compact on May 27.

The Compact is designed to protect the Great Lakes and to prohibit future diversions of Great Lakes water outside the basin. It ensures that each Great Lakes state will be have the same protections while allowing each state the flexibility to manage its own water use. The Compact was signed by all eight Great Lakes Governors and two Canadian premiers in 2005 following five years of negotiations.

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