2012 Position Paper
Construction of a Second Poe-Sized Lock at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
GOAL: Seek legislation in the 112th Congress that appropriates $590 million to build a second Poe-sized lock at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.
BACKGROUND: The Soo Locks connect Lake Superior to the lower four Great Lakes. The locks make possible the shipment of iron ore from mines in Minnesota and Michigan, coal from western states, and grain from American and Canadian farms. Cargo movement through the Soo Locks routinely tops 80 million tons per year.
The need for a second Poe-sized lock was recognized more than 20 years ago, but becomes more critical each passing day. Poe-class vessels (their length and/or beam restrict them to the Poe Lock) are the most efficient and now represent nearly 70 percent of U.S.-flag carrying capacity on the Great Lakes. Were the Poe Lock incapacitated for a lengthy period, shipping on the Lakes would come to a standstill.
The industry had a preview of the disaster that awaits in August 2010. Just a 12-hour closure of the Poe Lock to weld a crack on a gate delayed nine U.S.-flag lakers (including six of the thirteen 1,000-foot-long vessels), one Canadian-flag tanker, and an ocean-going vessel.
As Congress tries to revive America's troubled economy, construction of a second Poe-sized lock should be a high priority. This would be the largest navigation project on the Great Lakes in a generation and would, almost immediately, jump-start a distressed region of the country. Consider just these facts:
- * The lock has been authorized at full Federal expense. No need to find a local sponsor.
- * Construction of the coffer dams needed to start the project is funded and commenced in June 2009.
- * At the peak of construction of the lock proper, 250 workers will be gainfully employed.
- * During the 10 years of construction, the project will generate 1.5 million man hours. An economist has observed that construction would be "the equivalent of a small auto assembly plant operating for 8 years."
- * Nearly 1 out of every 4 dollars spent on the project will wind up as regional incomes in an area where a good-paying job means maybe $20,000 a year.
- * The project will use more than 1.1 million tons of domestically-quarried limestone, 60,000 tons of U.S.-made cement, and 25,000 tons of American-made steel.
- * While most dollars will go to local workers, expenditures for gates, electronics, machinery, and engineering will mean jobs for workers and manufacturers nationwide.
BENEFITS: The American economy cannot thrive without reliable shipping through the Soo Locks. The Great Lakes region is home to 50 percent of the nation's steelmaking capacity, an industry that generates 135,000 direct jobs, and another 865,000 in supplier industries. The vast majority of the iron ore that feeds those mills transits the Soo Locks. The Soo Locks make possible the shipment of clean-burning, low sulfur coal from western states to Great Lakes basin power plants. The Soo Locks allow grain from the Plains States to be shipped overseas.
And now construction of a second Poe-sized lock can be a major contributor to jump-starting the American economy. American industry needs the reliability a second Poe-sized lock will bring and American workers need the jobs the project will create.