WCI IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIRMAN RICK CALHOUN TESTIFIES BEFORE SENATE ENVIRONMENT & PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE ON NEED FOR WRDA BILL

News Release Waterways Council, Inc. September 24, 2012

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INLAND
WATERWAYS’ INVESTMENT CREATES JOBS, BOOSTS ECONOMY
 
Arlington,
VA – Rick Calhoun, President of Cargo Carriers, a business of Cargill, Inc., and
Immediate Past Chairman of Waterways Council, Inc. (WCI), testified today before
the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee on
“Water Resources Development Act: Growing the Economy and Protecting Public
Safety.”   Mr. Calhoun addressed the need
for a Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), which he called “a real opportunity to offer a long-term growth solution for
this vital transportation system and our export market…Much has changed since
WRDA legislation last passed through this chamber five years ago and we are well
past the point where our nation needs to be,” he stated in testimony. 

Calhoun
urged the Committee to move forward with a WRDA bill to provide much needed
improvement and increased investment in the nation’s
waterways infrastructure.  “Our
nation’s
waterways have remained a reliable transportation mode because of the vision of
past Congresses and hard work of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The past two
years have provided great challenges for the Corps, which managed to keep our
water transportation system open despite record flooding followed this year by
severe drought.  But as we look to the future, it is our belief that
without immediate action to alter the delivery schedule of projects needed to
enhance our infrastructure, the system’s
reliability could be challenged,”
he said.
He
went on to note that despite industry’s
efforts to modernize their own operations to meet 21st century
economic challenges, the
rivers
still utilize 1930s technology.  He said that
56% of the 238 Corps’
locks are over 50 years old and well beyond their design life, while 34 locks
are over 80 years old.  “If
nothing is done, this infrastructure will be on the brink of collapse. 
Moreover, these important projects are not built in a day; they take years
–
even decades –
to construct,”
he said.  
He
also raised the cost escalation and delays at the Olmsted Lock and Dam project
on the Ohio River as an example of the system’s
deficiencies. Originally authorized by Congress in 1988 at $775 million, the
project was to be completed within 12 years.  Almost 25 years later, the
project is nowhere near completion and has ballooned to a cost of more than $3
billion.   
Calhoun
praised the industry-Corps of Engineers developed Capital Development Plan, now
contained in legislation introduced by Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-KY) and Rep. Jerry
Costello (D-IL) called Waterways are Vital for the Economy, Energy, Efficiency
and Environment (WAVE-4) Act of 2012 (H.R. 4342).  WAVE 4 calls for
prioritizing projects, improving the Corps’
project management processes to deliver projects on time and on budget, and
recommending an affordable funding mechanism with increased investment from both
private industry and the U.S. government, increasing annual spending from $170
million to $380 million.  This funding level could complete 25 projects
over the next 20 years, compared to just two –
Olmsted and the Lower Monongahela project in Pittsburgh –
under the current funding scheme and the cost escalation at Olmsted, he
said.   He also noted industry’s
support for the efforts of several Senators to address the infrastructure
challenges of our ports and inland waterways that is now underway. 

“…The
challenge is the critical need to both maintain and repair existing structures
as well as to construct new, modern, expanded lock chambers to accommodate
today’s
larger tow sizes. Completed projects allow for greater agriculture and
energy-sector commodity exports. This is critical when more than 90 percent of
consumer spending growth will happen beyond the United States’
borders in the next 50 years.  Investment spending that supports
competitive exports is essential to economic growth,”
Calhoun said.  
Mr.
Calhoun’s testimony can be found at <A
href="redir.aspx?C=69e99c6a712349cd8aded8ebb446779a&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.waterwayscouncil.org%2findex%2fSenateEPWWRDATestimonyRickCalhounFINAL.pdf"
target=_blank>http://www.waterwayscouncil.org/index/SenateEPWWRDATestimonyRickCalhounFINAL.pdf</A> 
Waterways
Council, Inc. is the national public policy organization advocating a modern and
well-maintained national system of ports and inland waterways.  The group
is supported by waterways carriers, shippers, port authorities, shipping
associations and waterways advocacy groups from all regions of the
country.  Visit <A title=http://www.waterwayscouncil.org/
href="redir.aspx?C=69e99c6a712349cd8aded8ebb446779a&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.waterwayscouncil.org%2f"
target=_blank>www.waterwayscouncil.org</A>.</DIV></BODY></HTML>