Senate passes inland waterways improvement legislation

Senate passes inland waterways improvement legislation The U.S. Senate passed legislation Wednesday that supports major improvements to the country’s aging inland water transportation system by a 91-4 vote.
   The 2007 Water Resources Development Act authorizes the Army Corps of Engineers to proceed with work to modernize seven lock and dam projects on the Upper Mississippi River and Illinois Waterway, and the Bayou Sorrel and the Matagorda Bay reroute project on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.
   “Our members, particularly those in the Midwest, have been working diligently with Congress in an effort to modernize the Upper Mississippi River system, and today their efforts have been rewarded,” said R. Barry Palmer, president of Waterways Council, in a statement.
   “On the heels of this favorable action today, we urge the leaders of the House and Senate to convene a conference committee promptly so that we can get this much needed legislation enacted into law as soon as possible,” Palmer added.
   The House passed a similar version of the legislation on April 19 by a 394-25 vote.
   More than 625 million tons of freight commodities move on the country’s inland waterways. These commodities include grain, coal, steel, petroleum, chemicals and aggregate materials.