Inland waterways interest question Academy of Sciences findings

Inland waterways interest question Academy of Sciences findings    A group of inland waterway users question the findings of a recent report by at National Academy of Sciences panel that calls for the Army Corps of Engineers to consider non-infrastructure improvements to manage barge traffic on the Upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers.
   The academy panel report questioned the Corps’ 12-year $67 million study analysis and estimates for managing future barge traffic on these rivers. The report said structural measures, such as increasing lock capacity for barges at cost of $2.8 billion, will not render much benefit.
   The academy panel report recommends the Corps establishing new tolls and disregarding its first-come, first-served lock operations for barge traffic to eliminate seasonal backups.
   Chris Brescia, president of MARC 2000, a St. Louis-based industry, agriculture and labor coalition, said his group is “frankly mystified that preliminary conclusions were reached by the committee before reviewing all of the data and talking to the real experts.”
   The academy panel report also criticized the Corps report’s use of grain export projections, citing them to be too high.
   “Everyone understands that grain export projections are a moving target,” said S. Richard Tolman, chairman of MARC 2000 and chief executive officer of the National Corn Growers Association. “But if we plan to capture a growing market share, we have to stop relying on 70-year-old lock and dam infrastructure and start a long-term program to support export demand well into the future.”
   “Our trade policy supports this premise, now let’s get our domestic policy synchronized,” Tolman said.