Waterways recommendations head to Capitol Hill

Waterways recommendations head to Capitol Hill    A federal advisory committee for the operation and maintenance of the nation’s inland waterways system has approved and forwarded to Congress a proposal Tuesday prioritizing infrastructure improvements over the next 20 years.
   The proposal, which was finalized in December, was developed over the past year by a waterways industry and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers working group. It has received strong support from major industry groups, such as the Waterways Council, American Waterways Operators and National Waterways Conference, and wide support from many members of Congress.
   The recommendations, approved by the Inland Waterways User Group, prioritize navigation projects across the entire system, improve the Corps’ project management and processes to deliver projects on time and on budget, and recommend a funding mechanism that is affordable and meets the system’s needs.
   “More than 150 stakeholders in industry have signed on to support this consensus-based long-term Inland Waterways Capitol Development Plan that we feel will help our nation to continue to enjoy the benefits of our energy-efficient, congestion-relieving U.S. waterways transportation system,” said Cornel Martin, president and chief executive officer of the Waterways Council, in a statement.
   “The recommendations urge funding parameters for the entire system rather than simply on a project-by-project basis, and will help us address more of the system’s critical projects now in order to complete them more efficiently,” he said.
   The recommendations would preserve the 50 percent industry-50 percent federal cost-sharing formula for new lock construction and major rehabilitation projects costing $100 million or more, while adjusting the current model to provide that dam construction and smaller rehabilitation projects would be 100 percent federally funded. “These adjustments recognize the value derived by other beneficiaries of dams and the pools created by dams,” the industry groups said.
   Also recommended is a cost-share cap on all new lock construction projects that would preserve the Inland Waterways Trust Fund by preventing the industry from having to fund significant cost overruns.
   The industry groups said these new recommendations would necessitate an increase in the 20-cents-per-gallon fuel tax paid by the barge and towing industry, the only users of the system who are taxed. Industry representatives called the increase an investment by industry in order to improve the future viability and efficiency of America’s inland waterways system.
   The waterways industry is opposed to any lockage fee for making these upgrades, as was first proposed by the Bush administration and again by the Obama administration. ' Chris Gillis