Editorial: The U.S. Needs A Healthy Transport System

There is no doubt that after the U.S. House passed the Water Resources Development Act 2005 on July 14 by a 406–14 vote, opponents will step up their opposition in order to influence the Senate, which has not yet voted on its version. The House rejected damaging amendments opposed by the river industry.

Kurt Nagle, president of the American Association of Port Authorities, expressed what a lot of proponents were thinking when said that passage of WRDA 2005…"is a prelude to conference and final passage of one of the most critically needed authorization bills of this session" (WJ, July 25).

Opponents continue to say water transportation is declining. That is a short-term viewpoint. Most troubling is their repeated us of lies to convince the public they are correct.

The Ledger in Lakeland, Fla., published on August 2 a scathing editorial citing a National Wildlife Federation report. The report says barge traffic "has remained stagnant for more than 15 years," but barge companies "are demanding longer locks to accommodate more barges." Then it follows with the pronouncement that "five years ago the Corps’ chief economist decided he’d had enough and blew the whistle. The Corps had cooked the books on the Mississippi lock-and-dam project to make it economically feasible," he said.

The editorial quotes the executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility as saying, "Propelled by the politics of port, Congress can be counted on to pour billions into horse-and-buggy responses to space-age problems."

These organizations are avowed enemies of the towing industry. Neither complains about the $8 billion plus earmarked for Everglades restoration and more than $1.5 billion established for environmental restoration as part of the Upper Mississippi/Illinois river project. That’s more than 50 percent of the project’s projected cost.

Donald Sweeney, the whistleblower, was taken off his job because his Essence computer model was a failure. He admitted that during a congressional hearing. As time passed, the truth of the "big whistleblower-revelation" circulated but not generally in newspapers.

This kind of destructive opposition and delay is keeping the U.S. from having the kind of overall transportation system it needs. We think it is not an exaggeration to say that the exponential growth of U.S. population is outpacing the growth in transportation services. Many major problems the world faces today—food and power shortages, pollution and transportation inefficiencies—can be attributed to growing populations. Our nation simply must work to produce the best system we can design. Even if all modes work at peak efficiency, it still may not be enough.

As for stagnant barge traffic, the Corps has been working with a shrinking civil works budget for decades. How is one to continue maintaining a large system with inflation chewing at the purse strings? The Corps now has a gigantic backlog of work, which (hopefully) it will be able to undertake.

River traffic can stagnate when systems become inefficient and users stop being users. Upper Mississippi River opponents of barge transportation have been bashing the towing industry for decades. The planned larger locks will improve efficiency. Ultimately, a more efficient system will eliminate bottlenecks and accommodate more traffic. What’s the fault in that?

General Services Administration statistics stand squarely behind water transportation and resulting benefits to the country. The Maritime Administration has for years reported on the environmental advantages of the towing industry. There are many in this country who know the truth and realize that water resource development is a great benefit to the nation.

After decades of neglect and several years without passing a WRDA, we think Congress has seen enough. It is time to whip our inland navigation system back into shape. One report dealing with security says, "In recent years, U.S. inland waterways traffic has approximated 630 million tons annually…Total inland waterways traffic is forecast to increase 1.3 percent annually to more than 836 million tons by 2020…"

We cannot prove the accuracy of that projection, but perhaps it is not that important. High traffic projections for the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterways have not yet materialized, but its construction has resulted in more than $50 billion in private funds being invested in the region—a great economic boon for the area.

We are reminded that there are cargoes too large and too heavy to be moved by truck or rail. Common sense tells us that there are commodities that would become unacceptably expensive if they were moved by other than barge.

No, water transportation, which is said to account for about 15 percent of total intercity traffic, is not obsolete nor dying. It is in a state of flux, and presently movements are increasing. Our WJ pages continually report on investments being made by river-related industries.

We think members of the House voted correctly, expressing their true feelings that water transportation has taken an unfair financial beating for too long. They know that the nation’s transportation infrastructure will not become what it must be if navigable rivers are allowed to deteriorate further. In other words, it’s time to get moving.

With intermodal cooperation and proper financing, our transportation system can take a big step toward meeting the rising demands of a burgeoning population. We hope that when the Senate finally votes on WRDA, the prevailing action will mirror that of the House and that the ultimate conference will confirm it.

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