NWC Event Highlights Corn Belt Ports

The National Waterways Conference’s meeting August 25–27 at the Vibrant Arena in Moline, Ill., spotlights the continued growth and development of the Corn Belt Ports.

Local officials urged local and regional port districts and maritime interests to make the most of the conference visiting the Quad Cities region.

“The National Waterways Conference Annual Meeting moves around the nation, and we will not likely see it again in the Corn Belt Ports region in our work lifetimes,” said Robert Sinkler, executive coordinating director of the Corn Belt Ports and a former commander of the Rock Island Engineer District. It’s the first time the NWC has met in a non-coastal state since Memphis, Tenn., hosted it in 2019.

The event drew at least 190 attendees from all over the nation, including the Pacific Northwest, Sinkler said. Panelists and speakers included elected officials and Corps officials from several other districts. The event included group tours of a farm and of Lock and Dam 14, along with last-minute visits to the National Mississippi River Museum in Dubuque, Iowa, for some attendees. “The lock and dam tour was especially popular; a lot of these folks had never been on one,” Sinkler told The Waterways Journal.

The first day ended with a baseball game at Modern Woodmen Park as the River Bandits (a Kansas City Royals affiliate) played the Beloit Sky Carp (a Miami Marlins affiliate) for a casual evening of baseball, burgers, hot dogs and conversation.

Nahant Marsh Tour

The tour of Nahant Marsh drew special interest, along with the panel on “When the Site Has a Past.” Nahant Marsh is the largest urban wetland in the Upper Mississippi River. It is home to more than 200 bird species and 500 plant species and is a critical stopover on the Mississippi River Flyway, a migration pathway for waterfowl.

It’s also a remediated Superfund site that was formerly polluted with tons of lead-contaminated soil and sediment. NWC CEO and President Julie Ufner hosted the panel on the Nahant Marsh restoration and Brian Ritter, executive director of Nahant Marsh, presented.

“There is an intersection between expanding use of our ports and waterways, and repurposing sites with contaminated sediment and soils,” said Michael Studer, founder of ENTACT, the nation’s leading environment remediation company, and another panel participant. “With the national emphasis on maritime infrastructure, it makes sense that the National Waterways Conference added a panel focused on accelerating returning of brownfields in flood plains and coastal zones to productive economic use. I was happy to share our lessons learned over the last 35 years.”

U.S. Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), who serves on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, said, “I was happy to see that there was a panel discussion focused on one of the Superfund sites in my district. I support the EPA’s Superfund Solutions initiative to accelerate the cleanup of over 1,300 contaminated Superfund sites by streamlining decision-making, deploying advanced science and enhancing collaboration with state and local partners.” Miller-Meeks also spoke on “Congressional Perspectives on Water Infrastructure.”

Ideker Farms Lessons

Scott Shapiro, a partner at California law firm Downey Brand LLP, spoke on “When River Management Creates Legal Ripples: Lessons from Ideker Farms.” Ideker Farms et al. vs. the United States was a landmark case in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit agreed with the claims of the plaintiffs, a group of farmers with lands alongside the Missouri River, that the Corps’ policies protecting certain endangered species caused damage to their lands amounting to an unconstitutional uncompensated “taking.” Damage awards for landowners are still being worked out.

A lot of networking took place, including at several sessions that were closed to the press. Julie Minerva, chair of the NWC, hosted a lunchtime panel with Michael L. Connor, assistant secretary of the Army from 2014 through 2017, and John Paul Woodley Jr., who served in the same office from 2003 through 2009.

Summing up the event’s importance for the Corn Belt Ports, Sinkler said, “This is an important meeting for us to help get the national visibility and maintain the national influence we need to meet our rural policy and infrastructure objectives. Rural regional areas have to work harder and together when in ‘Flyover Country.’”

The Corn Belt Ports defines rural regional areas as river communities with 150,000 or fewer residents.