Tell your Congressional Representatives that you oppose new taxpayer subsidies for Mississippi River barge industry

Prairie Rivers Network is calling on our Congressional Representatives to oppose a proposal what would shift at least $200 million/year in costs from the Mississippi River barge industry to taxpayers. Currently the expense of construction and rehabilitation of the navigation system along the Mississippi River is split evenly between industry and the federal government. The proposal would shift many industry costs onto taxpayers. Proponents of the plan argue that it is needed because industry can no longer afford to pay—the industry-funded Inland Waterways Trust Fund (funded by a fuel tax on shippers) is almost out of money. We believe that it is incumbent on industry to either produce additional revenue for the Fund (the fuel tax rate, 20 cents/gallon, has not increased since 1995) or to accept that this mode of transportation is no longer economically viable (rail is more efficient and flexible, unit grain trains get 640 ton-miles/gallon compared to 417 ton-miles/gallon for inland towing).

Upper Mississippi River System

The 29 locks and dams of the Upper Mississippi River navigation system

The Mississippi River has a long history as a main transportation route for our nation’s goods. But navigation substantially altered the river during the 1930s, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed a series of locks and dams along the Upper Mississippi River in order to facilitate barge traffic and the export of agricultural commodities. These projects converted this portion of the mighty Mississippi into a series of reservoirs. There are currently a total of 29 lock and dam projects (see map at right) managed by the Army Corps on the Upper Mississippi River, and eight major lock and dam projects on the Illinois River.

Public and private funding

Taxpayers paid the entire bill for the original lock and dam system (now valued at $15 to $30 billion). Additionally, the public provides the funding for operations and maintenance of the system ($100 million plus/ year), half of the major rehabilitation work (approaching $1 billion dollars to date), and the entire cost of environmental damage to the Mississippi River ecosystem caused by the navigation system. To put into perspective the amount of ecological damage that has been caused by navigation, it is estimated that it would take $900 million per year for the next 50 years to restore the Mississippi River and its ecosystems. Despite the past and current economic benefits provided to them by taxpayers, the barge industry is now asking American taxpayers to provide them with ever larger subsidies.

Congress established the Inland Waterways Trust Fund in 1978 to fund construction of major inland navigation-related projects. The barge industry contributes to the Trust Fund through a fuel tax on commercial users of the inland waterways system. Historically, the Fund has been used to pay for half the cost of new projects, such as construction of new locks and dams. However, as of 2009, the fund is essentially out of money, and is expected to remain that way at least through 2013. Additionally, the current backlog for obligated projects is approximately $17 billion. Prairie Rivers Network and our partners recently sounded the alarm about the excessive cost and potential impacts of major construction projects such as those proposed in the Army Corps’ Navigation and Ecosystem Sustainability Plan.

The barge industry has failed to adequately resource the Trust Fund, and they have repeatedly attempted to reduce their contribution to projects. Now industry is proposing changes to the 2010 Water Resources Development Act that would cost taxpayers and degrade the Mississippi River ecosystem even more. Senate members are being asked to sign on to a proposal to the bill that would move billions in current Trust Fund obligated projects to the sole responsibility of taxpayers. It is estimated that the proposal would increase the public’s subsidy to the barge industry by at least $200 million a year (see below for proposed changes).

What you can do

If the barge industry’s current efforts are successful, taxpayers and the environment will bear the cost. Dam construction and rehabilitation projects are currently required to provide non-federal cost share. If the proposal is adopted and these projects become 100% federally funded, this would potentially set up an unfair bias over flood control and environmental restoration projects.

Please contact Senators Durbin (202-224-2152) and Burris (202-224-2854) and your Representative (look up here) and tell them to reject the proposed changes to the 2010 Water Resources Development Act that would increase the taxpayer burden for inland waterways infrastructure projects and further degrade the Mississippi River.