On April 15th and 16th in Chicago, Illinois, the America’s WETLAND Foundation – a non-profit working with industry and other NGO’s to restore wetlands on the Gulf Coast – will hold a conference with Governor Quinn on maintaining waterway commerce on the Mississippi River.
The Chicago location makes this event an ideal occasion for Governor Quinn and the state of Illinois to put forth a bold vision for the future of Chicago’s waterways. It is not in Illinois’ long term interests, either economic or environmental, to defer to a few commercial operators whose business model is one of taxpayer-funded river degradation.
Army Corps data has shown that commodity shipments through the Chicago Area Waterway System have declined precipitously in the preceding decades, with an approximately 45% drop in tonnage from 1994-2009. This is a timeframe that includes periods of significant growth for the national economy, and yet the trend is steadily downward.
There is no reason to allow the barge industry to hold Illinois hostage to a dying economic model. Chicago is one of the world’s great cities, and yet its rivers have been neglected, marked by a lack of public access and a legacy of pollution, as barges continuously churn up toxic sediments accumulated in the bottom of canals. Illinois need not go down with the ship, however. The state would be wise to transition to a green economy that showcases water as a community asset — making it publicly accessible, cleaning it up, and dealing with the invasive species problem.
Due to the national interest in preventing an economically and environmentally devastating Asian carp invasion into the Great Lakes, Illinois has been presented with a unique opportunity to fix the invasive species problem at the same time that it addresses other failings of the water infrastructure status quo. Many stakeholder groups are advocating for a restoration of the natural divide between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River. This would bring renewed investment to crumbling water infrastructure and stop invasive species transfer.
Prairie Rivers Network has commissioned a new study (Chicago Area Waterway System Cost Analysis Report) of the probable future expenses for operation and maintenance of the Chicago Area Waterway System. The study indicates that the system will require at least $50 million in annual expenses to maintain the status quo. Under current economic conditions, there is no reason to spend taxpayer money to prop up a select few businesses that 1) cannot function without enormous public subsidies, 2) degrade thousands of miles of the nation’s rivers by turning them into superhighways for barges, and 3) are in direct opposition to the most protective solution to the invasive species problem — separation.
A recent Forbes article states that barge operators pay about 10% of the total cost of maintaining the inland waterway system. Last year that was roughly $80 million paid by barges, with the rest of the $800 million price tag picked up by American taxpayers. The same article claims that, “Washington picks up more of the cost of riverborne shipping than any other type of logistics enterprise in the U.S. except, perhaps, resupplying the International Space Station.” Such a subsidy is not sustainable; it is time to make the barge operators pay their fair share. If they can’t stay afloat without enormous, unfair subsidies, they shouldn’t be on the river.
—-
The Big River Moves Conference will take place April 15-16 at The Blackstone Hotel, 636 Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois. Governor Quinn will be speaking at 9:00 AM on Monday, April 15.
Below find a release drafted by stakeholder groups who are particularly concerned about the economics of the inland waterway system, providing details of how new legislation would shift even more of the monetary burden onto the American taxpayer.
