ARLINGTON, VA – The American Waterways Operators, National
Waterways Conference, Waterways Council Inc., and 15 other national
organizations submitted a letter today to President Obama and the Federal
Emergency Management Agency requesting a presidential declaration of
emergency and seeking “immediate assistance in averting an economic catastrophe
in the heartland of the United States.”
The letter calls attention to the worsening situation on the
Mississippi River which is “near historic low water levels that have
restricted barge traffic on the nation’s critical water transportation artery
since this summer.” The letter comes just as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
has begun reducing water flows to the Mississippi River from dams on the
upper Missouri River.
The industry is concerned that the reduced flows from the Missouri River will be felt downstream and rock pinnacles are exposed near Thebes and Grand Tower,
Ill., which will significantly impair the flow of commerce by mid-December. That's why the inland waterway groups are requesting that the president declare an emergency and direct the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to immediately remove the rock pinnacles and
release water from the Missouri River reservoirs that is necessary to
preserve a nine-foot channel on the Mississippi River to sustain commercial
navigation.
The groups warn that the economic impacts of a Mississippi
River closure would be dire, placing $7 billion in key products such as corn,
grain, coal, petroleum, chemicals and other products at risk in December and
January alone.
“Our shippers are looking at alternate modes of
transportation,” Marty Hettel, senior manager of bulk sales for AEP River
Operations told
Bloomberg. “If you’re shipping raw materials to a steel mill in Chicago,
you’re trying to figure out if you can go to Cincinnati or Louisville, Kentucky, unload it out of
the barge and rail it up to the steel mill.”
The inland groups say the following commodities would be affected by the
low water:
· Over 7 million tons of agricultural products worth $2.3
billion;
· Over 1.7 million tons of chemical products worth $1.8
billion;
· 1.3 million tons of petroleum products worth over $1.3
billion;
· Over 700,000 tons of crude oil worth $534 million; and
· 3.8 million tons of coal worth $192 million.
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, and
Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, as well as 15 U.S. senators and 62 members of the
U.S. House of Representatives, have written the Obama administration calling
attention to the severity of the situation and urging action to keep the river
open to navigation.
“The time for action is now, because once the water levels
on the Mississippi drop, this will be an even harder problem to solve,” Tom Allegretti, AWO president and CEO, said in a statement. “An emergency
declaration is needed now to allow the swift removal of the rock pinnacles and
assurance of sufficient flows from the Missouri River while the rock removal
work is taking place, both needed measures to ensure the Mississippi River can
remain open at a sufficient depth to keep waterborne commerce flowing.”
“Understanding the consequences of further impairment, or
certainly cessation of Mississippi River navigation during the critical winter
months, this situation necessitates immediate action,” Amy Larson, NWC president and CEO, said in the same release. “This can be done in a balanced and measured
manner respecting other river interests, but it simply must be done.”
“The ripple effect of
failing to efficiently move $7 billion in key commodities would be staggering,”
said Mike Toohey, president and CEO of WCI, echoing their concerns. “The most
immediate effects would be felt up and down the river, but would spread quickly
from those that work on the river to those that ship on the river to
manufacturing workers and eventually to all of us as consumers. This is an
economic disaster in the making and the administration needs to act now to stop
it.