By IAN ROSS
Boosters of a new ‘super lock’ for Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan may have to wait two years for a change in the White House.
The Bush administration has refused to fund the construction of a long-awaited new shipping lock on the St. Mary’s River for Great Lakes marine commerce.
In a Feb. 28 news release, Michigan congressman Bart Stupak, whose district includes the Sault and the government-run canal complex, called out the Bush administration saying it is ignoring “critical infrastructure needs based solely on dollars and cents.
“This decision ignores the importance of the Soo locks to our nation’s economy and is negligent in protecting our navigation infrastructure,” says Stupak in a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers headquartered in Washington, D.C., the operators of the canal.
In his letter to corps commander Carl Strock, Stupak says if the lock were ever disabled due to age, accidental damage or by terrorism, it would take months to repair and disrupt cargoes of food, fuel, steel and energy supplies.
The St. Mary’s River, linking Lakes Superior and Huron, is considered a vital shipping channel and is used to move iron ore, coal, grain and other commodities to various North American and international ports
A spokesperson with the Canadian St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation had no comment on the U.S. government’s decision. The corporation’s director of market development, Bruce Hodgson was also not made availalble for comment.
The corporation is releasing a joint Canada-U.S. wants-and-needs study in July addressing the issue of aging transportation infrastructure on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River.
Inquiries to the U.S. Corps of Engineers Great Lakes District Office in Detroit were not returned.
The U. S. Corps of Engineers operates four locks in the American Sault, but increasingly has relied on just one, the Poe Lock, that can accommodate the largest vessels on the Great Lakes.
Shipping companies have feared that any damage to the Poe would bring marine commerce on the upper Great Lakes to a standstill.
The huge mega-project, whose price tag has ranged between $225 million and and $340 million, was expected to take five years to complete.
By the corps’ own admission in various studies through the years, the Sault Ste. Marie canal and the need for a new lock is considered vital to Great Lakes shipping.
The U.S. Congress authorized the construction of a new lock in 1986 but total project funds were never released. After a 15-year wait, U.S. Congressional lawmakers finally approved an appropriations bill in 2001, with an initial $3 million toward the project.
In 2002, the corps was doing some preparatory work by dredging the river approach to the proposed lock. Plans were to demolish two older and shallow locks to make way for the new lock.
