Press Release
Bond Joined by Senators, Agriculture and Labor Groups to Rally for Passage of Lock and Dam Bill
Contact: Rob Ostrander or Shana Stribling 202.224.5721
Tuesday, May 2, 2006
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kit Bond today was joined by fellow Senators, agriculture and labor groups to urge the passage of bipartisan legislation to modernize the nation’s outdated lock and dam system.
"If we do not invest in infrastructure for the next generation, we will have a transportation straightjacket on our economy that will frustrate competitiveness, growth, and job creation," said Bond.
Missouri Senator Jim Talent, Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), and Dick Durbin (D-IL) along with representatives from the National Corn Growers Association, Midwest Area River Coalition 2000, and the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America joined Bond to stress the importance of passing the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA).
Bond chairs the Environment and Public Works’ Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee and is a key author of the WRDA legislation. Bond, who has pushed for WRDA’s passage since 2002, emphasized that the lock and dam bill is bipartisan and has broad support. In April 2005, WRDA passed the Senate Committee by voice vote and passed the full House of Representatives with 406 votes. Also, earlier this year Bond garnered 80 Senate signatures asking Senate leadership to schedule the legislation for a vote on the floor.
“I appreciate the bipartisan effort to invest in an economy and environment that the next generations will inherit,” said Bond at today’s pro-WRDA rally.
WRDA will provide long over due investments in the nation's water transportation system, said Bond. The current water transportation system is nearly 70 years old. Also, despite the age of the system, traffic on the Upper Mississippi River over the past 35 years grew from 27 million tons to 84 million tons which is system capacity.
If the cargo transported on our inland waterways each year had to be moved by another mode, it would take an additional 6.3 million rail cars or 25.2 million trucks to carry the load. The Department of Transportation estimates that freight volume in tons will increase by 70 percent by 2020. Combined with these numbers, Bond pointed out that the United States has roughly the same highway miles and 40 percent fewer rail miles than 20 years ago. Bond stressed that since one single medium-sized barge tow can carry the freight of 870 trucks it only makes sense to modernize our waterways in order to have another transportation option that will maintain efficiency, relieve congestion, conserve fuel, and reduce air emissions.
Acting to modernize the nation’s waterways has serious implications for competing in the world market, said Bond. For farmers, producers and industry to sell their commodities such as oil, grain, coal, steel, fertilizer, chemicals, cement and containers there must be a dependable and efficient transportation system. Foreign competitors have already developed new waterways to meet the transportation needs of the 21st century and it is time the United States catches up, said Bond.
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