September 17, 2004

WASHINGTON – At a news conference on the banks of the Fox River in Appleton, U.S. Reps. Mark Green (R-Green Bay) and Tom Petri (R- Fond du Lac) helped close the final chapter in their long- standing effort to transfer control of the Fox River Locks from the federal government to the state of Wisconsin.

“Nobody said it would be easy, but after 20 years of effort, we are finally restoring the Fox River Locks to the stature they deserve as an historical treasure important to Wisconsin’s quality of life, and with significant tourist potential,” Petri said. “Many of us have been fighting to save the locks from the moment in the early 1980s when the Army Corps of Engineers started planning to shut them down.”

“After years of working to get the Fox Locks out of federal hands and to the state, we’ve finally reached the end of the road,” Green said. “These historic locks are an essential part of the economic and recreational vitality of the entire Fox River Basin, and today’s transfer will help keep them up and running for years to come.”

Petri included language in 1992 federal law which authorized the transfer of the locks from the Corps to the state of Wisconsin, subject to the execution of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) setting the terms of the transfer. Green and Petri helped push for completion of the MOA, which was signed in 2000.

Under the MOA, at the time of the transfer the Corps was to provide an initial payment to the state to begin the process of repairing and operating the locks. Had the MOA not been reached, the Corps would have retained ownership of the locks and closed them permanently.

In a 2002 spending bill, Green, Petri and other members of the Wisconsin congressional delegation successfully secured five of the $10 million necessary to complete the transfer of the Fox Locks from federal to state control. Another $5 million was later added to the fiscal year 2003 federal budget, which Green and Petri also worked to secure. Because the MOA took awhile to be negotiated, the Corps added $1.8 million to compensate for inflation.

“Now, with this transfer, the state will be able to leverage $22 million in federal, state and local funds to help repair, operate and maintain the system,” Petri said. “It won’t happen all at once, but we are clearly moving forward.”

“Congressman Petri and I fought long and hard to secure the federal dollars necessary to complete the transfer of the Fox Locks, and it’s good to see those funds finally being put to use,” Green said. “This transfer is good for the Fox River, good for its surrounding communities, and good for Wisconsin.”