GLIN==> MEDIA RELEASE: As Seaway Turns 50, it's Time for a Reality Check

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media release

March 30, 2009

 

| Great Lakes United | National Wildlife Federation | Save The River |

 

As Seaway Turns 50, it's Time for a Reality Check

In light of historic damages and future challenges, conservation groups urge
the Seaway to reinvent itself

 

(BUFFALO, OTTAWA - March 30, 2009)-As the St. Lawrence Seaway prepares to
open, marking its 50th anniversary, conservation groups are shining a light
on the maritime corridor's damaging environmental legacy. The groups are
calling for policy and operational changes that address decades of
environmental and economic damage caused by the operation of the Seaway.
Additionally, the navigation industry must prepare for future challenges
associated with the impacts of climate change. 

 

"As the Seaway turns 50, it's time for a reality check," said Jennifer
Nalbone, Campaign Director of Invasive Species and Navigation for Great
Lakes United. "Now is the perfect time to critically ask: 'What changes does
the maritime community need to make to protect the Great Lakes and the
economies that rely on them?"

 

The St. Lawrence Seaway is a 189-mile (306-kilometre) maritime waterway
between Montreal and Lake Ontario and was at one time heralded as an
engineering marvel. During construction, portions of the St. Lawrence River
were channelized and flooded and seven locks were built.

 

The Seaway opened in 1959 amid forecasts that it would turn Great Lakes
cities into world class ports by linking the interior of North America to
global trade. History has proven otherwise. Today, less than 7 percent of
Great Lakes shipping traffic is international. The Seaway's busiest season
was its first year of operation, while total tonnage peaked in 1977 at 57.7
million tonnes and has been declining since. From 1993-2003 the waterway
averaged 35 million tonnes, operating at about its half capacity.

 

"The Seaway has chronically over promised and under-delivered," said
Jennifer Caddick, Executive Director of Save The River. "Great Lakes and St.
Lawrence River communities were promised an 'economic renaissance', but
instead, we were handed significant environmental problems. Instead of
celebrating, the Seaway must honestly examine the past 50 years of damages
and begin taking immediate steps to fix the problems."

 

The environmental and economic damage associated with ongoing Seaway
operations are significant. Since 1959, international shipping has been the
primary source of new non-native aquatic invasive species, such as the zebra
and quagga mussels in the Great Lakes. The University of Notre Dame
estimates that such species cost citizens, businesses and cities in the
eight Great Lakes states alone at least $200 million per year in damages to
the commercial and recreational fisheries, wildlife watching tourism, and
through increased water infrastructure costs. While exact economic data does
not exist for the Great Lakes region in Canada, similar damages can be
expected.

 

"The tremendous damage caused by invasive species from ocean-going vessel
ballast water discharges are a prime reason why commercial shipping on the
Great Lakes must change after 50 years," said Marc Smith of the National
Wildlife Federation. "We have a host of potential solutions to this problem.
It is time to use them so that we can provide security to the people,
businesses and cities that have borne the brunt of the damage from the
invasions."

 

In addition to historic damages, the navigation industry must start planning
now for the realities of climate change. Forecasts show that water levels in
the next 50 years may be significantly lower. Conservation groups are
raising the alarm that attempts to continue business as usual will
dramatically increase the Seaway's environmental impacts. 

 

"Right now the industry sees few options to address climate change: reducing
loads, which increases costs, or pushing for more dredging and
channelization, which seriously damages the ecosystem. This sort of
antiquated thinking - molding the ecosystem to fit shipper's desires - is
the same thinking that got the Seaway and the Great Lakes where they are
today," said Nalbone. "The reality is, we cannot dredge our way out of
climate change impacts. The Seaway has an opportunity and a responsibility
to reinvent itself."  

 

The groups contend that if the Seaway wants to remain viable for another 50
years, it must ensure that the influx of invasive species is stopped, that
it aggressively plans to adapt to lower water levels in ways that will not
damage the Great Lakes and St. River, and in turn becomes part of restoring
the Great Lakes by charting a new, truly sustainable course for future
operations. Failure to do so will put the livelihoods of the people and
species that rely on these waters, as well as the industry itself, at stake.

 

Additional Materials:

Additional background material is available at www.glu.org/seaway50
including: 

     -- a factsheet exploring some of the claims made by the Seaway
Corporation;

     -- a collection of Seaway quotes from news articles, spanning the past
50 years; and,

     -- expert contacts for more in-depth information on various impacts of
Seaway operations.

. 

Contacts:

     -- Jennifer Nalbone, Campaign Director of Navigation and Invasive
Species, Great Lakes United, 716-213-0408

     -- Jennifer Caddick, Executive Director, Save The River, 315-686-2010

     -- Marc Smith, State Policy Manager, National Wildlife Federation,
734-255-5413

 

 

____________________________________

Brent Gibson

Director, Communications

Great Lakes United

(613) 867-9861

 <mailto:bgibson at glu.org> bgibson at glu.org |  <http://www.glu.org/>
www.glu.org

 

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