GLIN==> "Intolerable" Abuse of Dredging Fund to End; Legislation to require Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) be spent each year

April 19, 2010   

For Immediate Release

 

"Intolerable" Abuse of Dredging Fund to End

Duluth, MN - No more will ships leave Minnesota's Great Lakes ports with
less than full loads once Congress passes legislation introduced last
week.  Senate Bill 3213 requires the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund
("HMTF") to spend what it takes in each year rather than amass a surplus
that is used to paper balance the federal budget.

 

The bill comes not a minute too soon for Minnesota Congressman James L.
Oberstar (D), calling this misuse of funds "intolerable." 

 

While the Port of Duluth/Superior generally is dredged to its designed
width and depth, lack of adequate dredging at ports that receive cargo
from Duluth/Superior ultimately negates the efficiencies of waterborne
commerce. Just last month a U.S.-flag laker with a rated capacity of
68,757 tons left the port bound for Detroit with only 62,710 tons on
board. The 6,047 tons left behind represent enough iron ore to make the
steel for roughly 5,000 automobiles. 

 

Six thousand tons of iron ore represent nearly a day's production at a
large mine on the Mesabi Range.

 

Adolph Ojard, Executive Director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority,
welcomed the legislation sponsored by Senator Carl Levin (D-MI).
"Putting a fence around the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund is the only
way the Great Lakes navigation system will be dredged to project
dimensions. Years of inadequate funding have left the system clogged
with an estimated 15 million cubic yards of sediment.  Every time a ship
leaves Duluth/Superior harbor with a less than full load, it jeopardizes
jobs in the port, on the ships, and at the steel mills and power plants
that receive cargo from us." 

 

Starting in 1987, the United States has levied a tax on cargo moving
through deep-draft ports to pay for dredging nationwide. Prior to that,
so-called operation and maintenance dredging was paid for from the
general fund. 

 

The tax generates significant funds, as much as $1.6 billion per year.
However, annual expenditures are less than $800,000. As a result, the
fund has a surplus of nearly $5 billion.

 

"Congressman Oberstar is right," declared Ojard. "The HMTF is hoarding
money that should be spent on dredging. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
estimates it needs $180 million to clear the backlog at Great Lakes
ports. The money is there; let's do it and create jobs rather than risk
them." 

 

READ MORE...full-length news release from Great Lakes Maritime Task
Force attached 

 

 

Adele Yorde

Public Relations Manager

Duluth Seaway Port Authority

1200 Port Terminal Drive

Duluth, MN  55802-2609 U.S.A.

218-727-8525

218-390-6973 (cell)

 

 

 

 

 

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