Washington

Washington


By TOM LITTLEWOOD

Clash of transportation interests basis of conflict at Alton locks and dam


FOR the midwestern agricultural heartland the port at New Orleans is the doorway to foreign markets and sometimes, to a profitable operation. In recent years, as railroad freight rates increased, more Illinois grain and other farm products were shipped by barge down the Illinois and Mississippi waterways. It has been estimated that it costs an Illinois farmer about a nickel per bushel less to transport grain to New Orleans by river barge than by rail — a $1,000 difference for 20,000 bushels. Returning upriver, the barges bring fuel and fertilizers to farms; and coal, petrochemicals and other commodities to the Chicago area.

The navigation system on the waterways is financed and maintained by the federalgovernment,longasorepointfor competing railroads. A vital public works facility — indeed the key commercial entryway to the entire upper rivers — is the locks and dam system at Alton just south of the confluence of the two waterways. This structure was built in the 1930's. Its sides are crumbling, and it is too small to accommodate the traffic. At the peak of the shipping season, barges are backed up for miles and must wait a full day or longer to pass, Supported by their friends on the House Public Works Committee, the Army Corps of Engineers wants to build a new larger structure two miles lurther downstream at a cost of over $400 million. Recognizing that this "Id be the first step toward an largement of the entire navigation astern all along the upper waterways, the railroads are fighting the request before Congress. They claim the mediation could cost $10 billion eventually and include the future deepening of the exiting 9-foot navigation channels to 12 feet, an objective denied by the Corps of Engineers.

The clash of transportation interests on Capitol Hill has special meaning for Illinois because the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad parallels the river route along much of the way.

Historically, no issue aroused American farm organizations to political action more quickly than that of freight rates. But agriculture's power in Congress is much less now than it used to be, and there are new wrinkles to the issue, notably environmental concerns. Sen. Gaylord Nelson (D., Wisconsin), and a leading opponent of the proposal to enlarge the capacity of the Alton facility, has stressed that the great rivers are valuable natural resources. Fish and wildlife would be significantly damaged by more commercial activity on the waterways, it is alleged, and their recreational use would necessarily be curtailed.

Basically, however, the quarrel is an economic one between the barge lines and the shippers on one hand and the financially troubled railroadson the other. Although higher freight rates usually mean higher consumer prices, most urban representatives are more concerned about railroad employment. Some of the Chicago metropolitan area Democrats whose election campaigns were supported by contributions from railway unions are among the most ardent foes of the Locks and Dam 26 Project, as it is officially designated.

During the last session of Congress, theSenate Public Works Committee made a momentous decision by recommending that the project be approved on condition that the barge operators begin paying fees for using the rivers. Free access to the watery "roadbed" is one of the competitive advantages that has always rankled the railroads. Various presidential administrations tried without success over the years to establish a policy of charging the river users. Rut this proved to be such a controversial matter, stoutly resisted by the leaders of the House committee, that the issue had to be left for the new Congress now in session. The Army Engineers and their empire building, often in the name of routine river maintenance, are not so popular among metropolitan congressional members as they are among the public works committees, which explains why an earlier Alton enlargement request tailed to clear the House in 1975.

Both Illinois senators are backing the replacement plan. Democrat Adiai E. Stevenson said it should not be necessary to either enlarge all the other locks or deepen the channel. He pointed out that more than half the 54 million tons of traffic which moved through the Alton locks in 1975 were destined for the Illinois Waterway, the remainder for the upper Mississippi. "The claims of double doomsday for the environment and the railroads have little foundation in fact," he argued. "It makes about as much sense to consign water carriers to a lesser facility, out of fear of a nonexistent 1 2-foot channel, as to force railroads to return to steam locomotives or airlines to propeller craft."

When he was in the Senate representing Minnesota, Vice President Walter F. Mondale criticized the railroads for their higher "peak demand" freight rate pricing, a practice he said was directed solely at the export grain trade. In each of the last two years the railroads did not have nearly enough hopper cars available to handle the harvest season demand at whatever their rates.

An alternative course is to repair the existing structure. Construction of a new facility would take eight years. In the meantime more of the increased traffic will have to be diverted to railroad cars that do not yet exist any more than the 12-foot channel does. ž

April 1977/ Illinois Issues /31


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