A project that would boost Great Lakes shipping in a critical bottleneck and another aimed at protecting lakes from invasive carp, would receive major funding under the Biden administration’s infrastructure package, officials said Thursday.
The US Army Corps of Engineers said it would invest $479 million in the construction of a new navigational lock at Salt Stay. Mary, Michigan, is expanding a complex that enables ships to move bulk cargo between Lake Superior and the other Great Lakes.
Additionally, the Corps will devote $226 million to the Brandon Road Lock and Dam near Joliot, Illinois, where plans call for the installation of barriers to prevent invasive carp from migrating from the Illinois River to Lake Michigan.
Projects have been a top priority for members of Congress from the eight states bordering the Great Lakes. The infrastructure measure, which also includes $1 billion to improve water quality, makes the biggest investment ever in the Great Lakes, sans Debbie Stabeno and Michigan’s Gary Peters.
About 7,000 ships pass annually through Sue Locks on the St. Mary River, which connects Lake Superior and Lake Huron and has a 21-foot elevation drop. Two locks are operational but only the Po Lock can accommodate the largest freighters, which are about 1,000 feet (305 m) long.
The industry has long pushed for another, warning that if Poe becomes incapacitated long enough, it will disrupt the transportation of goods needed for Midwestern manufacturing.
Almost all domestic steel used in automobiles and appliances is produced from iron ore mined in the Upper Peninsula of Minnesota and Michigan and shipped through Poe Lock.
Kevin McDaniels, deputy district engineer for the Detroit District of Corps, said the new lock in Sue will provide much-needed flexibility to the Great Lakes navigation system. “This would eliminate the single point of failure in our countries’ iron ore supply chain.
Stabeno and Peters said the new funding would be enough to meet the $1.3 billion lock.
The vital role of the Great Lakes waterway in maintaining and advancing America’s economic vitality cannot be overstated, said Rep. Marcy Kaptur, an Ohio Democrat and chair of the House Energy and Water subcommittee. The revitalization of Sue Locks will strengthen America’s commercial shipping capabilities and support well-paying jobs across the industrial sector.
The Brandon Road Lock & Dam funding will complete pre-construction, engineering and design work on blocking the path of the invasive carp, as well as upgrades to initial construction. Electric barriers, bubble screens, noisemakers and other devices will be used.
The rivers and canals between the Mississippi and Lake Michigan are infested with carp imported from Asia in the 1960s to clear sewage lagoons and fish farms of algae and weeds. They fled to the Mississippi River and spread across its tributaries and are competing with native species for food.
Scientists say an invasion of the Great Lakes would threaten its $7 billion fishing industry.
Molly Flanagan, chief operating officer of the Alliance for the Great Lakes, said the new funding is a historic step for this critically-needed project to add a range of smart technologies to the waterway, which will prevent invasive carp from reaching Lake Michigan.
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