The Army Corps of Engineers is studying the possibility of opening the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway system to larger ships. Congressmen in the Midwest say deeper channels could bring billions more dollars in shipping trade. But a New York lawmaker has come out against the plan, saying the environmental costs would be devastating. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s David Sommerstein reports:
Transcript
The Army Corps of Engineers is studying the possibility of opening the Great Lakes-St.
Lawrence Seaway system to larger ships. Congressmen in the Midwest say deeper
channels could bring billions more dollars in shipping trade. But a New York lawmaker
has come out against the plan, saying the environmental costs would be devastating. The
Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s David Sommerstein reports.
Congressman John McHugh, a Republican who represents the entire New York stretch of
the St. Lawrence River, says digging deeper seaway channels would be a disaster for the
river and the people who live there.
“Unavoidable and very, very significant impacts to water flow, to the shoreline, to
property owners, to the entire hydrology of that very, very important environment and
all that it means to us.”
So McHugh has become the first federal representative to oppose expansion. He joins
environmentalists and some scientists who say the costs of invasive species from foreign
ships outweigh commercial benefits.
The Army Corps of Engineers says if larger, so-called “container” ships could reach ports
in the Midwest, the Seaway could generate up to one and half billion dollars more a year.
McHugh says he’ll propose to cut funding for further Corps’ study on expansion when
Congress debates the issue this fall.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m David Sommerstein.