Letter to Peter A. DeFazio and Sam Graves, Chairman and Ranking Member of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure - Bergman Defending Great Lakes Navigation System

Letter

Dear Chairman DeFazio and Ranking Member Graves:
As you begin drafting the 2020 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), I request you consider the
inclusion of legislation to modify the existing Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) funding allocation for
the Great Lakes Navigation System (GLNS). Michigan's First Congressional District features more miles of
coastline than any other district in the contiguous United States, and I look forward to working with your
Committee on this priority.
As you know, the Great Lakes Navigation System (GLNS) is critical to commerce on the Great Lakes, saving
U.S. consumers $3.6 billion each year in freight costs. This deep draft waterway and system of ports and locks
connects the western end of Lake Superior with the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the Atlantic Ocean. In addition to
hundreds of miles of navigation channels, breakwaters, jetties, and harbors, the GLNS includes the MacArthur
and Poe Locks at Sault Ste. Marie in Michigan's First District. The locks are not only essential to our nation's
economy and national security, but they also compose the lynchpin of the GLNS. These valued points in the
supply chain and many other key parts of the GLNS have considerable operations and maintenance needs which
are supported by HMTF resources.
I am thankful that in the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014, the GLNS received an
allocation of 10 percent of annual "priority" HMTF funding. In the 2020 WRDA bill, however, I request the
Committee apply that 10 percent GLNS allocation to both "baseline" and "priority" HMTF funding. Without
this requirement for a "baseline" funding allocation, the GLNS only received 9.8 percent of HMTF
appropriations in Fiscal Year 2020. The GLNS has unfunded backlogs of $320 million for maintenance of
navigation structures (such as jetties and breakwaters) and $150 million for maintenance dredging. This
requested legislative change is needed to ensure that these GLNS backlogs are reduced, not increased, as future
HMTF resources are allocated. Please see the attached language request.
A steady level of HMTF funding to the GLNS is needed to maintain and improve commerce and navigation
safety on behalf of our Great Lakes communities. I appreciate your consideration of this important request.

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