WASHINGTON –Congressman Bart Stupak (D-Menominee) announced that a bipartisan group of twelve Members of the U.S. House of Representatives wrote Chairmen and top Republicans of the influential Transportation and Infrastructure and the Appropriations Committees this week, asking for additional funding for the dredging of Great Lakes ports.  The House Members argued for a revision to the criteria used for determining which commercial harbors are dredged by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

“The Army Corps of Engineers has not treated our harbors fairly, and this needs to change,” the Representatives wrote.  “We are seeking your support as leaders of the authorization and the appropriations committees to address this problem in the coming year.”

Specifically, the letter expresses the legislators’ concerns about a new Corps policy that uses tonnage handled as a standard for deciding which harbors to dredge.  Stupak said that the Corps’ policy could damage the U.S. economy.  

“This policy has a detrimental impact on many small towns in the Great Lakes that depend on a vibrant shipping industry for economic livelihood,” Stupak said.  “Because two-thirds of all U.S. shipping begins or ends at small ports, a failure to adequately dredge those harbors will harm the whole nation’s economy.”

The letter goes on to praise an amendment authored by Stupak, Hoekstra (R-MI) and Delahunt (D-DE) that was included in the House version of last year’s Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) bill.  That amendment would have eliminated the Corps’ tonnage dredging requirements, which are biased against small harbors, especially those in northern Michigan. 

In addition to Stupak, the letter was signed by Reps. Ehlers (R-MI), Dingell (D-MI), Kildee (D-MI) Conyers (D-MI), Hoekstra (R-MI), McCotter (R-MI), Levin (D-MI), Hare (D-IL), Camp (R-MI), Miller (R-MI), and Higgins (D-NY). 

Surrounded by the Great Lakes, Stupak’s congressional district, Michigan’s 1^st, has more shoreline than any other congressional district in the continental United States.

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NOTE: A copy of the Representatives’ letter is available here.