Waterways Council, Inc. Reacts to President Obama's Proposal for
Inland Waterways Infrastructure Funding
WCI Release
28 September 2011
Arlington, VA – Michael J. Toohey, President and CEO of Waterways
Council, Inc. (WCI), issued the following statement today
regarding President Obama’s proposed plan to provide additional
funding for inland waterways infrastructure:
“While Waterways Council, Inc. and its members applaud President
Obama’s call for higher levels to recapitalize our Nation’s lock
and dam infrastructure, the Obama plan for collecting the funding
may be counter-productive to the Nation’s economy and fails to
include the necessary project delivery and other reforms that must
be a part of a comprehensive investment strategy for our
waterways.
The Administration’s plan, which may be unworkable in its current
form, includes a new fee for all operators and a second fee for
those transiting locks in addition to the 20-cent-per-gallon tax
commercial operators currently pay.
The proposed legislation would more than double the amount of
taxes and fees on one beneficiary of our Nation’s waterways,
commercial shippers. Currently, commercial users are the only
contributors to the Inland Waterways Trust Fund. These new
economic burdens will disrupt the fragile economic recovery by
unfairly disadvantaging consumers who will surely pay more for
their goods and electricity. The proposal also discourages use of
our waterways, which provide the most energy-efficient,
environmentally sound, traffic congestion-relieving, safest way to
transport bulk commodities.
This Administration initiative also discriminates against shippers
and industries that locate along waterways served by locks and
dams, de-leveling the competitive playing field. We urge Congress
to not delegate to the Secretary of the Army the unfettered
discretion to impose fees on one beneficiary in any amount at any
time as one unelected official sees fit. Congress has never
delegated the power to tax to the Executive Branch, and we urge
our elected officials to continue this precedent.
The waterways industry and its stakeholders continue to support
all elements of the Inland Waterways Capital Development Plan,
which calls for Corps of Engineers’ project cost-escalation
reform, cost-sharing changes, project prioritization, and a
user-financed fuel tax increase of 6-to-9-cents per gallon on the
commercial sector’s current fuel tax. It also lays out a plan for
the efficient completion of more than 20 navigation projects over
20 years by American workers in family-wage jobs rather than just
six projects in the same timeframe under the current broken
construction management model. It would also optimize taxpayer
investment by completing projects on time and on budget.
Modernizing our Nation’s waterways transportation system in a way
that is fair and equitable to our farmers and shippers will result
in the creation of American jobs, increased exports, and billions
of dollars injected into the lagging U.S. economy.
The President recognized in his American Jobs Act the importance
of investment in inland waterways. WCI stands ready to work
further with the Administration and Congress for a comprehensive
capital investment strategy for our Nation’s inland waterways
system.”
Key elements of the Obama Plan are:
- Plan proposed raising $1.1 billion over 10 years to build
and repair locks and dams.
- Includes a two-tier fee that would augment the current
20-cent-per-gallon diesel fuel tax paid by operators
- General Treasury funds would continue to match the amount
of tax paid by commercial users, which would raise the amount
invested in the inland waterways to $380-400 million a year,
up from the current $160 million.
- The first tier of the Obama proposal would be levied on
all commercial users of the waterways. The second tier would
be paid only by vessels transiting locks, essentially a
lockage fee. The Secretary of the Army would arbitrate the
fees annually.
WCI continues to support the Capital Development Plan, which
also calls for raising the level of annual funding for navigation
projects to around $380 million, but does so through a 6-to-9-cent
increase to the existing fuel tax, removes dams from Trust
Fund-financed projects recognizing the multiple beneficiaries of
the lock and dam system, prioritizes projects, and puts reforms on
the Corps of Engineers’ for cost over-runs such as at Olmsted.