Number: 1979-16
WHEREAS, the River and Harbor Act of 1970 authorized the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a demonstration program to determine the feasibility of extending the navigation season on the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River System; and
WHEREAS, the eight-year demonstration program is scheduled to terminate on Sept. 30, 1979; and
WHEREAS, the program has demonstrated the engineering feasibility of winter shipping on the upper Great Lakes, but has failed to provide environmental data sufficient to predict impacts on fish and wildlife and their habitat, shorelines, water quality, and other natural resources; and
WHEREAS, there is no reliable contingency plan by the U.S. Coast Guard to prevent massive environmental destruction from an oil or chemical spill under ice in connecting channels, particularly the St. Marys, St. Clair, Detroit, and St. Lawrence Rivers; and
WHEREAS, costs of the proposed multi-billion dollar program will be paid by the Federal Treasury with the majority of the benefits of the program going to a small number of private interests, primarily the steel, grain, petroleum, coal and chemical industries; and
WHEREAS, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the Governor of New York and numerous other interests are opposed to demonstration shipping on the St. Lawrence River, based on studies predicting system-wide adverse environmental and social impacts on a wintering population of endangered bald eagles due to the disruption of critical water pools used for feeding; and
WHEREAS, winter navigation will divert an estimated 60 million tons of goods from alternate transportation modes, particularly railroads, by the year 2010 and will divert commerce from east coast ports;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation, in annual meeting assembled March 22-25, 1979, in Toronto, Ontario, hereby opposes an extension by the Congress of the demonstration shipping program beyond Sept. 30, 1979; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation opposes Congressional approval of an extension of the navigation season on the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River pending:
- complete collection of baseline data sufficient to predict any adverse environmental impacts from winter navigation and adequate to satisfy the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969;
- development of fail-safe methods to contain and clean up oil and chemical spills in a “worst case” accident; and,
- establishment of a federal system of user fees on the Great Lakes waterway to recover the majority of federal costs, commensurate with benefits accrued to users of the system; and,
- a thorough assessment of the direct and indirect impacts of federally subsidizing the major diversion of goods from railroads to waterborne transport, and attendant impacts on national transportation and energy policies.