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| Opportunities Lost Do the Means Justify the End? from Brad Walker, UMR Coordinator |
As all are aware, we are faced with a significant economic challenge, potentially unsurpassed for 70 years. Our
government is reeling in its attempt to deal with it as quickly as possible with many differing points of view on just how we
must face it. Frankly, I don’t believe anyone really knows the answer— so we have the disconcerting dilemma of dealing
with an unprecedented problem without adequate time to think it through.
Now I tend to lean towards the view that in the long-term it may be better to think a lot of the proposals through more
before acting. Since my work encompasses the Upper Mississippi River (UMR) System I will stick with that area
in this short discussion.
The last comparable economic crisis was during the early 1930s. Not many of us were alive then but one of the legacies
from that time is still very much with us. The vast majority of the dams on the UMR were built during the 1930s and there
were people at the time who warned of potential ecological damage from the construction.
They have proved to be correct. The dams were built — regardless of the warnings — because of the perceived
economic benefits of moving commodities on the river. Unfortunately the economic benefits have never truly materialized
and barge traffic has fallen appreciably over the last twenty years. Even more important, navigation could not survive on
the UMR without huge taxpayer subsidies to pay for the construction, operation and maintenance of the extremely
expensive infrastructure.
Again, we risk making bad decisions through the promotion of uneconomical and ecologically destructive projects on the
UMR (and elsewhere). People are using the economic crisis and the need for jobs as reasons to push projects that should
never be built. These include extended locks on the UMR. The Corps of Engineers’ own studies show that the lock
extensions are not justifi ed. To make matters worse for the taxpayers, the requirement for the barge industry’s Inland
Waterway Trust Fund to pick up half of the cost of the locks might be waived by Congress.
Jobs are essential to our economy, but would it not be better to funnel money to projects that both create jobs and
provide long-term economic and ecological benefi ts to our society? It makes more sense than creating short-term jobs to
build long-term money pits.
government is reeling in its attempt to deal with it as quickly as possible with many differing points of view on just how we
must face it. Frankly, I don’t believe anyone really knows the answer— so we have the disconcerting dilemma of dealing
with an unprecedented problem without adequate time to think it through.
Now I tend to lean towards the view that in the long-term it may be better to think a lot of the proposals through more
before acting. Since my work encompasses the Upper Mississippi River (UMR) System I will stick with that area
in this short discussion.
The last comparable economic crisis was during the early 1930s. Not many of us were alive then but one of the legacies
from that time is still very much with us. The vast majority of the dams on the UMR were built during the 1930s and there
were people at the time who warned of potential ecological damage from the construction.
They have proved to be correct. The dams were built — regardless of the warnings — because of the perceived
economic benefits of moving commodities on the river. Unfortunately the economic benefits have never truly materialized
and barge traffic has fallen appreciably over the last twenty years. Even more important, navigation could not survive on
the UMR without huge taxpayer subsidies to pay for the construction, operation and maintenance of the extremely
expensive infrastructure.
Again, we risk making bad decisions through the promotion of uneconomical and ecologically destructive projects on the
UMR (and elsewhere). People are using the economic crisis and the need for jobs as reasons to push projects that should
never be built. These include extended locks on the UMR. The Corps of Engineers’ own studies show that the lock
extensions are not justifi ed. To make matters worse for the taxpayers, the requirement for the barge industry’s Inland
Waterway Trust Fund to pick up half of the cost of the locks might be waived by Congress.
Jobs are essential to our economy, but would it not be better to funnel money to projects that both create jobs and
provide long-term economic and ecological benefi ts to our society? It makes more sense than creating short-term jobs to
build long-term money pits.