Comments ssroed has made

Get a clue Mr. Time Magazine

Simply looking at the bill in terms of the Army Corps of Engineers, the Everglades or coastal Louisiana is not fair....here is another angle for this bill....these are solid projects that are much needed and meaningful. Maybe Time magazine might want to come up north to see what things are like here. This will will help Lake Superior and the great lakes in huge ways.

New law will funnel cash for Northland water projects
John Myers Duluth News Tribune
Published Friday, November 09, 2007

Northeastern Minnesota will see millions of dollars in federal transportation and other projects dealing with water treatment, the environment, Great Lakes shipping and drinking water after the U.S. Senate voted Thursday to override a veto by President Bush.

The Senate, acting on the heels of an overwhelming House vote this week, voted 79-14 to override Bush's veto of the $23 billion Water Resources Development Act. Thirty-four Republicans broke ranks with the president and helped make the bill a law.

It's the first veto override for Bush and only the 106th in U.S. history.

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Bush said he vetoed the bill last week because it was too expensive. But supporters said money for environmental, public works and clean water projects was long overdue. The bill had been stalled in Congress for more than six years.

The bill includes about$82 million for Minnesota projects, and more money for projects that will affect the Northland, including:

• $341 million for a new lock on the St. Lawrence Seaway at Sault Ste. Marie,Mich., as a backup for the Poe Lock, the only lock able to handle 1,000-foot freighters. The extra lock is considered critical to the viability of the Twin Ports harbor.

• 100 million for Great Lakes fisheries and ecosystem restoration, including authority to restore fisheries and Great Lakes beneficial uses, as well as for diverse habitat projects, including coastal wetlands and controlling invasive species.

• $14 million to build a sewage overflow tank in Duluth. The Duluth tank would be built near the Lake Superior waterfront on the eastern edge of downtown to hold overflows during heavy rain so they don't leave the sewer system and spill into the lake. Several similar tanks and basins have been built and have helped reduce polluted runoff.

• $9 million for improvement projects for the Duluth-Superior harbor, including navigational improvements, ecosystem restoration and studies to determine causes of unusually rapid corrosion along the port and to figure the cost to rebuild rust-damaged structures.

• $1 million for additional improvements to the new McQuade Road safe harbor and recreational boat ramp on Lake Superior near Duluth.

r $5 million for a new dredge disposal facility in Two Harbors.

r $12 million for a joint wastewater treatment plant for Kinney, Buhl and Chisholm.

r The bill also includes authorization for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conduct harbor safety and navigation improvements at Silver Bay and Taconite Harbor, including shifting dredging responsibilities to the federal government.

r The bill also orders several federal agencies to conduct an emergency effort to stop the spread of a deadly fish disease, called VHS, that has moved into the Great Lakes. And it includes money for barriers to keep invasive Asian carp out of Lake Michigan at Chicago and out of the upper Mississippi River near the Iowa-Minnesota border.

r The bill also orders the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to begin dredging many Great Lakes harbors and channels that had been waiting for the work because of money shortages. Many harbors need additional dredging to make up for lower water levels, which have caused some boats to leave ports with less-than-full loads.

Kurt Soderberg, executive director of the Western lake Superior Sanitary District, praised U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn. chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, for putting a high priority on projects that protect clean water, such as the Duluth sewage overflow tank. He said the cost of keeping the lake clean should be a local-state-federal partnership and not fall completely on local residents.

"It is very gratifying to see that the new leaders in Congress like Congressman Oberstar are prepared to assist local communities in helping to pay for some portion of the cost for these important water projects,'' Soderberg said. "The federal government needs to remain a partner in keeping overflows from the lake, especially when local rate payers have already paid for so much from their own pockets.

Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn, usually an ally of the president, said many of the projects were critical for Minnesota communities.

"Passage of the Water Resources Development Act was a must-do for the future of Minnesota's infrastructure, and I am glad that an overwhelming majority of my colleagues joined me to override the president's veto of this critical legislation," Coleman said in a statement. "While I appreciate the president's call for fiscal responsibility, short-changing our infrastructure is penny-wise and pound-foolish. ... This bill will mean a stronger economy, a cleaner environment and a better quality of life for Minnesotans."

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., agreed.

"The overwhelming, bipartisan nature of this override speaks volumes about the critical nature of these projects and that the president's veto is just plain wrong,'' Klobuchar said in a statement.

The House voted 361-54 to override the veto Tuesday. Both overrides easily exceeded the two-thirds majority needed in each chamber to negate a presidential veto. The bill, the first water system restoration and flood control authorization passed by Congress since 2000, would cost $11.2 billion over the next four years, and $12 billion in the 10 years after that, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Flood protection projects along the Gulf Coast, including 100-year levee protection in New Orleans, are included and would cost about $7 billion if fully funded.

The bill approves the projects although each must still be included in agency appropriations bills.
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