The story below is a good one. It's nothing to laugh at in the least. It means a significant amount of funding for projects that I've been at least on the fringes of being involved with for about 2 years now, and I will continue to be somewhat involved with for at least the next year. I'm glad to see legislators actually putting money on the ground to help conservation efforts. My company had a presence at this meeting, and I'm glad of it. Plus! There's a quote from my boss' boss! Bonus.
Today in the PJStar: Legislators Doing The Right Thing
River projects to get more than $23 million
Every barge that travels on the Illinois River accounts for 1,050 fewer trucks on the highways and if the river were to shudder, it would lead to 1.2 million more trucks on the roads.
It's an efficient mode of transportation for coal, cement, petroleum, steel and agricultural commodities and home to 25 percent of North American fish species.
The U.S. House recently approved the fiscal year 2010 Energy and Water Development Act, which includes more than $23 million for Illinois and Mississippi River projects. Navigation improvements and ecosystem restoration on the Upper Mississippi River and Illinois Waterway are needed to help address the area's long-term economic, energy and environmental problems and needs.
"The money will go towards infrastructure - improving locks and dams to make sure that our barge traffic and barge transportation continues to be an efficient mode of getting the grains and goods that are produced here in central Illinois around the world," U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Peoria said Tuesday.
Schock announced the funding at the Peoria Lock and Dam with Col. Shawn McGinley of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other river stakeholders.
More than $6.2 million will go toward pre-construction engineering and design of two locks on the Illinois Waterway and five on the Mississippi River in addition to environmental restoration work. The locks will be upgraded from 600 to 1,200 feet, though actual construction is still a ways away.
Included in the funding mix is more than $16 million for Upper Mississippi River restoration, $336,000 for restoration of the Illinois River basin and money for the Emiquon floodplain and Spunky Bottoms "to ensure we don't have flooding, further siltation into the river and degradation of current condition," Schock said.
"By funding for these important ecosystem, lock modernization and flood control projects, Congress will provide for simultaneous improvements in the ecological and economic health of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers while also protecting riverside communities from devastating flooding," Schock said.
Bob Moseley, director of conservation programs in Illinois for The Nature Conservancy, applauded Congress' commitment to sustainable management of the Mississippi River basin.
"Despite a century or more of alterations and of heavy use, nearly all native fish and wildlife still remain here," Moseley said. "Unfortunately, as you might imagine, their habitats have declined significantly. They're in a fragile state.
"It's going to be a long haul to restore and enhance those habitats so that the fish and wildlife we see here today will be here in a century."
1 comment:
Yay! Great to see Republicans on board with it, too. This is serious win-win, how-could-you-possibly-be-opposed-to-it kind of stuff. Cool beans.
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