Page 20: of Marine News Magazine (June 2012)

20MNJune 2012 In April, the Taxpayers for Common Sense bestowed its Golden Fleece Award? to what they termed a Riverboat Ripoff? to Rep. Ed Whitfield of Kentucky for introducing H.R. 4342, the Waterways Are Vital for the Economy, Energy, Efficiency, and Environment Act of 2012 (WAVE 4 Act). This group claims that this legislation would codi- fy recommendations made by barge operators to increase the federal subsidy for inland waterway construction proj- ects on the nation's rivers? and that while the rest of the country is trying to find ways to trim the fat, Congressman Whitfield is trying to pad the wallets of barge companies? Now that the space shuttle is retired, inland waterways are the most heavily subsidized form of transportation, but they still want more. That makes us shake our heads.?After reading Taxpayers for Common Senses hyperbolic press release, we shake our heads and realize that they must not have actually read the WAVE 4 bill. In fact, using as an example the Olmsted Lock and Dam project on the Ohio River that has seen a $1 billion cost over-run, half of which is borne by shippers and carriers, and half by other citizen taxpayers, this legislation in fact DOES aim at trimming unnecessary cost escalations. Rep. Whitfield and the co-sponsors of this bill should be commended forworking toward a solution that puts the nations inland transportation system on a path toward better efficiency that will allow for the doubling of our exports, increased prosperity as a country, and the end to taxpayer waste. But we have seen this play before: huffing and puffing nonsense while cloaked in the fleece of the lamb, wolfish- ly demanding more taxes as the solution to the Nations problems. WAVE 4 ? co-sponsored by Rep. Jerry Costello (D-IL), Rep. John Duncan (R-TN), Rep. Tim Johnson (R-IL), Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-MO), Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL), Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL), Rep. Pete Olson (R-TX), Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL), Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-IA), Rep. Daniel Lipinski (D-IL) and Rep. Dave Loebsack (D-IA) -- is intended to address the critical needs of the inland waterways system. And it will create American jobs, enable growth in U.S. exports, and continue to fuel the economic benefits that our waterways generate. These champions in the House have offered a bi- partisan reform plan to address the real problem in America -- wasteful construction practices coupled with under-investment in our waterways transportation infra- structure. The facts are clear. Since the WRDA Act of 1986, the navigation industry entered into an historic agreement with the Federal government to pay 50% of the cost of construction and major rehabilitation of the waterways through a diesel fuel tax, although there are multiple ben- eficiaries of the system who pay nothing for its modern-ization and care. This is not a subsidy, but a fair-share investment in a critical part of the transportation network. The WAVE 4 bill calls for an increase in the user fee it pays on itself (by 6-to-9 cents per gallon) to pay for the investment of this system which benefits the entire nation. Taxpayers for Common Sense has loudly criticized but never responsibly advocated for reforming the processes that currently exist in the funding and construction mech- anisms for navigation projects. WAVE 4 addresses both of these issues in a manner that increases the amount the industry pays and appreciates the many beneficiaries of the lock and dam system to the nation who pay nothing. On May 1, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspaper wrote an editorial, Dam the Stupidity: Golden Fleece Awards Now in the Hands of Goats,? in response to the Taxpayers fleece award. It said, in part: So it has come to this. Funding vital infrastructure, a core responsibility of government, is now seen as fat by anti-spending zealots with a chronic case of tunnel vision? .While the billmay not be the complete answer, it's wrong to single out a lawmaker who is trying to keep one of the vital parts of America's transportation system functioning? ?This is hardly a riverboat rip-off. Spending on locks and dams no more pads the wallets of barge companies than federal support of the national highway system pads the wallets of trucking firms or federal spending on air- ports pads the wallets of airlines. By this reasoning, the nation's locks and dams might as OP/EDBy Michael J. Toohey, Waterways Council President/CEO The Wolf in Disguise