Page 10: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (March 2018)

A Perilous Trip Down the

River for Inland Operators

About the Author

Joseph Keefe is a 1980 (Deck) gradu- ate of the Massachusetts Maritime

Academy and the editor of both Mari-

Has the inland waterway system been left out of the time Logistics Professional and Marine-

News magazines. He can be reached at

Trump Administration’s Infrastructure Funding ON POINT WITH JOE KEEFE [email protected]

Washington, DC: At the National Press Waterways Trust Fund. Those funds are from the intermodal equation’s cleanest increased their contributions to the diesel

Club late last month, Waterways Coun- matched by General Treasury Funds that mode onto one of its dirtiest – trucking – fuel tax (by 45%) deposited into the In- cil President and CEO Michael Toohey pays for the costs of construction and would be a major setback for America’s land Waterways Trust Fund for increased provided a stark view of the task ahead major rehabilitation of the system. Ev- aggressive drive to clean up the air that investment to the system. Today, inland of inland stakeholders as they look to eryone else is riding for free. we breathe. waterways carriers pay the highest tax of build on recent funding and infrastruc- In a well-publicized visit to the river As P3 projects across the fruited plain any surface transportation mode in the ture renewal successes. That’s because system, the President promised, “To- drive up costs for consumers every- nation.

the much-touted Trump administration gether, we will ? x it. We will create the where, drivers along just one ten mile In a recent OP/ED in MarineNews infrastructure plan promises much, aims ? rst-class infrastructure our country and stretch of I-66 near Washington, DC are magazine, WCI’s President pointed out to change how that value is delivered, our people deserve.” As the details of now facing $46 roundtrip DAILY com- that the President’s FY2019 budget re- and potentially increases the consider- how that would come together emerge, it muting bills. Translating that metric to quest to Congress proposes to cut more able ? nancial pressure already on inland is clear that his vision includes far less in the nation’s waterways would be a tragic than 22% of the U.S. Army Corps of operators at a time when they can least federal support, and signi? cantly more in blunder, a disaster for the nation’s heart- Engineers’ Civil Works funding to $4.78 afford it. private and local state money to do just land (which is already in a ? erce battle billion, down from the FY2018 Sen-

The release of the long-awaited Trump that. So-called P3 projects leverage com- with South American grain producers for ate Appropriations Committee’s fund-

Administration infrastructure principles, mercial funds and investors, who would broader access to global markets), creat- ing level of $6.16 billion. Among other and then the release of President Trump’s then have skin in the game and typically ing new and increased highway main- things, the FY2019 budget also proposes

FY 2019 budget request have inland ad- involve tolls and/or user fees, spread out tenance costs while at the same time a New User Fee on Inland Waterways. vocates on edge. And, with good rea- over a ? xed time frame. dealing a body blow to the environment. The proposal would establish a vessel son. The President has, at various times, In his talk to a gathered group of per- Doesn’t sound like a good idea to me. user fee to supplement existing revenue promised to ramp up renovation of the haps 20 journalists, Toohey reminded At a time when the Democrats are not from the $0.29 per-gallon diesel fuel tax “dilapidated system of locks and dams us that “the inland industry is already looking to give their colleagues across to help ? nance the users’ share of antici- that are more than half a century old.” involved with a P3 partnership with the the aisle any additional legislative vic- pated capital investment projects, as well

But, as with all things in Washington, the federal government.” As the only stake- tories, the task of steering public policy as 10% percent of the cost of Operations

Devil is in the details. Trump’s massive holder already contributing signi? cant back onto the right course has never and Maintenance (O&M) – historically a funding initiative, as it turns out, relies funds to the effort, he also lamented that, been more dif? cult. Nevertheless, says Federal responsibility – activities on the heavily on so-called P3 – or Public Pri- sometimes, “no good deed goes unpun- Toohey, bipartisan support is what pro- inland waterways. This proposal would vate Partnerships – in order to make it ished.” And, looking ahead to the pos- duced the successes of 2014, WRDA, seek to raise approximately $1.7 billion work. sibility that the P3 route could produce and the successes that for inland infra- over a 10-year window. If accepted, said

From the cheap seats, the President’s additional tolls and lockage fees, he had structure that will follow. Arguably, this Toohey, “This budget, like the infra- campaign promise and current initiative some stark predications of what could will be his most dif? cult task yet as he structure proposal, hamstrings Amer- sounds good. So many different sectors come to pass, if they do. leads the Waterways Council in its advo- ica’s ability to compete in the world, of the domestic economy await good For starters, any additional tolls or fees cacy role. “Compromise,” he said, “will and could virtually eliminate the cost- news on this front. These include recre- imposed on a fragile inland marine trans- be the key.” competitive advantage the waterways ational boaters, commercial ? shermen, portation sector – already mired in a state Toohey correctly asserts that since the provide to shippers.” He wound up his and those who bene? t from hydropower of low freight rates – he said, would drive founding of the United States, the Fed- talk, before taking questions, by saying generation, municipal and industrial wa- traf? c off the rivers and onto trucks. Or, eral government has played a role in op- that WCI looks forward to working with ter supply, ? ood control and national in other words: exactly the outcome that erating and maintaining the inland wa- the Trump Administration and with Con- security sectors. But, currently, com- the U.S. Department of Transportation’s terways because the system is a national gress to develop an equitable and mean- mercial waterways operators – approxi- Maritime Administration doesn’t want treasure, and does not belong to one state ingful infrastructure plan, and to see full mately 400 companies across the entire to see. Beyond the increased conges- or entity. More recently, and since the and ef? cient funding provided for the national waterway system – are the only tion and accelerated deterioration of the end of 2014, through the advocacy of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “We can ones contributing a 29-cents-per-gallon nation’s interstate highways that this Waterways Council, Inc., (WCI), inland and must do better,” insists Toohey. I diesel fuel tax to a dedicated Inland would create, the migration of freight waterways carrier and shipper members agree. What about you? – MLPro 10 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • MARCH 2018

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