Letter to the Honorable R.D. James, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, and Lieutenant General Todd T. Semonite, Commanding General and Chief of Engineers, Army Corps of Engineers - Request Soo Locks Funding in New Army Corps Work Plan

Letter

Congressman John Moolenaar - joined by Congressman Jack Bergman, Congressman Paul Mitchell, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, and 24 other members of the House of Representatives - has sent a bipartisan letter to the leadership of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers requesting the Corps include $74 million for the design and construction of a second freighter-sized lock at the Soo Locks in its work plan for 2019.

The letter is signed by 28 members of the House from Great Lakes states, including the entire Michigan delegation. A copy of the letter is attached.

In the letter, the members write:

"We urge you to include $74 million in the FY2019 work plan for the construction of a second Poe-sized lock...this will allow design efforts to resume and construction to begin one shipping season earlier with a cost savings of approximately $30 million."

The 2019 Army Corps work plan is put together by the Corps and lists its priorities for the coming year. The work plan must be submitted to Congress by November 20th.

Construction of a second freighter-sized lock was authorized by Congress in recently passed legislation and inclusion of the funding request in the 2019 work plan would be a first step in making sure the project is funded in the years ahead.