WASHINGTON – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers today announced a $829.1 million
investment in lock and dam modernization projects along the upper Mississippi
River with funding made available by the bipartisan
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs act, which was
supported by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).
“Iowa’s agriculture, manufacturing and shipping industries rely on a
functioning and efficient lock and dam system along the Mississippi River to
move goods. It’s an issue I often hear about during my 99 county meetings and
regularly raise with the Army Corps of Engineers, so I’m pleased to report that
the they’ll be investing more than $829 million for updates to these locks and
dams. When I voted for the bipartisan infrastructure bill, I was voting for
exactly this type of federal support for critical infrastructure that Iowans
depend on,” Grassley said.
Grassley was one of 19 Republicans to back the bipartisan infrastructure
bill, which continues to boost critical infrastructure projects across Iowa.
Lock and dam modernization is among Iowa’s top five infrastructure improvement
priorities.
The funding – part of the Navigation and Ecosystem Sustainability
Program (NESP) – will be used to complete the modernization of Lock & Dam
25, including the construction of a new 1,200-foot lock, as well as an
environmental restoration project at Lock & Dam 22 and other small-scale
ecosystem and navigation projects in the region.
Today’s announcement comes one month after Grassley teamed with a
bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers to
call the Army Corps to prioritize the
funding for construction of NESP on the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS)
with the $2.5 billion for inland waterways provided in the new infrastructure
law.
Originally authorized in the Water
Resources Development Act of 2007, NESP will modernize and expand seven
outdated locks at the most congested lock locations along the Upper Mississippi
and Illinois Rivers as well as fund nearly $2 billion in ecosystem
restoration.
The UMRS transports more than 60 percent of America’s corn and soybeans,
is home to 25 percent of North America’s fish species, and is a globally
important flyway for 40 percent of North America’s migratory waterfowl and
shorebirds. Enhancing the reliability
and capacity of the seven highest-use and most delayed locks on the UMRS
through NESP ensures that the most environmentally-conscious and safe method of
transporting bulk commodities will continue for the next generation.
NESP will create almost 50 million person-hours of construction jobs. A 2019 study released
by the U.S. Department of Agriculture showed that rebuilding NESP locks would inject
$72 billion additional dollars into the nation’s GDP.