II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1308 

To increase authorized funding for the Soo Locks. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 7, 2017 

Ms. STABENOW (for herself and Mr. PETERS) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and 

Public Works 

A BILL 

To increase authorized funding for the Soo Locks. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Soo Locks Moderniza5 tion Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SAULTE SAINTE MARIE, MICHIGAN. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 

8 (1) the Soo Locks are a critical link in the 

9 Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway system; 


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1 (2) each year, an average of 7,900 vessels carry 

2 80,000,000 tons of iron ore, coal, stone, grain, and 

3 other materials through the Soo Locks; 

4 (3) the Corps of Engineers reports that an un5 scheduled outage at the Soo Locks would cripple 

6 both navigational and industrial production in the 

7 Great Lakes region; 

8 (4) a report by the Department of Homeland 

9 Security concluded that a 6-month shutdown of the 

10 Soo Locks would result in— 

11 (A) 75 percent of all integrated steel pro12 duction in the United States ceasing within 2 to 

13 6 weeks; 

14 (B) in North America, the shutdown of 

15 100 percent of production of appliances, auto16 mobiles, construction equipment, farm equip17 ment, mining equipment, and railcars; and 

18 (C) the unemployment of almost 

19 11,000,000 people; 

20 (5) there have been no comprehensive improve21 ments to the Soo Locks facility in nearly 50 years; 

22 (6) modernizing the Soo Locks is of critical im23 portance to the economy and security of the Great 

24 Lakes region and the United States; and 


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1 (7) the Corps of Engineers believes the plan2 ning guidance required under the document of the 

3 Water Resources Council entitled ‘‘Economic and 

4 Environmental Principles and Guidelines for Water 

5 and Related Land Resources Implementation Stud6 ies’’ and dated March 10, 1983, and updated by the 

7 Principles, Requirements, and Guidelines for Federal 

8 Investments in Water Resources (78 Fed. Reg. 

9 18562 (March 27, 2013); 79 Fed. Reg. 77460 (De10 cember 24, 2014)), inhibits the Corps of Engineers 

11 from considering in the economic evaluation of the 

12 Soo Locks projects the severe regional economic con13 sequences from an unplanned outage at the Soo 

14 Locks. 

15 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF PROJECT.—Notwithstanding 

16 any other provision of law (including regulations), and 

17 based on the risks and severe consequences of service 

18 interruption at the project, the Secretary of the Army 

19 shall carry out the project authorized by section 1149 of 

20 the Water Resources Development Act of 1986 (100 Stat. 

21 4254; 121 Stat. 1131), at a total project cost that is equal 

22 to the 2017 certified cost estimate, plus or minus such 

23 amounts, if any, as may be required by ordinary fluctua24 tions in construction costs as indicated by engineering cost 


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1 indices applicable to the type of construction described in 

2 that section. 

Æ 


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