This week has been a week of disappointments and positive news for backers of inland waterway projects. Waterways Council Senior Vice President Deb Calhoun says the biggest disappointment was President Trump’s FY 2021 Budget plan which zeros out funding for inland waterways projects.
She says the good news however is the FY 2020 work plan for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with over $300 million for the waterways trust fund paying for four priority construction projects. (Olmsted, Kentucky lock, Lower Mon and Chickamauga).
Calhoun says also included in the Corp’s 2020 work plan is $4.5 million for the Upper Mississippi River and Illinois Waterway which is especially critical for agricultural shippers.
Calhoun says $3 million of that funding for the Upper Mississippi River and Illinois Waterway goes to the navigation component and $1.5 million to the environmental restoration component.
