Essay: Seaway Anniversary - 7.8.09

Michigan Radio’s Political Analyst Jack Lessenberry is thinking about the birthday of the Saint Lawrence Seaway…

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You probably haven’t heard much about this, since Michael Jackson is still dead. But this summer is the 50th anniversary of something that has been both a great benefit and an environmental nightmare: The St. Lawrence Seaway. We don’t often think about it, but we should, because a couple of major decisions need to be made that will strongly affect our future, and that of the Seaway.

The bottom line is that the Seaway never lived up to its promise of being a passageway to economic growth. That’s not to say that it didn’t add something; it did, but never as much as promised.

However, the St. Lawrence Seaway also did something terrible that wasn’t foreseen at all. It led to the introduction of at least 57 invasive species into the Great Lakes, which have done horrible damage and changed the lakes ecology forever.

The most famous of these are the now-ubiquitous zebra mussels, which have clogged and choked water pipes and drains throughout the Great Lakes. There are also junk fish like the round goby, which drive out native fish species, and many other parasites, like the virus that causes fish to bleed to death.

In a way, it is unfair to blame the Seaway for invasive species; we have only ourselves to blame. We discovered early on that these things were coming over in the ballast water of ocean-going ships. Pretty much all we needed to do was insist they meticulously flush their ballast tanks before entering the seaway. Former State Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema had an even better idea: Make the ships add chlorine to their ballast water.

But environmentalists opposed Sikkema’s idea, and lobbyists didn’t want to make commerce any more expensive. Ships‘ ballast water was exempted from regulation by the Clean Water Act of 1972. Later, when Congress passed laws requiring ships to flush their ballast tanks, those laws weren‘t enforced by the Coast Guard.

The result was an ecological nightmare.

Ironically, the St. Lawrence Seaway never lived up to its economic potential either. When it was formally opened, it was heralded as one of the wonders of the world. It was expected to carry 50 million tons of cargo each year. But that never happened.

Thirty years ago, traffic on the seaway peaked at 23 million tons -- less than half that. Since then, traffic has dwindled. Nowadays, less than 10 million tons a year pass through the locks. True, the seaway did help the Midwest join the global economy.

But it could be carrying a lot more cargo. Marcy Kaptur, the longtime congresswoman from Toledo, thinks she has an answer. Modern oceangoing ships are bigger than in 1959 -- many just too big for the Seaway. She’d like to see our government and Canada’s spend billions to widen and deepen the locks.

That’s a proposal worth examining, but only if there is ample evidence it would pay off. And nobody should support any Seaway bill that doesn’t add strong new measures against invasive species. The Great Lakes are the most important source of fresh water this nation has. If we ruin them, we will be finished.

Let’s try not to forget that.

Comments

[rjacks]

Another great piece, Jack. Wish people cared about things like this as much as the latest celebrity death. I watched Jackson's memorial like most others, but know they're are more important problems. Glad to know we have NPR and Jack Lessenberry to keep us informed!

[David Waymann]

Hi Jack; Thanks for your piece on the St Lawrence Seaway. I did not get to hear it, but read it with interest. It is all too sad that invasive species control has become such a challenge to remedy, at least politically. Ironically it took decades for governments to back the Seaway plans, and at one point the Canadian government was ready to steam ahead without US involvement.
There are a few elements missing from your piece, one being that the ocean-going container system is now 52 years old...had the two systems been better connected at the time, who knows what might have happened. Offsetting the ecological concern is that a couple of hydro electric plants were a big part of the project (Beauharnois, Cornwall). I think your cargo figures are off by a lot, as 2008 cargo reports show 40+ million tons were shipped. I was fortunate to have a brief discussion with the current president of the SLSMC (formerly St. Lawrence Seaway Authority of Canada) and was told they are trying to get funding/legislation to build ships that can handle the ocean going containers and still navigate the Seaway-both a funding issue and a legal challenge as Canada is no longer a ship building nation and has legislation that is blocking these ships being built offshore.
I enjoy your political commentaries. Keep them coming.

Sincerely, David
[Grandson of the 3rd President of the St. Lawrence Seaway Authority of Canada (at the time the Seaway opened, June 1959)]

[Jack Lessenberry]

Thank you very much, Mr. Waymann. Everyone seems to have different cargo figures and it is confusing, to be sure.

Best,

JL