Mullin, Shuster Tour Port of Catoosa
Mullin, key congressman tour Port of Catoosa
BY RANDY KREHBIEL World Staff Writer
Friday, April 19, 2013
Second District Congressman Markwayne Mullin and U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said Friday they are looking into private resources to help pay for an estimated $100 million maintenance backlog for the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System.
“Right now the law says that private money can’t be used for some of those maintenance needs,” Mullin said after touring the Tulsa Port of Catoosa with Shuster and a contingent of area business leaders and legislators. “We’re working to reform The Corps so something like that can happen. It’s just one of those common-sense approaches.”
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has said there is a 50 percent chance that one of the locks on the system will fail within the next five years, bringing barge traffic to a halt. Port of Catoosa officials say that would have a $2 million-a-day impact on its business alone.