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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The flow of the Chicago River into Lake Michigan
3was reversed one hundred years ago to protect the safety of
4drinking water for the Chicago region and to facilitate
5navigation and commerce through a series of locks and canals;
6and
 
7    WHEREAS, In 2008, the Port of Chicago in the Chicago Area
8Waterway System was ranked 6th in the United States for exports
9to other countries by the United States Commerce Department;
10and
 
11    WHEREAS, The Chicago region's five biggest exports were
12chemicals ($6.1 billion), computers and electronic products
13($5.2 billion), non-electrical machinery ($3.4 billion),
14transportation equipment ($3.2 billion), and electrical
15equipment, appliances, and components ($1.7 billion); and
 
16    WHEREAS, A 2007 study commissioned by the Illinois Chamber
17of Commerce estimated that $29 billion worth of petroleum,
18chemicals, building materials, farm products, coal, and other
19products and raw materials travel through the Chicago area
20locks and canals annually; and
 
21    WHEREAS, The continued operation of Chicago's system of

 

 

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1locks and canals is vital to ensure its continued status as the
2strategic transportation hub of the Midwest; and
 
3    WHEREAS, The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)
4and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources have enacted
5several steps to prevent Asian carp from entering Lake
6Michigan, including creating three electronic barriers, eDNA
7testing, and two fish kills in December of 2009 and June of
82010; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Litigation has been pursued by Great Lakes states
10to order the closure of the locks and canals to try and prevent
11Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes; and
 
12    WHEREAS, The United States Supreme Court has rejected the
13preliminary injunction to close the Chicago Area Waterway
14System's locks and canals; and
 
15    WHEREAS, In December of 2010, a United States District
16Court rejected several Great Lakes states' request to shut down
17the Chicago Area Waterway System; and
 
18    WHEREAS, On February 17, 2011, a measure by the United
19States House of Representatives to close some of the Chicago
20area locks failed by a vote of 293 "No" to 139 "Yes" votes; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Closing the locks would overwhelm the Chicago
2Metropolitan Water Reclamation District tunnel system and
3cause massive flooding, affecting more than 3 million people
4and 1.4 million structures in Chicago and 51 surrounding
5suburbs; and
 
6    WHEREAS, It is estimated that closing the locks would also
7increase shipping costs for the Illinois agricultural
8community by more than a half-billion dollars a year; and
 
9    WHEREAS, There is no viable alternative to re-routing
10commerce that travels by barge through the Chicago Area
11Waterway System; according to the American Waterways
12Operators, a single barge can carry an amount of liquid cargo,
13such as asphalt, that would fill 144 semi-trailer trucks or 46
14rail cars; the State's rail and highway routes are simply not
15equipped to make up that difference; and
 
16    WHEREAS, With one barge's capacity equal to about 60
17trucks, the equivalent of about 571,000 truckloads of cargo
18entered or left the region by barge last year, enough to go
19from New York to Los Angeles and back again; and
 
20    WHEREAS, According to United States Department of
21Transportation modeling, truck transportation in the Chicago
22area accounts for 60% of the commodity flow; the annual

 

 

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1addition of 300,000 trucks would result in an additional 848 of
2nitrogen oxides alone to the air emissions to the Chicago metro
3area, which is equivalent to at least one natural gas peaker
4plant in Illinois or about 20,600 residential natural gas
5furnaces for the year; and
 
6    WHEREAS, At a White House "Carp Summit" of the Great Lakes
7states, the United States Army Corps of Engineers presented a
8plan to prevent Asian carp from entering Lake Michigan,
9outlining several scenarios including opening the locks less
10frequently, testing, and more electronic barriers; and
 
11    WHEREAS, The White House is allocating $78.5 million to
12prevent the Asian carp from gaining access to the Great Lakes;
13the strategy will call for modifying the lock operations in the
14Chicago Area Waterway System; and
 
15    WHEREAS, Even the temporary interruption of lock traffic
16would be absolutely devastating to our local, State, and
17national economy; therefore, be it
 
18    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
19NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
20we urge the United States Army Corps of Engineers to seek
21alternatives to the closure of the Chicago Area Waterway System
22of locks and canals that would not impede commerce; and be it

 

 

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1further
 
2    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be sent
3to the United States Army Corps of Engineers, the United States
4Coast Guard, the United States Environmental Protection
5Agency, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the
6Illinois Department of Natural Resources, the White House, and
7the members of the Illinois congressional delegation.