IL HR0244

Urges the United States Army Corps of Engineers to seek alternatives to closing the Chicago Area Waterway System locks and canals that would not impede commerce.

Closing the locks would overwhelm the Chicago Metropolitan Water Reclamation District tunnel system and cause massive flooding affecting more than 3 million people and 1.4 million structures in Chicago and 51 surrounding suburbs.

In 2008, the Port of Chicago was ranked 6th in the United States for exports, with approximately $29 billion worth of goods traveling through Chicago area locks and canals annually according to a 2007 study.

Closing the locks would increase shipping costs for the Illinois agricultural community by more than half a billion dollars annually, with no viable alternative for rerouting barge commerce that currently equals approximately 571,000 truckloads of cargo annually.

The White House allocated $78.5 million to prevent Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes through a strategy that calls for modifying lock operations rather than closure.