MI SR0021

Memorializes U.S. Congress and the Army Corps of Engineers to fully fund construction of a new shipping lock at Sault Ste. Marie.

Identifies the Soo Locks as critical infrastructure handling approximately 8,000 vessel passages annually and 80 million tons of cargo including iron ore, coal, and wheat.

Notes that 80 percent of raw materials for U.S. steel manufacturers pass through the locks, making them vital to Michigan's economy and national defense.

Warns that failure of the 40-year-old Poe Lock would result in 70 percent of cargo becoming unable to pass through and cause Great Lakes shipping to halt.

States Congress authorized lock expansion in 1986 and 2007 with nearly $15 million spent on planning, but full construction funding has not been provided, and a new lock would generate thousands of jobs and nearly $500 million in economic activity.