Earl Blumenauer: “I would make two brief points. First, what is not being focused on is where the traffic is going in this corridor. Some…”

“I would make two brief points. First, what is not being focused on is where the traffic is going in this corridor. Some products that previously had gone out the mouth of the Mississippi River are now going north to Canada by rail, south to Mexico by rail, they are going west for export, or they are being consumed domestically. That is why, and it comes to the second point: traffic on the river is not going up as these studies have shown. It has been flat for the last 20 years. It has been going down for the last 3 years. What the gentleman from Arizona and I have offered is a modest compromise. If 3 years is not enough, take 4 years. But look at where the trend line is going and justify a project before you start new construction, $1.8 billion, for something that frankly does not appear to be warranted according to the independent estimates, CRS, three studies from the National Academy of Science, and we have already seen that the corps' process has been severely discredited according to an investigation by the Inspector General. {time} 1330”