Bob Wise: “the Marment Locks are an extremely important project not only for West Virginia but actually for the inland waterway…”

“the Marment Locks are an extremely important project not only for West Virginia but actually for the inland waterway system. There is a lot of uncertainty because the appraisal and real estate acquisition process must go forward. Two hundred families have been waiting a long time for this to happen. In the energy and water appropriation bill today that passed this House there was no language about that, and that is because that there is a two step, there are two ways that we can get such a project as this moving forward, and I just want to assure people that the process is not stopped. The energy and water appropriation bill had a rule that there would be no new starts involved in it, neither the House, nor Senate, at this time. However, the other step the other way is the authorization process, and the water resources bill contains full authorization for the Marment Locks, it has passed the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. I am urging the congressional leadership, and I think on a bipartisan basis, to bring this to the floor as soon as possible and to end this uncertainty.”