Topic starter
22/11/2012 1:10 pm
I ask all my steamboats friends to read tis article and PLEASE write your congress Rep or Senator. Even President Obama could solve this with an Executive order. The Corps of Engineers is scheduled to reduce flows on the upper Missiour River and its tributaries. If the Missiouri River flows are reduce by the Corps of Engineers it will reduce this cause even lower levels on the MIssissippi River. This seriously slow down, if not shut down the river shipping as well as putting many people out of work, including myself, making difficult on our families. This will make things difficult for people who jobs how depend on the river to ship products. Example, farming, manufacturing, refining, ect... The people who work in these professions will eventual have their jobs threatened as well.
Further more this will have domino effect through the rest of the economy. Gas prices will skyrocket because movement of petrol will almost come to a complete stop. People sometimes don't realize that alot of the food will buy at the grocery store is actually shipped by barge to mills and processing plants to make many food we eat. For example, corn, wheat, grain, soy beans, as well as fertilizer to grow these products. Some of these ffods are shipped over seas. Some, like corn, stays here to become corn oil ( yes the kind fast food joints use for our favorite foods), corn syrup, bio-diesel, and ethanol (yep both kinds, for your car and the kind in a bottle of booze). Wheat for breads and baked goods ( yep, even Dunkin' Doughnuts). Soy beans for soy suace teriyaki (can you imagine sushi with out soy suace!), tofu for you tofu eaters, and bio-diesel. All of this shipped by barge.
As you can see this a big deal for all of us. not just river people. All of us will eventually suffer if shipping comes to a stop on the Mississippi River.
I know all who read my post will be supportive.
Here is a link to an article in the Des Moine Register explaining the situation.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20121121/OPINION03/311210041