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| THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA |
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION |
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| INTRODUCED BY MARSHALL, PRESTON, KOTIK, GEIST, D. COSTA, P. COSTA, DeLUCA, MATZIE, RAVENSTAHL, READSHAW AND VULAKOVICH, MAY 10, 2012 |
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| INTRODUCED AS NONCONTROVERSIAL RESOLUTION UNDER RULE 35, MAY 10, 2012 |
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| A RESOLUTION |
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1 | Commending the Port of Pittsburgh Commission on its 20th |
2 | anniversary for its leadership in advocating for the passage |
3 | of a 20-year capital improvement plan and urging the Congress |
4 | of the United States to support a 20-year capital improvement |
5 | plan which would improve the lock and dam infrastructure of |
6 | the nation's inland waterway system. |
7 | WHEREAS, The General Assembly of Pennsylvania created the |
8 | current Port of Pittsburgh Commission in 1992 to promote the |
9 | rivers of southwestern Pennsylvania as highways of commerce; and |
10 | WHEREAS, The Port of Pittsburgh is the second busiest inland |
11 | port in the nation; and |
12 | WHEREAS, Martin Associates, located in Lancaster, has found |
13 | that more than 45,000 direct jobs and more than 217,000 total |
14 | jobs are maintained in southwestern Pennsylvania by a healthy |
15 | river infrastructure; and |
16 | WHEREAS, The 17 lock and dam structures on the three major |
17 | rivers in southwestern Pennsylvania, which allow for the passage |
18 | of essential commerce, have exceeded their design life by as |
19 | much as 50 years and many are in a severe state of |
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1 | deterioration; and |
2 | WHEREAS, The distressed state of the lock and dam structures |
3 | threaten commerce making use of the inland waterway system; and |
4 | WHEREAS, The United States Army Corps of Engineers' Lower |
5 | Monongahela Improvement Project was authorized to construct a |
6 | new dam at Braddock and a new lock at Charleroi and to remove |
7 | the locks and dam at Elizabeth but has been stalled by lack of |
8 | funding; and |
9 | WHEREAS, The Port of Pittsburgh Commission has joined with |
10 | more than 200 industry and port groups throughout the nation to |
11 | urge the approval by the Congress of the United States of a 20- |
12 | year capital improvement plan that would, among other things, |
13 | complete the Lower Monongahela Improvement Plan; and |
14 | WHEREAS, In order to finance the 20-year capital improvement |
15 | plan, the plan would allow for the increase of user fees from |
16 | 20¢ per gallon to as much as 29¢ per gallon for the commercial |
17 | towing industry; and |
18 | WHEREAS, The completion of the 20-year capital improvement |
19 | plan is essential to the economic health of southwestern |
20 | Pennsylvania's coal mining, power generation, steel making and |
21 | petrochemical industries; and |
22 | WHEREAS, The Port of Pittsburgh Commission, along with |
23 | Carnegie Mellon University, the United States Army Corps of |
24 | Engineers and the towing industry, has aggressively pursued |
25 | nonstructural improvements to supplement the needed structural |
26 | improvements; therefore be it |
27 | RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives commend the Port |
28 | of Pittsburgh Commission on its 20th anniversary for its |
29 | leadership in advocating for the passage of a 20-year capital |
30 | improvement plan; and be it further |
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1 | RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives urge the Congress |
2 | of the United States to support a 20-year capital improvement |
3 | plan which would improve the lock and dam infrastructure of the |
4 | nation's inland waterway system. |
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