Congress has approved a sprawling bill to improve the nation’s ports, dams and harbors, protect against floods, restore shorelines and support other water-related projects. The massive Water Resources Development Act would authorize spending for projects nationwide, including spending $922.4 million to build a new, large replacement lock at the Soo Locks between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow authored that part of the bill, and there has been a renewed push on Capitol Hill to build a new lock ever since President Trump expressed his support for it during a campaign-style rally in suburban Detroit earlier this year. Congress approved the project in 1986, but never passed the authorization for the money to be spent. An economic analysis done by the Trump administration and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently warned of dire consequences to entire national economy if the Poe Lock were to be forced to close down. That is the only one of the Soo Locks big enough to handle the large freighters carrying iron ore from the Upper Peninsula to steel mills elsewhere in the country.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
