Cox: Cost of shutting locks has been exaggerated

Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox has asked the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision against an injunction to close the locks that connect the Mississippi River system to the Great Lakes as a way to protect the Great Lakes from invasive Asian carp.

Cox claims that he has new information that shows closing the locks would not be as expensive as previously thought.

Illinois and the federal government have argued that closing the locks has been that it would disrupt freighter traffic and cost around $190 million a year.

A new economic impact study, commissioned by Cox, puts the cost at just $70 million a year.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has more.

The study Cox released Thursday claims:
• The 7 million tons of cargo that move annually through the locks represent less than 1% of all the freight traffic in the region.
• The amount of cargo affected by a lock closure could be handled by the equivalent of two daily trains; approximately 500 trains move through the Chicago area each day.
• The cost to shift these materials to other transportation modes would cost less than $70 million annually, much less than the $190 million figure Cox says has been used by Illinois and the federal government.

The study authors, John Taylor, a Wayne State University professor, and John Roach, a transportation consultant and former manager of the Intermodal Section for the Michigan Department of Transportation told the Sentinel:

The suggestion that other modes of transportation are not available is incorrect. Virtually all of the major shippers have direct or proximity access to both rail and highway. The assertion that there are not enough rail cars or trucks to handle the traffic is also very wrong. There is more than sufficient capacity to handle seven million tons and it could readily be provided.