Lated Agencies Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2005

DEPARTMENTS OF TRANSPORTATION, TREAS- URY AND GENERAL GOVERNMENT, AND RE- LATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2005 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, Washington, DC. MATERIAL SUBMITTED BY AGENCIES NOT APPEARING FOR FORMAL HEARINGS [CLERK’S NOTE.—The following agencies of the Subcommittee on Departments of Transportation, Treasury and General Govern- ment, and Related Agencies did not appear before the subcommittee this year. Chairman Shelby requested these agencies to submit testimony in support of their fiscal year 2005 budget request. Those statements submitted by the chairman follow:] SAINT LAWRENCE SEAWAY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION PREPARED STATEMENT OF ALBERT S. JACQUEZ, ADMINISTRATOR The U.S. Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (SLSDC or Corpora- tion), a wholly owned government corporation and an operating administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), is responsible for the operations and maintenance of the U.S. portion of the St. Lawrence Seaway between Montreal and Lake Erie. This responsibility includes maintaining and operating the two U.S. Sea- way locks located in Massena, NY, and vessel traffic control in areas of the St. Law- rence River and Lake Ontario. In addition, the SLSDC performs trade development functions designed to enhance Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System utilization. Since its opening in 1959, the binational St. Lawrence Seaway has been a vital transportation corridor for the international movement of bulk commodities such as steel, iron ore, grain, and coal, serving a North American region that makes up one quarter of the U.S. population and nearly half of the Canadian population. The binational waterway serves as a deep draft waterborne link between major U.S. and Canadian agricultural, manufacturing, and industrial cities, including Chicago, De- troit, Toronto, Cleveland, Duluth, Toledo, Milwaukee, Montreal, and Green Bay, and European, South American, and North African markets. The SLSDC coordinates its activities with its Canadian counterpart, The St. Law- rence Seaway Management Corporation (SLSMC), particularly with respect to rules and regulations, overall day-to-day operations, traffic management, navigation aids, safety, environmental programs, security, operating dates, and trade development programs. The unique binational nature of the Seaway System requires 24-hour, year-round coordination between the two Seaway entities. The SLSDC’s principal performance goal is to provide a safe, secure, reliable, and efficient U.S. portion of the St. Lawrence Seaway to its commercial users. Since its opening in 1959, more than 2.3 billion metric tons of cargo has been transported through the combined sections of the St. Lawrence Seaway (Montreal-Lake Ontario and Welland Canal) with an estimated value of more than $400 billion. The navigation season typically runs from late March to late December. During the 2003 navigation season, the availability of the U.S. sectors of the Seaway, including the two U.S. locks maintained and operated by the SLSDC, was 98.9 per- (1) 2 cent; the annual goal is 99 percent. Weather and vessel incidents were the causes for all delays in 2003. Of the remaining factors that cause lockage shutdowns, the one that the SLSDC has the most control over is the proper functioning of lock equipment. During the 2003 navigation season, there were no system delays due to malfunctioning lock equipment. FISCAL YEAR 2005 BUDGET ESTIMATE The SLSDC’s fiscal year 2005 budget request provides the agency with the funding necessary to provide a safe, secure, reliable, and efficient waterway system for the movement of commercial goods to and from the Great Lakes region of North America. The SLSDC fiscal year 2005 proposed level of $16,800,000, includes an appropriation request from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund of $15,900,000 and an estimated non-appropriated $900,000 in non-Federal revenues. This proposed level will allow the agency to fund its 157 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) staff and continue the day-to-day operational and maintenance programs for the U.S. portion of the St. Lawrence Seaway between Montreal and Lake Erie. These programs include man- aging vessel traffic control in areas of the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario, maintaining and operating the two U.S. Seaway locks, and continuing increased security-related activities that were initiated as a result of the terrorist-related events of September 11, 2001. In addition, the SLSDC performs trade development activities designed to enhance Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System awareness and utilization. The request also directly supports four of the five President’s Management Agen- da (PMA) initiatives (budget and performance integration, strategic management of human capital, financial performance improvement, and electronic government ex- pansion; the SLSDC is exempt from competitive sourcing as a government corporation), the Department’s strategic goals of Global Connectivity (efficient cargo movement) and Security (transportation system recovery), as well as the SLSDC’s inter- nal strategic goals. These agency goals include: safety, security, and the environ- ment; reliability and availability; trade development; and management account- ability. The request, separated by Departmental strategic goals and performance measures, includes $15,650,000 in appropriated funds directed at maritime navigation programs and personnel, and $250,000 towards the SLSDC’s security and infra- structure protection activities. The SLSDC’s budget request also includes funding for the Seaway Automatic Identification System (AIS) and the agency’s financial management system, both of which support the PMA. The AIS system, which serves as one of the agency’s ‘‘Ex- panding E-Government’’ PMA initiatives, utilizes Global Positioning System (GPS) to allow the SLSDC to more efficiently manage vessel traffic control and vessel tran- sits at the U.S. Seaway locks. Implemented at the start of the 2003 navigation season, the Seaway became the first inland waterway in the western hemisphere to im- plement an operational AIS vessel traffic services system. The SLSDC’s financial management system supports the President’s ‘‘Improving Financial Management’’ initiative and includes nine subsystems that allow Corpora- tion officials to track all financial-related information and meet all independent auditor reporting requirements. The SLSDC has received 40 consecutive unqualified or ‘‘clean’’ financial audits since its first audit in 1955, a major achievement under the PMA initiative of financial performance improvement. The AIS system and the financial management system represent $70,000 of the fiscal year 2005 budget estimate. This amount is consistent with the fiscal year 2004 request for operating and maintaining these two programs. CONCRETE REPLACEMENT PROJECT The fiscal year 2005 appropriation request is $1.627 million above the fiscal year 2004 enacted level and is principally attributable to the planned start of a $6 million concrete replacement project at the two U.S. Seaway locks ($1.5 million each year in fiscal years 2005–2008). The Eisenhower Lock has a history of concrete problems, caused by the use of natural cement in the mix composition during the con- struction of the lock. Due to the amount of concrete in need of replacement, the difficulties associated with accessing these areas of deteriorated concrete, and the need for in-house maintenance crews to focus on other essential non-concrete lock maintenance projects, it is more efficient and cost effective for outside contractors to complete this project. The SLSDC’s Office of Engineering has researched other solutions to the concrete deterioration problem and found that there are no other substances as effective as concrete in protecting the structural integrity of the lock chambers. 3 The concrete replacement work to take place in fiscal years 2005–2008 includes areas identified by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) in its 1991 lock survey and evaluation of the two U.S. Seaway locks (Corps Technical Report ITL–91–4, No- vember 1991). The report concluded, ‘‘It is important for the SLSDC to maintain an aggressive maintenance program of replacing deteriorated concrete. In the near fu- ture, attention should be given to the repair of deteriorated concrete near the bot- tom of the lock walls at Eisenhower Lock.’’ Since 1991, the SLSDC has made in-house repairs to the most critical areas identified by the Corps, but further deterioration and harsh winter conditions have caused additional damage to the lock walls at Eisenhower Lock and newly-identified problems at the Snell Lock have also been targeted for replacement. In addition to concrete deteriorating along the lower portions of the lock walls, freeze-thaw damage is significant in the lock walls at high and low pool levels at both locks. As it deteriorates, pieces of concrete become dislodged and fall into the lock chambers. This poses a risk to people on the decks of commercial vessels and pleasure boats. Due to the amount of concrete in need of replacement, the difficulties associated with accessing these areas of deteriorated concrete, and the need for in-house maintenance crews to focus on other non-concrete lock maintenance projects, it is more efficient and cost effective for outside contractors to complete the project than in- house personnel. Between 1959 and 2003, the SLSDC expended more than $25 million on concrete replacement at the two locks during the off-season winter months, with the majority of work taking place at the Eisenhower Lock. Most of the work over that time was completed with in-house labor. The last major concrete replacement projects that utilized contractors were completed in fiscal years 1986 and 1987, at a total cost of $4.3 million. The Seaway is a single-lock system, consisting of 15 individual U.S. and Canadian locks; a delay/shutdown to any one of the locks would cause a delay/ shutdown of the entire waterway.

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