Casey talks jobs on visit to locks and dam
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Col. John Lloyd talks with U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Thursday at Locks and Dam No. 4 in Charleroi.
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey was welcomed to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Locks and Dam No. 4 in Charleroi by Ingram Barge Co. employees and their spotless towboat, the Daniel P. Mecklenborg.
CHARLEROI – U.S. Sen. Bob Casey visited the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Locks and Dam No. 4 in Charleroi Thursday, saying he was there to celebrate major achievements as construction continued on a new locking chamber designed to make river navigation more efficient.
“This is about one thing, and that’s jobs,” the Pennsylvania Democrat said before he took a short jaunt on the Monongahela River aboard Ingram Barge Co.’s Daniel P. Mecklenborg towboat.
“The work is not done, but you can see behind me activity,” Casey said.
The Corps built a new dam downriver at Braddock and needs to complete the lock and a major dredging project from Charleroi to Elizabeth in order to remove the aging lock and dam at Elizabeth.
Contracts were awarded to complete the Charleroi project, but the Corps needs to raise $240 million to pay for the work, said Jeanine Hoey, the Corps’ lower Mon project manager.
The work at Charleroi is expected to be completed in 2023, 13 years behind schedule, Hoey said, as the project has been underfunded by Congress since it began in 1991.
The removal of Lock and Dam No. 3 “promises to make the commercial shipping of bulk goods” more efficient and reliable, said Col. John Lloyd, commander of the Corps’ Pittsburgh District.
Shipping of goods on Pittsburgh’s three rivers leaves behind a smaller carbon footprint than all other methods of moving products. An estimated 615 tons of goods are moved a year by barge on the rivers in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
“The people of this area deserve this investment,” Casey said. “I want to make sure we finish the job.”