The Great Lakes Maritime Task Force:
I. Promotes a strong U.S.-flag Merchant Marine on the Great Lakes to best advance the domestic and international trades. To this end, we:
a.) Advocate full application of the U.S. cabotage laws, best known of which is the Jones Act. These laws and statutes ensure the safety and efficiency of Great Lakes commerce. Any exemptions to these laws will invite will create an unlevel playing field and drive U.S.-flag vessels from their own waters..
b.) Support maritime security legislation that ensures that U.S.-flag deep sea vessels are available to meet the national security needs of the United States.
II. Seeks expanded domestic and international trade through public and private Great Lakes ports and docks. To this end, we:
a.) Support Corps of Engineers' Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Seaway System Study that will determine what is needed to maintain the aging Lakes/Seaway infrastructure for the next 50 years..
b.) Support fair trade in steel, but insist the Federal government maintain and enforce policies that protect domestic steelmakers and supply industries from the illegal dumping and other predatory trade practices that created a crisis in the late 1990s from which America's steel industry has yet to fully recover.
III. Seeks adequate funding for dredging of Great Lakes deep-draft ports. To this end, we:
a.) Seek increased funding for Operation and Maintenance Dredging (O&M). The Great Lakes account for nearly 7 percent of the nation's maritime commerce, but the proposed budget for FY05 underfunds dredging by $50 million.
IV. Promotes fuller utilization of U.S. shipyards in the Great Lakes region. To this end, we:
a.) Support continuation of Federal Mortgage Insurance (Title XI) and Capital Construction Fund programs administered by the Maritime Administration.
b.) Seek to limit the duration of Department of Defense lease contracts of foreign-built ships to not more than one year, including contract options.
V. Seeks to strengthen the economy of the Great Lakes basin. Believes commerce and the environment can exist in harmony. To this end, we:
a.) Provide leadership efforts to stem the influx of non-indigenous species into the Great Lakes system.
b.) Will participate in meaningful studies of new technologies to further protect the Great Lakes environment.
Last updated: June 28, 2004..