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Governor Kitzhaber cites the Columbia River Channel Deepening project as a key strategy to aid in rural Oregon development. 06/28/00 Port of Portland Steve Johnson (503) 944-7054 Columbia River Channel Deepening is a key element in Governor John Kitzhaber’s comprehensive package of investments in rural Oregon that will be included in his 2001-2003 budget. In a news release Tuesday, the Governor cited channel deepening as one of the investments highlighted in the budget that will be presented to the Legislature tomorrow, Friday, Dec. 1. Channel deepening joined a series of investments that will aid Oregon’s rural economy, stimulate infrastructure improvement and improve the quality of life in rural communities. The budget outlines $28 million in lottery backed bonds for channel deepening in order to maintain affordable transportation of bulk commodities. At the same time, $1.7 million of these funds will be used to improve the Lower Columbia River Estuary Project for fish habitat. “The Governor’s commitment to an efficient navigation channel will help us continue meeting the transportation needs of our entire state,” said Mike Thorne, Port of Portland Executive Director. “Like the Governor, we will insist that the project leaves the river in better environmental shape than exists today.” To enable today’s large, modern, fuel-efficient ships to move products effectively on the Columbia/Willamette system, a coalition of six lower river ports, supported by hundreds of committed stakeholders (individuals, businesses and organizations) are working to deepen the existing 114-mile-long, 40-foot deep navigation channel by three feet. The Oregon sponsor ports are Portland and St. Helens; the Washington sponsor ports are Vancouver, Woodland, Kalama and Longview. The lower Columbia and Willamette rivers comprise the world’s second largest grain export system, bested only by the Mississippi River in size and importance. More than 40 percent of the wheat exports from the United States are shipped via ports on the Columbia and Willamette, including grain from rural Oregon growers. Some 900 Oregon and Washington companies ship freight via the Portland Harbor. Overall, $13 billion worth of freight is transported via ocean-going carriers each year on these rivers. Commodities include millions of tons of mineral bulk cargoes (e.g., potash, soda ash, aluminum ore), breakbulk cargoes (e.g., steel and forest products), automobiles (e.g., Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, Subaru) and goods carried in ocean shipping containers, ranging from apparel and grocery imports, to animal feed and paper product exports. “Oregon benefits from international trade more than most other states, and an efficient navigation channel is essential to keep our state competitive in the international market,” Thorne said. “One in five jobs results from international business and trade.” In addition to serving as a transportation passageway for freight, the Columbia and Willamette rivers are a critical passageway and habitat area for several runs of endangered Pacific Northwest salmon and steelhead. Through careful management and the help of new science and technology, Columbia/Willamette ports and other waterway stewards are working to implement programs so these two river system users—freight and fish—can exist together in harmony. To that end, embodied in the project are a host fish and wildlife habitat restoration measures, along with plans to substantially decrease the amount of material that will need to be dredged in future years to maintain the channel.
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