Roger Blaske This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. MLDDA Home Page

   www.mldda.org - [Cached]

   Published on: 2/8/2001   Last Visited: 7/4/2001

   Barge traffic downstream would be hurt by a summer drop , says Roger Blaske , operator of Blaske Barge Service of Alton , Ill. They talk about a split season , but corn , beans and other crops move all summer long , Blaske said. We haven't seen a summer slowdown for several years. I think fish and wildlife can co-exist with navigation , if we give each of them fair treatment..
   
   Since work began more than a decade ago on the master manual revision , a rift has developed between downstream navigation and upstream recreation. When the dams were built , fishing , boating and water sports were far from the $85 million industry they've become since the big lakes were created. Barge traffic was a familiar piece of the downstream economy , although it currently is considered a $7 million industry.
   ...
   Blaske says he tires of the upstream-downstream argument. I guess our business is to run the barges , he said. We understand the problems , but we're part of the system , too..
   
   Mimicking natural flows could cost the hydropower industry as much as $30 million , and that could mean higher electric rates to consumers , power advocates say.
   ...
   That's a big harvest season in downstream states , and it's a prime time for barges , Blaske said. That would be a tough time to go out of service for us , he said. New this year to the mix of public policy concerns is the politics of tax cuts. Daschle aide Hanson says President Bush's tax-cut initiative is the reason the administration's budget lacks money for a Missouri River restoration task force the South Dakota senator wants to create. The budget also reduced from $12 million to $3 million the amount of money Daschle hoped to have appropriated to continue a transfer of river shore land from federal to state and tribal hands.