Fleischmann pledges to work for 'Chuck' lock

Nashville District Commander Lt. Col. James A. DeLapp, left, and deputy for project management Mike WIlson explain to U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann what some of the crucial repairs that need to be completed are as existing lock project manager Doug Delong, right, listens in during a tour of the dewatered Chickamauga Lock during work in 2012.
Nashville District Commander Lt. Col. James A. DeLapp, left, and deputy for project management Mike WIlson explain to U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann what some of the crucial repairs that need to be completed are as existing lock project manager Doug Delong, right, listens in during a tour of the dewatered Chickamauga Lock during work in 2012.
photo Nashville District Commander Lt. Col. James A. DeLapp, left, and deputy for project management Mike WIlson explain to U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann what some of the crucial repairs that need to be completed are as existing lock project manager Doug Delong, right, listens in during a tour of the dewatered Chickamauga Lock during work in 2012.

U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann says he is working so hard to get funding for a new Chickamauga lock that the project is becoming known as the "Chuck" lock.

The Chattanooga Republican congressman pledged Thursday to work to gain at least $6.9 million in funding in the next year to reactivate work on the stalled $680 million project, which is designed to replace the aging, 75-year-old existing lock at the Chickamauga Dam.

In the White House budget plans, the Army Corps of Engineers didn't include any money to restart the replacement lock in either the fiscal 2015 or fiscal 2016 budgets. Work on the lock stalled three years ago when funding ran out for the project.

Fleischmann told the Chattanooga Rotary Club he will work in his role on the House Appropriations Committee to get more money for the lock being built in Chattanooga by the Corps.

"The Chickamauga lock, affectionately known by many at the corps as the 'Chick lock,' is now being referred to all over the United States as the 'Chuck" lock,' Fleischmann quipped.

Fleischmann said he has worked to revamp what he said was "a broken trust fund" which funneled all available funding for new locks and dams to the Olmsted lock. Last year, Congress revamped the funding formula, the corps listed the Chickamauga lock as the fourth-highest priority project, and Congress voted to increase the diesel fuel tax on barges on April 1 from 20 cents to 29 cents a gallon to provide more funds for corps projects on inland waterways.

"We need a minimum of $6.9 million to start the Chickamauga lock again and I'm going to stay on them [the White House and Corps of Engineers] until we get that new lock started again," Fleischmann said. "We fixed the structure [of the Inland Waterways Trust Fund]; we fixed the revenue [by increasing the barge fuel tax]; and now it's time for them to stand up and build the lock."

Fleischmann said he was "very disappointed" that the White House didn't include funding for the replacement lock at the Chickamauga Dam because there should be about $53 million this year in unallocated money in the Inland Waterways Trust Fund for the lock projects.

The corps is building a new and bigger lock at the Chickamauga Dam in Chattanooga to replace the aging and crumbling existing lock, which opened in 1940 and now suffers from "concrete growth" that could force its permanent shutdown. The Corps has spent more than $180 million to design and begin construction of the new replacement lock, including more than $50 million in special funds from the stimulus package adopted in 2009 in the wake of the Great Recession.

But funding for the new lock ran out three years ago when cost overruns at the Olmsted lock, the highest-priority project, absorbed all of the available money in the trust fund.

"This is a situation I inherited -- and that's OK," Fleischmann said. "From Day One in Congress, earmarks [to allow Congress to dedicate funds for pet projects of a member] went away."

Fleischmann is having to work through the Corps' regular budget process to ensure adequate funds are available to reach down in the agency's priority list to have money for the Chickamauga project.

Despite his support for the additional $500 million needed to finish the Chickamauga lock, Fleischmann stressed that he would generally prefer less federal spending in America.

"I'd rather see this money in your checkbook and less in the hands of Washington D.C., because your investing in America is a lot better than that of Washington bureaucrats," he told the Rotarians.

Contact Dave Flessner at dfless ner@timesfreepress.com or 423- 757-6340

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