The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) must reconsider its decision to remove 36 Aids to Navigation (ATONs) on the Missouri River, say U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-IA), several of his colleagues, and 53 local businesses, organizations, and leaders.
ATONs are various visual, audible, and electronic markers used on waterways to help boaters navigate safely and include buoys, lights, lighthouses, day beacons, range lights, fog signals, and radio beacons. They are primarily maintained by the USCG, which recently decided to remove three dozen of them on the Missouri River north of Blencoe, Iowa, based on a 2021 analysis.
The removal process is projected to be completed by May 2025, and if implemented, would be devastating for Iowa farmers, businesses, and manufacturers that rely on the Missouri River to ship their goods and serve their customers, according to the congressman’s weekly column published Nov. 4. It would also severely curtail ongoing investments in the Missouri River and slow economic growth in Iowa and across the Midwest, he wrote.
“The U.S. Coast Guard’s decision to remove 36 ATONs on the Missouri River threatens our region’s economic vitality and cuts off trade along this important waterway,” Rep. Feenstra said in a Nov. 4 statement. “Many projects are already in motion to improve utilization of the Missouri River — including the new barge terminal project in Sioux City — and this decision by the USCG ignores the economic growth already happening because of the Missouri River.
“We must maintain navigation up and down the Missouri River not just for the vitality of our businesses but for the future growth of our region and the long-term success of our communities,” he added.
Eight Republicans joined Rep. Feenstra to echo those statements in a Dec. 4 letter sent to USCG Capt. Andrew Bender, urging the USCG to reverse course on the disestablishment of ATONs north of Blencoe because it would “negatively impact the navigability of the river for all users and significantly stunt economic growth in the region.”
Among the members who joined Rep. Feenstra in signing the letter were U.S. Reps. Sam Graves (R-MO), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Deb Fischer (R-NE), and Adrian Smith (R-NE). Their letter was accompanied by another one sent from numerous organizations and businesses that also requested that the USCG’s decision be revoked and that the 36 ATONs remain on the Missouri River above Blencoe.
Both letters also outlined recent investments and outlooks that should increase vessel traffic above Blencoe, including a barge terminal project in Sioux City, Iowa, that could bring barge traffic as soon as summer 2025, bolstering the already robust manufacturing sector in the area, as well as the more than $469 million that’s currently being invested from disaster funding and other legislation into the Bank Stabilization and Navigation Project on the Missouri River.
Among the many signatories of the letter were the cities of Blair, Neb.; Sergeant Bluff, Iowa; Sioux City, Iowa; and Sioux City, Neb.; the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association; the Iowa Corn Growers Association; Iowa Department of Transportation Director Scott Marler; the Iowa Farm Bureau; the Coalition to Protect the Missouri River; the Missouri Levee and Drainage District Association; Northwest Bank; and Wells Enterprises Inc., among many others.