Washington, D.C. – On Tuesday, U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, participated in the hearing, “To consider the nominations of: Mr. Richard L. Anderson to be Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserve Affairs; Mr. Adam R. Telle to be Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works; and Dr. Matthew C. Napoli to be Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation National Nuclear Security Administration.” 

In his remarks, Senator Mullin detailed the importance of the Port of Catoosa and the critical infrastructure updates that are desperately needed. Mr. Telle, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works nominee, committed to addressing the issue.

The full committee hearing can be found here. 

The exchange between Senator Mullin and Mr. Adam Telle, nominee to be Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, is below.  

Sen. Mullin: “Mr. Telle, I want to talk to you about the Port of Catoosa. It’s a 445-mile channel that runs from essentially the Mississippi all the way up to the Port of Catoosa, which is the largest inland water port west of the Mississippi and on the Gulf of America. It also provides roughly 50% of all agricultural products that flow in and out of the Midwest, and it goes up to the Port of Catoosa, which is just outside of Tulsa. And from there, it gets on rails and trucks and gets trucked the rest of the way up. It was opened in 1971 and since roughly the 90s, we have talked about increasing the depth, because the amount of traffic that’s on it. Right now, it’s dredged at nine feet in depth, and it also has a critical backlog, which means that any of the levees could shut down at any given time, of increasing almost a billion dollars critical backlog needs.” 

“The Port of Catoosa, for some reason continues to be treated like, this is not politically correct but whatever the red headed stepchild is, and other projects in Ohio or the Mississippi or other areas of waterways seem to get the most attention. However, the Midwest feeds the United States and many parts around the world, yet we’re in a critical situation here where we need to increase the depth of the channel from 9 feet to 12 feet. The study has been going on literally since the 90s. An additional study started again in 2005 and expired in roughly 2014. We could see a 40% increase in cargo influx into the port and out of the port for every foot we increase it. 40% increase cargo. Which would be drastically an improvement to what we deal with today. Not to mention the timing, the cost to get Ag products in and out of the Midwest, because as we hit the Mississippi, we actually change out of one barge to another barge that actually is obviously deeper and bigger for us to be able to navigate through the channel with.” 

“My concern is that since the Corp has continued to overlook this, I’m looking for a commitment for you that you will actually take a hard look at this and understand that literally, the heartbeat of America, which is our Ag products, is in dire straits of being able to get products in and out. And if this navigation channel goes down, the cost is going to bring to all Americans’ tables, because it will increase in cargo. So, would you commit to helping us with this channel?”  

Mr. Telle: “Senator Mullin, absolutely, I will. This is emblematic, the situation you described, in providing access for Oklahoma’s farmers and ranchers to the rest of the world through our waterways is emblematic of the Corp’s mission, which was originally to use our waterways for the benefit of the American public.” 

“Your state’s so critical in getting the products from your state the world. And the opposite of that, getting the world’s products to you is critically important. I understand that this issue has been going on for a long time, affects the state of Arkansas as well. And certainly, as vessel traffic changes, the types of traffic change based on commercial patterns across the globe, we need to make sure that our infrastructure is up to date to meet it. And I look forward to doing everything we can to take a very hard look at this critical asset and make sure that we modernize it to the degree that we can.” 

“And I would also, as you describe when we were in your office, the critical role that it plays in flood protection in that area as well. And you know, dredge material often can have a beneficial use in terms of building flood control infrastructure, levees and otherwise. So, I look forward to working with you on that and I commit to do my very best.”  

Sen. Mullin: “Thank you. And I look forward to hosting you when we can get you there.”  

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