ST. JOSEPH, MI (WHTC-AM/FM) – The necessity of clearing harbors along the Lake Michigan shoreline is on the mind of Fred Upton.
The veteran Republican Congressman from St. Joseph Friday, June 4, 2021, sent a letter to the leaders of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, asking Democrat chair Marcy Kaptur of Toledo and Republican Mike Simpson of Idaho to support the Biden Administration’s budget request for nearly $109 million for the US Army Corps of Engineers that would, in part, dredge several key harbors in southwest Michigan, including Holland, South Haven and St. Joseph. Upton says that lake freighters bringing needed sand and gravel for road projects need to get to these harbors.
“Whether it’s the Indiana Toll Road, I-94, US-131, US-31, I-196 – all of that (sand & gravel) is crucial to make sure that those projects get completed,” the Congressman said on WHTC’s “Morning News” during a recent appearance. “We know with these construction projects –whether you’re making a basement or something else – when you take those construction works off the job, they don’t come back.”
The Corps was expected early in June to dredge the St. Joseph Harbor that has seen lowering water levels and increasing sediment.
