Markwayne Mullin Asks Trump Nominee About Need To Increase Depth Of Major Inland Port In Oklahoma

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During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last month, Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) spoke about the need to increase the depth of the Catoosa Port in outside Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Transcript

00:00Mr. Mullen. Thank you, Chairman, and thank you all for being here. Mr. Tell, I want to talk to you

00:07about the Port of Catoosa. It's a 445-mile channel that runs from essentially the Mississippi all

00:17the way up to the Port of Catoosa, which is the largest inland water port west of the Mississippi

00:22and on the Gulf of America. It also provides roughly 50 percent of all agricultural products

00:30that flow in and out of the Midwest. It goes up to the Port of Catoosa, which is just outside

00:35of Tulsa, and from there it gets on rails and trucks and gets trucked the rest of the way

00:41up. It was opened in 1971, and since roughly the 90s, we have talked about increasing the

00:47depth because of the amount of traffic that's on it. Right now, it's dredged at nine feet

00:52in depth, and it also has a critical backlog, which means that any of the levees could shut

00:57down at any given time, of increasing almost a billion dollars of critical backlog needs.

01:03The Port of Catoosa, for some reason, continues to be treated like, this is not politically

01:08correct, but whatever the redheaded stepchild, and other projects in Ohio or the Mississippi

01:18other areas of waterways seem to get the most attention. However, the Midwest feeds the United

01:25States and many parts around the world, and yet we're in a critical situation here where

01:32we need to increase the depth of the channel from nine feet to 12 feet. The study has been

01:37going on literally since the 90s. An additional study started again in 2005 and expired in roughly

01:442014. We could see a 40% increase in cargo influx into the port and out of the port for every

01:52foot we increase it. 40% increase of cargo, which would be drastically an improvement to

01:59what we deal with today. Not to mention the timing and the cost to get ag products in and

02:04out of the Midwest, because as we hit the Mississippi, we actually change out of one barge to another

02:11barge that actually is obviously deeper and bigger for us to be able to navigate through

02:17the channel with. My concern is that since the Corps has continued to overlook this, I'm

02:23looking for a commitment for you that you will actually take a hard look at this and understand

02:28that literally the heartbeat of America, which is our ag products, is in dire straits of being

02:35able to get products in and out. And if this navigation channel goes down, the cost it's going to bring to all

02:41Americans' tables, because it will increase in cargo. So would you commit to helping us with this channel?

02:47Senator Mullin, absolutely I will. This is emblematic, the situation you've described, providing access for

02:55Oklahoma's farmers and ranchers to the rest of the world through our waterways is emblematic of the

02:59Corps' mission, which was originally to use our waterways for the benefit of the American public.

03:06Your state's so critical in getting the products from your state to the world, and the opposite of

03:12that, getting the world's products to you, is critically important. I understand that this

03:16issue's been going on for a long time, affects the state of Arkansas as well, and certainly as vessel

03:22traffic changes, the types of traffic change based on commercial patterns across the globe, we need to

03:28make sure that our infrastructure's up to date to meet it, and I look forward to doing everything we can to

03:32take a very hard look at this critical asset and make sure that we modernize it to the degree that

03:38we can, and I would also, as you described when we were in your office, the critical role that it

03:45plays in flood protection in that area as well, and the dredge material often can have a beneficial use

03:51in terms of building flood control infrastructure, levees, and otherwise. So I look forward to working

03:56with you on that, and I commit to do my very best. Thank you, and I look forward to hosting you when we can get you there.

04:00Thank you. Mr. Anderson, real quick, as you know, the Air National Guard performs roughly 30 percent

04:07of the military space operations, staffed by highly skilled professional

04:14personnel distributed all across the country. As a directive issue that the President expressed his

04:21intent to create a special, or a space National Guard, I would, I guess I would ask your commitment

04:29to see this through. There's a lot of concerns in the National Guard about these individuals that

04:35are highly skilled that want to be in the Guard, being transferred out and forced to either reserve

04:41or full-time units, which obviously, as you can see, that would be a major brain drain within the Space

04:48Force because these guys aren't going to give up their careers and simply move someplace else. They're in the

04:53National Guard because they want to be. Senator, the state of play at the present time, as I understand

05:03it from the media, is that determination has been made to transfer rough, transfer basic space functions

05:13that are performed in the National Guard to the Space Force. And so that is the policy that exists now.

05:23When I find myself inside, should I be confirmed, I would like to address this. However, I will commit

05:33to following the existing law as defined in a number of areas and in direction from the President and the

05:40Secretary of Defense. The President expressed an intent to create a Space National Guard. So just to put

05:46that out, that was his intent. Thank you, sir.

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Transcript

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