Saint Paul residents, regardless of political affiliation, overwhelmingly support giving tax breaks to businesses that create jobs, according to a recent survey of likely Saint Paul voters by Decision Resources, Ltd. The June 14-27, 2011 survey was commissioned by the Saint Paul Area Chamber of Commerce. Read more

For Immediate Release

Saint Paul, MN – Ramsey County Chief Judge Kathleen Gearin on Monday authorized the Port Authority to “continue and complete a routine maintenance dredge at its Southport River Terminal.” The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) earlier had frozen the Port’s permit to do this work as part of the statewide government shutdown. Special Master Kathleen Blatz determined that “such dredging is a critical core function directly related to the maintenance and preservation of public property.”

Without immediate action to dredge Southport, the terminal would have become silted in – shut off from vital river commodities traffic. The terminal serves three river-shipping customers, accepting four to five barges each week. Each barge contains 1,500 tons of product, or about 6,000 tons each week.  To provide context, 6,000 tons of product would require 200 semitrailers to move on the roadways. Products include feed serving farmers across the nation, chemicals to make drinking water safe, and recycled metals.

This past Thursday the Port sought regulatory approval to dredge through the Special Master process. No state funding is being used to dredge the Southport slip.

The Port expects to begin dredging 12,000 cubic yards of silt from the Southport slip on Thursday, July 14.

In making her recommendation that the Port be allowed to proceed to dredging, Blatz noted that the Port Authority is an “international port, which facilitates the shipping of commodities to and from local, national and international markets.” The Saint Paul Harbor is the farthest point north on the Mississippi River where commodities can be loaded and unloaded. In 2010, nearly 5.2 million tons of commodities were either loaded or unloaded from Saint Paul-area terminals on their way either to or from Minnesota. Chief among them was grain, including corn, soybeans, and wheat. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated the value of Minnesota’s corn and soybean crops then at $8 billion.

“The silting problem in the river bed controlled by the Port Authority is analogous to an ‘Emergency Highway Repair’ in the Special Master’s estimation, as the silting may impede traffic or block passage,” Blatz said.

“Dredging the Mississippi River to help commodities traffic is a vital and essential function of the Port Authority, one we have performed since the 1930s” Port President Louis Jambois said Tuesday. “We are grateful that we are able to continue doing our part to ensure that products make their way to and from Minnesota in an efficient manner.”