The White House
President George W. Bush
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
August 13, 2004

The Columbia River Channel Deepening Project

August 13, 2004

FACT SHEET: THE COLUMBIA RIVER CHANNEL DEEPENING PROJECT: EXPORT

OPPORTUNITIES AND ESTUARY RESTORATION

Today's Presidential Action

Background on Today's Presidential Action

America is economically stronger when participating fully in the worldwide economy. Ninety-five percent of the world's population lives outside the U.S. and represents a vast potential market for U.S. farmers and businesses. The Office of Management and Budget has now completed its review of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' plan for the Columbia River Channel Deepening Project and found it to be justified; the President will submit to Congress a $15 million amendment to the FY 2005 budget to enable work to begin. The Project will provide national transportation and trade improvements, as well as regional and statewide environmental benefits.

  • The Columbia-Snake River system is the world's second largest grain export system, conducting more than $15 billion in trade business in 2003. It carries goods from as far inland as Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas.
  • In the Columbia River region, more than 40,000 local jobs with an average annual wage of $46,000 are dependent on the river's commerce, and 59,000 more Northwest jobs are affected by such activity.
  • U.S. exports accounted for about 25 percent of U.S. economic growth during the 1990s and supported an estimated 12 million jobs.
  • American farmers plant one in three acres for export, and exports generate nearly 25 percent of farmers' gross cash sales.
  • Sixteen percent of manufacturing shipments are exported, and jobs in manufacturing firms that export typically pay wages that average up to 18 percent more than jobs in non-exporting firms.
  • Migrating juvenile and adult salmon will be helped by tidegate retrofits with fish slides installed along the lower Columbia River, at Grizzly Slough, Tide Creek, and Hall Creek in Oregon, and at Burris Creek and Deep River, Washington;
  • Juvenile salmon rearing will be helped by connecting channels constructed at the upstream end of Walker-Lord and Hump-Fisher Islands to improve juvenile salmonid access to their embayment-rearing habitats;
  • Juvenile salmon rearing will be helped by the dredging of Bachelor Slough to improve flow and water quality and restoration of rearing habitat in shallow water/flats and riparian forest habitat;
  • Restoration and maintenance of native tidal marsh will be helped by implementation of an integrated pest management plan for purple loosestrife control between Columbia River miles 18 and 52;
  • Migrating juvenile and adult salmon will be helped by implementation of a 3-phase effort to improve water circulation and fisheries ingress and egress at Tenasillahe Island, Columbian white-tailed deer translocation will establish a secure and viable deer population at Cottonwood-Howard Island, and tidal marsh habitat will be restored at Tenasillahe Island via breaching the encircling dike; and
  • Waterfowl and wading birds will be helped by the restoration of wetland habitat at Shillapoo Lake.
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