The Bush administration's budget proposal contains more than $113 million for reconstruction and rehabilitation of old locks and dams on Pittsburgh's rivers, but more federal funding is needed for a navigational study of the upper Ohio River where three old locks and dams are in danger of failing.

	Pam Panchak, Post-Gazette U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire D-McCandless, and Col. Stephen Hill, district engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, walk along the Emsworth Locks and Dam during an informational tour yesterday. Click photo for larger image.

Such a failure at the Emsworth, Dashields and Montgomery locks and dams, all on the first 40 miles of the Ohio below Pittsburgh, would have a disastrous effect on the region's economy, according to Sen. Arlen Specter, at a cold and windy news conference on the Emsworth Locks and Dam yesterday,

With the grey-green river churning through the dam behind him, Mr. Specter said he will lead a bipartisan effort to secure funding needed to do a planning study that is a critical first step in making the repairs.

"I'm here, as we approach meetings on appropriations, to determine what funding we need to maintain the locks and dam system on our rivers that is so critical to the regional economy," said Mr. Specter, who was joined by congressmen Tim Murphy and Jason Altmire.

Mr. Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair, said that if the Emsworth Dam failed, tying up river traffic, it would cost the region 11,700 jobs and cost the local economy $2.2 million a day.

"We are at an important juncture. On a recent report card by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Emsworth Dam got an 'F,' " Mr. Altmire, D-McCandless, said. "These inland waterways are crucial to commerce and we need to do the work needed to allow the waterways to remain open for business operations."

The 80-year-old Emsworth locks and dam, located 6.2 miles below Pittsburgh's Point on the Ohio River, has undersized locks that can create bottlenecks for both commercial barge traffic and pleasure craft, and has a 75 percent risk of lock failure during extreme events like high water or ice due in part to an antiquated hydraulic lock system.

Such a "river closure" would have a devastating effect on commercial river traffic. Last year, a malfunctioning lock hinge at the Hannibal Dam, 126 miles downriver from Pittsburgh, caused the backup of 85 tows and 600 barges for several days until repairs could be made.

"This facility is at the transition point," said Col. Stephen Hill, district engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers in Pittsburgh. "Along with Dashields and Montgomery, their current conditions are impacting the reliability of the river navigation system."

Pittsburgh is the second-busiest inland port in the nation. It ships and receives more than 40 million tons of cargo each year, about 70 percent of that coal for power plants, steel mills and coking facilities.