Budget in Brief Table of Contents | DOT.gov
Overview: The U.S. Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (SLSDC), a wholly owned Government corporation and an operating administration of DOT, is responsible for the operations and maintenance of the U.S. portion of the St. Lawrence Seaway between Montreal and Lake Erie. This responsibility includes managing vessel traffic control in areas of the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario, as well as maintaining and operating the two U.S. Seaway locks located in Massena, NY. In support of DOT’s global connectivity strategic goal, the SLSDC coordinates its activities with its Canadian counterpart, the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation, to ensure that the U.S. portion of the St. Lawrence Seaway, including the two U.S. locks, are available for commercial transit 99 percent of the time during the navigation season (usually late March to late December of each year). Additionally, the SLSDC performs trade development activities designed to enhance the utilization of the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System.
| Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation Budget (Dollars in Millions) |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 Actual |
2008 Enacted |
2009 Requested |
|
| Operations and Maintenance (HMTF) | 16 | 17 | 32 |
| Total | 16 | 17 | 32 |
| Summary of SLSDC FY 2009 Increases and Decreases (Dollars in Millions) |
|
|---|---|
| Operations & Maintenance |
|
| FY 2008 Base | 17 |
| Pay Inflation Adjustments | 1 |
| Non-Pay Inflation Adjustments | 0 |
| Annualization of FY 2008 Initiatives | 0 |
| Non-recurring Costs or Savings | -3 |
| Base Re-engineering, Reductions, or Adjustments | -2 |
| FY 2009 Current Services Levels | 15 |
| Program Initiatives | 17 |
| FY 2009 Request | 32 |
Operations and Maintenance: The Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation’s (SLSDC) FY 2009 budget request of $31.8 million, along with $1.9 million from its reserve fund and estimated annual non-federal revenues, will allow the agency to perform its day-to-day operations and maintenance activities on the U.S. portion of the St. Lawrence Seaway, and support the first year of a 10-year Capital Investment Plan-Seaway Asset Renewal Program (ARP) to rehabilitate the U.S. Seaway lock infrastructure and other maritime-related assets.
As the St. Lawrence Seaway celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2009, the Department will begin to address the long-term infrastructure renewal needs of the U.S. section of the waterway through the ARP. The Seaway is comprised of perpetual assets (locks, channels, an international bridge, highway tunnel, vessel traffic control system, and accompanying facilities and equipment), which require periodic capital reinvestment in order to continue to operate safely, reliably, and efficiently. The U.S. Seaway infrastructure is approaching the end of its original “design” life, and without sufficient investment in these perpetual assets, it will become increasingly difficult to maintain the future availability and reliability of the U.S. section of the St. Lawrence Seaway.
The SLSDC’s ARP will follow the lead of the asset renewal program underway in Canada on its portion of the Seaway and also support the efforts made by various U.S. and Canadian work groups, including Transport Canada, SLSDC, Canadian St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation, the Maritime Administration, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in completing the binational, multi-year Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Study. The Study, released in November 2007, evaluated the infrastructure needs of the U.S. and Canadian Great Lakes Seaway System and assessed the economic, environmental, and engineering implications of those needs pertaining to commercial navigation.