The barge industry is largely an offshoot of the fossil fuel industry. It loads moribund commodities like coal too toxic to legally burn in North America onto flat boats and moves them along our rivers. It is an industry in swift decline. We subsidize the movement of materials that cause harm by keeping the canal open and thereby facilitate the burning of carbon that only contributes to increased precipitation, warming waters and flooding.
The barge industry protects its interests by claiming to support jobs, but a policy brief from the Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) shows the industry to be in a downward spiral. In the maze of commodity transfer that occurs throughout the Greater Chicago region, barges ferry only 0.3 percent of the total goods. However, the expense for maintaining the industry has grown to $1.7 billion, 98% of which is subsidized by the public.
Many of the heaviest, dirtiest carbon products pushed down the canal enrich mammoth enterprises like Koch Industries that moves toxic Pet Coke (a tar sands byproudct) across the globe. Companies like the secretive, privately held Koch Industries do not need to be on the public dole. CEO Charles Koch, ranked in 2019 as the 11th-richest person in the world, is a vocal opponent of all forms of welfare. It seems high time that he got off it.
While the number of jobs supported by the barge industry is negligible, the harm done to communities along the canals is well documented.
Despite the damage and the decline in barge traffic, the shipping industry looks to protect its subsidy at all costs, including lobbying and significant campaign contributions.
