State could dole out $40 million to help businesses hurt by lock closure

Businesses that rely on river barges moving through the Upper St. Anthony Falls lock in Minneapolis could get grants of up to $20 million each to help them cope with the lock’s closure, under a bill held over Wednesday by the House Job Growth and Energy Affordability Policy and Finance Committee.

Rep. Tom Hackbarth

HF1262, sponsored by Rep. Tom Hackbarth (R-Cedar), would provide $40 million in grants to be distributed by the Department of Employment and Economic Development over the next 20 years.

Congress voted to close the lock last year and recommended that state and local governments mitigate the action, Hackbarth said.

“When you take the river away from river-oriented businesses, you create a nightmare,” said attorney Jack Perry of the Briggs & Morgan law firm, who represents Northern Metal Recycling and Aggregate Industries.

Perry said the lock closure, meant to stop the advance of invasive carp, is tantamount to a “taking” — a government seizure or other action that devalues private property — but that efforts to get the companies federal compensation have so far “gotten us nowhere.”

Several members expressed surprise that compensating affected businesses was left to the state rather than the federal government.

“The feds screwed up here. It’s astonishing that they closed it,” said Rep. Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park). With recent improvements at the next dam upriver, the Coon Rapids Regional Dam, she said, “it was not necessary to close the lock and dam to stop the Asian carp.”

There is “substantial environmental and economic benefit” to moving material by water rather than by truck, Hortman added.

Rep. Tim Mahoney (DFL-St. Paul) said an expected increase to traffic of 4,000 trucks a month — based on estimates from Northern Metal Recycling President Steve Ettinger and Bob Bieraugel, assistant vice president for properties at Aggregate Industries — meant Hackbarth’s bill “has got a long ways to go.”

Hackbarth responded that HF1262, which would provide for relocation, demolition and alternative transportation costs, would improve the situation by moving truck traffic away from the city.

The companion, SF1552, sponsored by Sen. James Metzen (DFL-South St. Paul), awaits action by the Senate Transportation and Public Safety Committee.