By JOHN PEPIN
Journal Munising Bureau

GRAND MARAIS - Federal lawmakers are cautiously optimistic they will secure some funding this year to revitalize the Grand Marais harbor.

U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Menominee, recently requested $32.8 million from an Energy and Water Development appropriations subcommittee to dredge and rebuild a massive breakwater at the northern Alger Countv harbor.

"I have testified in support of constructing a breakwater in Grand Marais for several years, and delayed action only makes this situation worse," Stupak said in his testimony before the subcommittee.  "Now, armed with the recommendation of a Congressional-funded study, we have the information and the motivation to correct this situation.  Stupak was referring to a study by the Ocean Engineering Lab at the University of Michigan's College of Engineering, Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering.  The study is expected to be released in its final form next month.  An underwater analysis of the harbor and its problems was undertaken last summer.

An interim report from the study offered three possible solutions to sand infiltration problems at the natural harbor, whose depths have shrunk from 55 feet in the 1960s to less than 25 feet today.  The problems began when a 5,770-foot-long pile dike was allowed to wash into disrepair after the harbor lost its designation and importance as a commercial harbor.  The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers stopped maintaining the dike.  Today, only submerged remnants of the long breakwater remain. 

The new repair options outlined in the study range in cost and scope from the $32.8 million Stupak requested to $5.6 million.  "Since the construction of the original breakwater in 1894, there has been little or no maintenance to the harbor," Stupak said.  "The last time funds were spent on such needs was in 1943."

In 1995, the Senate Energy and Water appropriations bill included $100,000 to fund an economic study of the harbor, Stupak said. "This study has been completed and now is the time to heed its findings and reconstruct the existing, but deteriorated timber pile breakwater." Stupak said.
 
 

Joe Davis, a media representative for U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit, said the senator also will ask for money for the harbor.  "We will make a request for some amount of 'money," Davis said Friday.  "We'll make a request and hopefully we can get some funding."

But Davis said it is unlikely any Senate funding request would take place before the final results of the study are released next month.

"We'll want to take a look at the complete study and see what the community wants," Davis said.

A spokesman for U.S. Sen. Spencer Abraham, R-Auburn, Hills, was unavailable for comment Friday.  Abraham also has supported efforts over the years to revitalize the harbor. 

Stupak said perhaps the most persuasive argument for funding harbor repairs is the fact that the harbor serves as a safe haven for Lake Superior ships.

“A safe haven provides refuge to ships when violent storms erupt on Lake Superior and send their monstrous waves crashing toward vulnerable vessels.  Rather than risk damage to their hulls, ships traversing the Great Lakes can wait out the storm in Grand Marais Harbor," Stupak said.  "Moreover, the reconstruction of the breakwater at Grand Marais harbor would provide the only safe haven on Lake Superior for 90 miles, stretching from Whitefish Point in the east to Munising in the west."

The Michigan Legislature passed resolutions in 1998 in support of the harbor being revitalized.

In November 1996, Burt Township voters passed a tax hike of a quarter-mill to fund the harbor's regtol4tion.  None of that money has been spent.

"It is important to know that the local community is willing to help in this project by taxing itself 'to qualify for matching funds," Stupak told the subcommittee.  "Please help me in aiding their efforts by making the reconstruction of this breakwater a reality for Grand Marais Harbor."

John Markes, chairman of the Legislative Support Sub-committee of the Grand Marais Harbor of Refuge Committee, said it has taken the community, the state and the federal government, including the Army Corps of Engineers and legislators, a long time to react this point, but the harbor revitalization activists appreciate it.

"The ball is really now in the court of the federal representatives to see what they can do to ameliorate the problem that the Corps has left the community and the state,” Markes said.  "We still have a long way to go."

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