<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">From the June 27,2021 Lewiston Morning Tribune, Letters to the Editor</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small"><div class="gmail-asset-content gmail-subscriber-premium" style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><div class="gmail-subscriber-only" style="box-sizing:border-box"><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 24px;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-size:16px;line-height:27px"><strong style="box-sizing:border-box">Barging is not cheaper</strong></p></div><div class="gmail-subscriber-only" style="box-sizing:border-box"><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 24px;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-size:16px;line-height:27px">Because issues surrounding the four lower Snake River dams are so polarizing, I have kept my opinions to myself. ...</p></div><div class="gmail-subscriber-only" style="box-sizing:border-box"><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 24px;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-size:16px;line-height:27px">But Elaine Williams’ June 17 Lewiston Tribune article prompted this letter.</p></div><div class="gmail-subscriber-only" style="box-sizing:border-box"><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 24px;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-size:16px;line-height:27px">Barging is not “significantly less expensive than hauling grain with trucks or trains” as Williams stated. In the most basic economic terms— barging is not the cheapest way to transport wheat, but it is by far the most heavily subsidized. ...</p></div><div class="gmail-subscriber-only" style="box-sizing:border-box"><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 24px;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-size:16px;line-height:27px">Congress continues to ... cover nearly all costs for operation, maintenance, repairs and dredging needed to maintain navigation locks and shipping channels. Freight rail companies, on the other hand, operate without subsidies . ...</p></div><div class="gmail-subscriber-only" style="box-sizing:border-box"><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 24px;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-size:16px;line-height:27px">Farmers pay about 30 percent more to ship wheat by rail (Tribune, April 4), and pay at least 50 percent more to ship by truck, but only pay about 10 percent of what it actually costs to ship by barge.</p></div><div class="gmail-subscriber-only" style="box-sizing:border-box"><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 24px;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-size:16px;line-height:27px">(<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2013/03/27/big-muddy-big-oney/?sh=669cc19e6fb8" style="box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(6,69,173);text-decoration-line:none;font-weight:bold">https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2013/03/27/big-muddy-big-oney/?sh=669cc19e6fb8</a>).</p></div><div class="gmail-subscriber-only" style="box-sizing:border-box"><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 24px;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-size:16px;line-height:27px">You and I pay the other 90 percent through federal subsidies. While farmers in the Pullman area, for example, pay less to barge wheat from the Snake River — it costs us nearly six times as much than if it were shipped by rail and about the same as if shipped by truck. ...</p></div><div class="gmail-subscriber-only" style="box-sizing:border-box"><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 24px;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-size:16px;line-height:27px">What happens to an economy dependent on one or two private businesses (i.e. Tidewater and Shaver, which barge nearly all grain on the Snake River), whose sizable profits and future depend entirely on an ever-increasing amount of taxpayer funding? Why don’t we also subsidize rail to at least be competitive? ...</p></div><div class="gmail-subscriber-only" style="box-sizing:border-box"><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 24px;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-size:16px;line-height:27px">Aaron Collins</p></div><div class="gmail-subscriber-only" style="box-sizing:border-box"><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 24px;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-size:16px;line-height:27px">Viola</p></div><div id="gmail-tncms-region-article_instory_bottom" class="gmail-tncms-region gmail-hidden-print" style="box-sizing:border-box"></div><div id="gmail-tncms-region-article_bottom_content" class="gmail-tncms-region gmail-hidden-print" style="box-sizing:border-box"></div><div class="gmail-inform-container gmail-inform-video-player-3" style="box-sizing:border-box"><div class="gmail-inform-embed gmail-ndn_embed gmail-ndn_embedding gmail-ndn_embedContainer gmail-ndn-widget-embed-3" id="gmail-inform-video-player-3" style="box-sizing:border-box"></div></div></div><div class="gmail-share-container gmail-content-below" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:20px 0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sa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