Maria+&+Eden

=SSS=

Plan
Plan: The United States federal government should substantially increase short sea shipping subsidies in the United States.

=INH –=

= Potential of marine highways is currently unfilled = MARAD ‘11 [U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration], America’s Marine Highway Report to Congress, Prepared in Consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency, April 2011, p. 6]
 * To date, the potential of America’s Marine Highway to mitigate problems in the surface transportation system is not being met…. the full benefits of America’s Marine Highway can only be realized if they are recognized, correctly valued, and facilitated Advantage UQ –

Freight tonnage will increase dramatically by 2035 – status quo cannot meet the need
MARAD ‘11 [U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration], America’s Marine Highway Report to Congress, Prepared in Consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency, April 2011, p. 4-5] It has become increasingly evident that the current system of …. traffic congestion will almost certainly worsen significantly if the reliance on road and rail is not reduced.

= OIL DEPENDENCE ADV (OD) OD – UQ: Dependence Increasing =

Foreign oil dependence has never been higher
Shedlock 2012 ( Mike Shedlock, Global economic analyst and investment advisor for SitkaPacific capital management, contributing economic and financial educator to Business Insider, “Don’t Believe Obama’s Claims About Foreign Oil Dependency” March 02, 2012, Business Insider, [] ) As rising gas prices are putting pressure on politicians to act, President Obama called on Congress to vote …The only way Obama can take credit for the decline in consumption caused by the recession, is to take credit for the recession itself. OD – UQ: Trucking Spec.

Oil dependence increasing due to truck shipping
MARAD ‘11 [U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration], America’s Marine Highway Report to Congress, Prepared in Consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency, April 2011, p. 21] The U.S. Department of Energy projects that overall energy consumption by the U.S. transportation sector will continue to grow gradually … and other liquid fuel consumption through 2035 (see Figure 2 OD – Links (Trucks Key)

US dependence on foreign energy supplies makes US-Russia and US-China war inevitable
Klare 4 (Klare, Michael. Author of Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America's Growing Dependency on Imported Petroleum, expert on oil dependency as professor of Peace and World Security Studies and director of the Five College Program in Peace and World Security Studies. Interview with the Carnegie Council on September 30, 2004. [] ) This is troubling enough, but to conclude my panorama, the United States is not the only country that is militarizing its foreign oil policy… this will lead to an ongoing series of oil wars for as long as we continue to depend on this substance

Truck shipping maintains US dependence on oil
MARAD ‘11 [U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration], America’s Marine Highway Report to Congress, Prepared in Consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency, April 2011, p. 5] The nation’s heavy reliance on truck transportation …Impacts: Extinction

Oil dependency hamstrings the U.S. military and foreign policy goals --- that escalates to great power conflict
Crawford 2010/2011 (Colin – J.D. Wake Forest University School of Law, Green Warfare: An American Grand Strategy for the 21st Century, Wake Forest Journal of Business and Intellectual Property Law, p. Lexis) [*248] In addition to the potential for economic growth, …The strategic implications are clear as U.S. foreign policy throughout entire regions is framed in the context of energy. n32

Continued dependence on foreign oil forces U.S. to risk national security.
Lefton and Weiss ’10 ( [|Rebecca Lefton] - Policy Analyst focusing on international climate and energy policy at the Center for American Progress., [|Daniel J. Weiss] - Senior Fellow and the Director of Climate Strategy at American Progress, where he leads the Center's clean energy and climate advocacy campaign., Oil Dependence is a Dangerous Habit, January 13, 2010, [] ) As a major contributor to the global demand for oil the United States is …Without reducing our [|dependence on oil] we’ll be forced to increasingly look to more antagonistic and volatile countries that pose direct threats to our national security.

Failure to shift from an oil-dependent transportation sector results in extinction --- economic collapse escalates to nuclear war
Bearden, 6/12/2000 (Thomas – Association of Distinguished American Scientists and LTC, U.S. Army (Retired), Why The Energy Crisis Needlessly Exists and How to Solve It, p. [|www.cheniere.org/techpapers/Unnecessary%20Energy%20Crisis.doc] ) History bears out that desperate nations take desperate actions. … and simultaneously replace a significant part of the "transportation using oil products" factor also.

Reliance on foreign oil threatens national security and causes global warming.
Lefton and Weiss ’10 ( [|Rebecca Lefton] - Policy Analyst focusing on international climate and energy policy at the Center for American Progress., [|Daniel J. Weiss] - Senior Fellow and the Director of Climate Strategy at American Progress, where he leads the Center's clean energy and climate advocacy campaign., Oil Dependence is a Dangerous Habit, January 13, 2010, [] )

A recent [|report] on the November 2009 U.S. trade deficit …while taking [|steps] to curb global warming.

= ECONOMY ADVANTAGE (E-) =

Economy faltering absent stimulus
Bloomberg, 6/21 [Bloomberg News, 6/21/12, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-21/commodities-fall-to-lowest-since-2010-as-fed-cuts-growth-outlook.html] Commodities tumbled into a bear market as U.S… kept borrowing costs at a record low and bought $2.3 trillion of debt in two rounds of so-called quantitative easing.

Marine shipping key to the economy – but infrastructure investment key first
LaHood, 11 [Ray LaHood, US Secretary of the Department of Transportation and Chair of the Committee on the Marine Transportation System, The Coast Guard Proceedings of the Marine Safety and Security Council, “The Marine Transportation System,” Summer 2011, www.uscg.mil/proceedings, p. 4] The U.S. Marine Transportation System (MTS) is critical to the overall health of our nation’s economy, … the MTS will require our continuing commitment to ensure that our waterways

SSS solves negative truck externalities – leads to economic growth
Perakis and Denisis, ‘8 [ANASTASSIOS N. PERAKIS* and ATHANASIOS DENISIS, Department of Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering, University of Michigan, A survey of short sea shipping and its prospects in the USA, MARIT. POL. MGMT., DECEMBER 2008, VOL. 35, NO. 6, 591–614] Freight transportation is a major component of international trade… that has environmental and societal advantages over the other modes.

Transportation efficiency key to the economy – demand is outpacing capacity now
MARAD ‘11 [U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration], America’s Marine Highway Report to Congress, Prepared in Consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency, April 2011, p. 11] The efficiency of the surface transportation system underlies the efficiency of the entire national economy… traffic congestion can seriously impinge on quality of life.

SSS leads to new job growth
MARAD ‘11 [U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration], America’s Marine Highway Report to Congress, Prepared in Consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency, April 2011, p. 12-13] Expanded use of Marine Highway services has the potential to generate orders for new vessels… of new demand for workers throughout the economy.

MTS key to commerce and consumer prices
Zelasney, 11 [MR. JOE ZELASNEY, Policy Advisor Committee on the Marine Transportation System, Keeping America’s Commerce Flowing Federal support of the marine transportation system, in The Coast Guard Proceedings of the Marine Safety and Security Council, “The Marine Transportation System,” Summer 2011, www.uscg.mil/proceedings, p. 15] The MTS is immense, consisting of thousands of… transportation system in- fluences where businesses locate, how they operate, and impacts demand for the goods and materials they produce.

The US Economy is key to the world economy.
Hall ’10 [Kevin Hall, 2010 (staff writer). April 30, 2010. “U.S. economy grew briskly in first quarter, government says.” P. http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/30/1606734/us-economy-grew-briskly-in-first.html] If sustained, the upturn in U.S. consumption would be … significantly better than its initial 1.9 percent forecast.

Economic collapse leads extinction
Friedberg and Schoenfeld, 2008 [Aaron, Prof. Politics. And IR @ Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School and Visiting Scholar @ Witherspoon Institute, and Gabriel, Senior Editor of Commentary and Wall Street Journal, “The Dangers of a Diminished America”, 10-28, [] ] Then there are the dolorous consequences of a potential collapse … from internal travails with external adventures.

Economic decline causes nuclear war.
Mead ’92 [Mead, Summer 1992 (Walter Russell Mead – avid fan of the show The Price is Right and the movie Saving Private Ryan, New Perspectives Quarterly, p. 30)] What if the global economy stagnates-or even shrinks ... a much greater danger to world order than Germany and Japan did in the '30s.

The impact is extinction
Torgerson 99 (Douglas, Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Studies – Trent University, Ontario, The Promise of Green Politics: Environmentalism and the Public Sphere, p. 145-146) By adopting an uncompromising posture …that would prove enormously destructive to life on earth.

Economic decline leads to increased poverty- Greece proves
Synder 6-3 Michael Snyder is the editor of theeconomiccollapseblog.com [“10 Things That We Can Learn About Shortages And Preparation From The Economic Collapse In Greece” 6-3-12 [|http://world.hawaiinewsdaily.com/2012/06/10-things-that-we-can-learn-about-shortages-and-preparation-from-the-economic-collapse-in-greece///gv]] When the economy of a nation collapses … prepare for the economic chaos that will soon be unfolding all over the globe.

Poverty constitutes an ongoing thermonuclear genocide against the poor that outweighs the damage of nuclear war and gives rise to conflict internationally
Gilligan 1997 [James Gilligan, 1997, Director of the Center for the Study of Violence – Harvard Medical School, Violence: Reflections on a National Epidemic p. 195-6] The 14 to 18 million deaths a year caused by structural violence … for they are inextricably related to each other, as cause to effect.

Subsidies solve – even a small subsidy produces a shift to cleaner transport and increases the economy
Waterway Journal 11 [Editorial in the Waterway Journal Weekly, 3/7/11, http://www.waterwaysjournal.net/news030711.html] Once again, we delve into the failure of the Obama administration to support maintenance … reducing transportation costs and increasing highway safety. Why doesn’t the administration do it?

Federal action key
Oberstar, 10 [Rep. James Oberstar, Chairman, House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Marine Highways and Short Sea Shipping: The Future is Bright, Sea Technology, January 2010, Vol. 51, Issue 1] In the days before railroads and highways, the waterways of the United States served as our original interstates … operational and financial constraints of short sea shipping.

Subsidies solve – Marco Polo program proves
Madden, 12 [Rich Madden, gCaptain, 1/25/12, http://gcaptain.com/forum/youblog/8017-americas-marine-highway.html] Leadership of the U.S. Maritime Administration aside … Why do we not have a comprehensive Marine Highway system in the U.S.?

Government subsidies to shippers compensates for HMT, Title XI and the Jones act – leads to a competitive marine transport industry
Swigart, et al., 11 [Stan L. Swigart, James R. Amdal, & Tara Tolford, Prepared by: Gulf Coast Research Center for Evacuation and Transportation Resiliency in the Merritt C. Becker Jr. University of New Orleans Transportation Institute, The LSU / UNO University Transportation Center, New Orleans Metropolitan Inland Waterway Container Transport (IWCT) Feasibility Study, September 2011, p. 20-21, http://www.norpc.org/assets/pdf-documents/studies-and-plans/RPC_COB_Report-Final_as_of_oct_10.pdf] Several of the findings regarding IWCT development, in the US and abroad, are clear and consistent … due to ocean carriers cancelling the Port of Portland as a call on their voyage rotation.

IWCT = Inland water container transport

Plan will trigger a shift away from trucking
Canadian Sailings, 9 [Canadian Sailings, SHORT-SEA SHIPPING Opportunities exist but right message needs to be delivered. Highway H2O Conference, January 12, 2009] From a user's perspective … Rail and road systems are less eco-friendly."


 * Lyden-Kluss is the executive director of the North American Marine Environment Protection Association

Cargo has stressed US transportation networks- ports overloaded, roads congested, environment hurt – Only SSS solves
Perakis and Denisis, ‘8 [ANASTASSIOS N. PERAKIS* and ATHANASIOS DENISIS, Department of Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering, University of Michigan, A survey of short sea shipping and its prospects in the USA, MARIT. POL. MGMT., DECEMBER 2008, VOL. 35, NO. 6, 591–614] US international trade - is growing steadily … SSS can generate more public and environmental benefits.

Europe proves solvency
MARAD ‘11 [U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration], America’s Marine Highway Report to Congress, Prepared in Consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency, April 2011, p. 9-10] There is good precedent for effective governmental action … MARAD is closely monitoring this successful European example.

Can solve in a short time
MARAD ‘11 [U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration], America’s Marine Highway Report to Congress, Prepared in Consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency, April 2011, p. 969] The expanded use of our waterways … repair much of our land-based transportation infrastructure system.

Now key – Panama Canal expanding in 2014
Cullather, 11 [MR. JOHN M. CULLATHER former Staff Director, Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee “Congressional Support of the Marine Transportation System Helping the MTS expand and adapt to its growing needs.” In The Coast Guard Proceedings of the Marine Safety and Security Council, “The Marine Transportation System,” Summer 2011, www.uscg.mil/proceedings, p. 21-2] Our marine transportation system must continue to ex- pand … what is the obli- gation of the federal government to provide deeper channels for these ships?