Drought Threatens Barge Traffic on Mississippi

Massive amounts of food and energy are moved up and down the Mississippi river by barge.  We are now in an epic drought in much of the Midwest....which means not a lot of water flowing into the Mississippi.

On a stretch of the Mississippi River, the U.S. Coast Guard has been reduced to playing traffic cop.

For eight hours a day, shipping is allowed to move one way in the 180 miles of river between St. Louis and Cairo, Ill., depending on the hour. For the other 16 hours, boats go nowhere, because the river is closed to traffic.

The mighty Mississippi, parched by the historic summer drought, is on the verge of reaching a new low. That could mean that tugboats hauling barges loaded with billions of dollars’ worth of cargo — enough to fill half a million 18-wheelers — would not be able to make their way up and down the river.

Through the night, contractors for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers remove rocks from a stretch near Thebes, Ill., that threaten to cut boats to shreds. The corps has assured state officials, farmers and coal barons who rely on the shipping that it can maintain the nine-foot level it says makes navigation safe.

But those who rely on the river say they are worried nevertheless.

“There’s nothing pretty about this,” Coast Guard Lt. Colin Fogarty said Friday. “We are facing a historic drought. River levels are at record lows we haven’t seen since 1941. Over six weeks the Army Corps has dredged record amounts of the river.”

Here;  http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/drought-threatens-to-halt-critical-barge-traffic-on-mississippidrought-threatens-to-halt-critical-barge-traffic-on-mississippidrought-threatens-to-halt-critical-barge-traffic-on-mississippi/2013/01/06/92498b88-5694-11e2-bf3e-76c0a789346f_story.html

If the river closes to barge traffic, it would mean millions of tons of food and goods would need to move by semi trucks...which would add to the already-rising food costs.

This is just more evidence of how little that mankind is truly in control of.  We like to BELIEVE that we are in control....but if God stops the rain...there really isn't much that we can do about it.

Bible believers will point to the growing evidence of drought, and the famine that typically follows, as reasons that we need to humble ourselves and turn back to God.

Liberals will point to this as more evidence of global warming.

Can you see a big disagreement coming?