If elected to a fourth term in the U.S. Congress, Bart Stupak of Menominee plans to continue economic development in the U.P., help businesses provide jobs by addressing high health care costs, further promote renewable fuel production, and reduce the cost of oil by regulating oil speculators, all of which will stimulate the northern Michigan economy, he said. He also addressed the possibility of reducing tolls to cross the Mackinac Bridge.

Mr. Stupak's First Congressional District includes all of the Upper Peninsula and a large portion of Lower Michigan. He is challenged this year by Republican Tom Casperson of the Michigan House of Representatives. The race will be decided in the November 4 election.

Top on Mr. Stupak's list is his continuing effort to create jobs in northern Michigan. There are several ongoing and upcoming projects to look forward to in the Upper Peninsula, he told The St. Ignace News Thursday, September 4.

"If you take a look at it, there is a lot of development going on in the Upper Peninsula that I think will come to fruition in the next term," he said.

He cited the nation's first facility to use wood fiber to create ethanol, scheduled to be built next year in the Kinross area by Massachusettsbased Mascoma Corporation. It is a project Mr. Stupak pushed, and it coincides with his efforts to promote renewable energy. The factory is "at least a $250 million project," he said.

Final details regarding the project are being worked out now, Mr. Stupak said.

Voted for Mandate To Bring

New Soo Lock to Soo

A new Soo lock, considered critical to maintaining and enhancing the steel industry, will be built to accommodate the largest ships that pass through the locks, he added. It will take longer than his next term to complete, but the $340 million project will be started during the next term. It is to be paid solely by the federal government, and the energy and water appropriations sub-committee has approved $17 million to begin the coffer dams for the project.

Mr. Stupak voted to change the Water Resource Development Act to force the Army Corps of Engineers to build the lock, he said. Legislation states that the Corps "shall" build the lock. To stop the flow of water into other locks, the coffer dams must be put in first.

"The current super lock...is crumbling. It was built in World War II. If that breaks down, our steel industry comes to a screeching halt. Seventy percent of all the raw materials for steel go through the Soo Locks," Mr. Stupak said.

"It is critically important," he added. "We are moving more and more grain and coal through that lock and ships are getting bigger all the time. We need a new Soo lock. That way, we will have two super locks, as we call them. Right now we have three small locks and one big one."

The idea to build a new lock has been proposed since 1986. Mr. Stupak pointed out he is the first congressman to actually get money for the planning and design. Mr. Stupak has worked to change the law three times in his tenure to get the project through.

"Whatever it has taken to build the lock, we've done it," he said.

Business Expansions Will

Lower U.P. Unemployment Rate

A major user of the locks, Cleveland Cliffs, is planning a $500 million expansion of the Empire Mine in Marquette County, he said.

After a long search for a suitable location, Sweden-base Chemrec AB chose to locate an alternative-fuel company near Escanaba, Mr. Stupak added. The company will work with the NewPage Escanaba facility to explore renewable biomass fuels, added Nick Choate, Mr. Stupak's press secretary.

The company uses the byproducts of paper production to create specialty fuels. It looked all over the United States and chose the old New Page beet plant to operate from.

"We were part of the process in helping them get some of the permits. That is moving right along. The permits are being applied for. They've been in to brief us three times," he said.

A business incubator in Houghton is already in heavy use and another incubator will be put in the area. Mr. Stupak helped secure $3 million through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rural Development for a $6 million facility. The idea is to provide a facility to enable entrepreneurs start businesses in the U.P.

There are small businesses already lined up to use the facility, he said.

His crowning local achievement is working to help secure a $37 million loan for a new Mackinac Straits Hospital at St. Ignace.

"I've been intimately involved with that for a couple of years," he said. "It is the largest loan program ever in Rural Development, and it is right there in St. Ignace."

"There is going to be a lot of money pouring into the Upper Peninsula, billions of dollars."

Cleveland Cliffs "alone is [investing] $800 million. Besides expansion of the Empire Mine, they are putting in a $200 million plant to develop iron-ore nuggets," he said.

Further, Cleveland Cliffs bought a renewable fuel company, called Renewafuel, that will be located at the decommissioned Air Force base in Marquette County and provide 25 new jobs. The company plans to generate electricity for mines, Mr. Stupak said. Excess material from the process is renewable fuel that will be sold, he added.

U.P. unemployment is lower than the state average, he said, "and it's only going to get lower."

"We have projects going all over the place, from Iosco to Houghton, creating jobs, putting people to work. It has taken time. We've worked our tail off to get here, but we are helping any way we can, from the small grocers' store to [Cleveland Cliffs], one of the biggest companies in the world," he said.

He cited ship-building projects in Menominee, also.

Mr. Stupak said government cannot create jobs, but it can create incentives.

Would Urge MBA To Lower

Mackinac Bridge Tolls

Legislative changes the congressman helped make in February 2005 may allow the Mackinac Bridge Authority to lower crossing fares. Prior to legislative changes, the Bridge Authority could not ask for, or accept, federal money for the bridge, he said.

"We had the law changed. We worked with the Michigan Department of Transportation. . . . Now, for the first time, I can start asking for funds for the Mackinac Bridge," Mr. Stupak said.

"If we are successful in obtaining moneys they need to do the redecking of the bridge and other major parts of the bridge, we could probably lower those tolls, but that is up to the Bridge Authority," he added.

Mr. Stupak does not believe that crossings by long-range drivers are affected significantly by the bridge tolls. For the most part, toll increases have likely reduced crossings by area residents, despite the commuter card discount, he said.

Lower crossings have resulted from the dismal economy, notably suffering, auto-industry-supported areas of lower Michigan, he said.

"My job as a federal legislator, since the law changed, is to help [the Bridge Authority] bring in some money to help ease the burden of increased tolls to maintain the bridge," he said.

"I would urge them to reduce tolls," he said.

Would Reform High Health

Care Costs That

Stifle Job Growth

In addition to continuing business production, "the other thing we must address is health care because it's directly related to the cost of doing business," Mr. Stupak said. "Health care costs could determine whether a business can afford to hire a new employee. If your health care costs are too high, you can't hire another person. I think the new president, especially Senator [Barack] Obama, will put forth a realistic plan to provide health care for all Americans. About 40% of our citizens are without, or underinsured, and it must be addressed. It is causing the cost of our goods to go sky high, putting businesses out of business, and causing families to go into bankruptcy when [a member] gets ill, so we must address it."

Mr. Stupak said expansion of health care for children, the State Children's Health Insurance Program, has already been passed but requires a president to sign the bill. It is a program for youths younger than 19 who are not on the Medicaid program or are not covered by their parents' policies.

The program provides 6.8 million children with health insurance.

"We should be up to 10.4 million," however, a presidential veto has prevented coverage three times, he said.

"It's passed. It's paid for. We just need a president to sign the bill," he added.

For others uninsured, Mr. Stupak seeks to expand existing programs like Medicare and Medicaid and the Federal Employees Health Benefit Package.

Mr. Stupak says people should be able to buy into the program earlier. Medicare is not available until someone is 65 years old, he said. He seeks to make people 55 years old eligible.

"They can continue working, but they could buy into the program earlier."

The Federal Employees Health Benefit Package has a number of programs within it. Mr. Stupak would like to extend it to all Americans.

"We can do this," he said. "We're talking about working with existing [insurance plans] that we already have to make sure every American is covered."

Will Push for Energy Reform

"I'll continue my efforts in the energy area," he said. "I have been a leader in issues at the Congress. I will continue with my price-gouging legislation, and the Pump Act to prevent the unfair manipulation of prices to get oil-futures speculators out of the market to quit manipulating the price of oil."

It is an unregulated market that Mr. Stupak seeks to regulate, he said.

He used Hurricane Gustav as an example.

"Oil prices jumped $5 overnight. Hurricane Gustav was not as powerful, thank God, as they thought it was going to be. [Prices] dropped $8 overnight. Now it's up again because there are two more hurricanes coming into the Caribbean, not the [Persian] Gulf where the oil is, but the Caribbean. Whatever excuse they can find to raise the price of oil, they do."

The price swings must end, he said.

"When the Israeli transportation minister said 'sooner or later there will be war with Iran, oil [prices] jumped $11 overnight, the largest increase in the price of oil, just because someone said something. That is not based on supply and demand. That is pure speculation."

"Oil futures used to be a $13 billion industry. Five years later, it is more than $260 billion.

"We used to move about 700,000 contracts a year for oil. Now we're over $3 million contracts. Every time these contracts roll over, someone is willing to pay a higher price for it. Who's running up these prices? Who's in this? Who's putting their money in? Harvard University Endowment Fund has over a billion dollars in oil futures. California Retirement Fund is pushing $2 billion in oil futures contracts."

"What are they doing in the oil future industry? Ninety-eight percent of these people have no interest in providing us with a product. They are interested in only making a profit," he said. "So when it comes time to deliver the oil on the contracts they have, they are selling, and they are selling at the peak times, which raises the price."

By getting speculators out of the market, oil prices can be reduced 30% to 50%, he said.