Worry for Great Lakes shipping

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As the Carbon Debate continues, shipping interests in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway are concerned increased regulations will unnecessarily burden short-sea shipping with extra costs. With the United Nations holding it's Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting in December, and the Ontario government developing details on it's new cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, some Great Lakes-Seaway shipping groups are worried that increased regulations could make Great Lake-Seaway shipping less competitive than rail and truck. Stephen Brooks, President of the Chamber of Marine Commerce, says "unlike the global shipping fleet, most domestic shipping competes directly with road and rail." A recent study done by Research and Traffic Group showed that rail and truck would respectively emit 19 percent and 533 percent more greenhouse gas emissions if the same cargo was carried the same distance as the Great Lakes-Seaway Fleet. Shipping on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway supports 227,000 jobs and $35 billion in business revenues in the U.S. and Canada.