WNEM: Rep. McDonald Rivet leads bipartisan letter urging Coast Guard to strengthen Great Lakes icebreaking fleet

WASHINGTON (WNEM) — Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet led a bipartisan letter signed by 20 members of Congress, renewing the push for the U.S. Coast Guard to strengthen its Great Lakes icebreaking fleet to protect maritime commerce, transportation and safety throughout the region.

According to the Lake Carriers’ Association, the Great Lakes lost a third of their shipping season due to ice cover.

“When the Great Lakes freeze over, we count on the Coast Guard to keep our ships and our entire region’s economy moving. Last winter, we saw what happens when we try to get by with an old, inadequate fleet: ships can’t move, work is delayed and people worry they could lose their jobs,” Rep. McDonald Rivet said. “In December, the President signed my bill into law, which mandated the Coast Guard to lay out their plan to update our icebreaking capabilities on the Great Lakes. It’s time we got those reports and chart a productive path forward.”

The Great Lakes Icebreaker Act was signed into law in December 2025. The legislation mandated that the Coast Guard produce a plan to design and build a new Great Lakes icebreaker and a report analyzing the effectiveness of the current icebreaking fleet. Those deliverables were due March 18 and June 16, 2026.

The Coast Guard has yet to complete these requirements or a separate order to create a public database for Great Lakes icebreaking operations.

The letter from lawmakers reads in part: “The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026, and past authorizations, included multiple requirements for public transparency, strategic deployment and new construction of Great Lakes icebreakers, which have yet to be fulfilled. Prioritizing and completing these overdue requirements is a necessary commitment to commerce, national security and safety throughout the Great Lakes region.”

The full letter is available here.

Lake Carriers’ Association and the Great Lakes Maritime Task Force have endorsed the letter.