Comment on Oklahoma economy floats on commerce driven by McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System

By Jim Stafford For The OklahomanALONG THE MCCLELLAN-KERR ARKANSAS RIVER NAVIGATION SYSTEM — A sea of giant rolled-steel plates occupy storage yards at the Tulsa Port of Catoosa, waiting to be unrolled, split and fabricated into pipe or other industrial uses. The massive coils of steel, which weigh thousands of pounds each, arrived at the port on a flotilla of barges, traveling up the Mississippi River and then the Arkansas and Verdigris rivers to reach Catoosa. Guided by port director David Yarbrough, I recently toured the immaculate 2,500-acre Port of Catoosa industrial park along with colleagues from the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST). As we rolled past the steel coils, Yarbrough explained how he uses them as an economic indicator. “I always tell people, ‘If you want to see how the economy is doing here in Tulsa, come out to see how much steel is on the ground,'” Yarbrough said.Read more on NewsOK.com