Weekly News Summary For July 26-August 1, 2010:
After losing twice in the U.S. Supreme Court, Michigan Attorney General Michael Cox is once again suing the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago and the Army Corps of Engineers to force lock closures in the Chicago area in an attempt to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes. Michigan was again joined by Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
The suit was filed July 19 in U.S. District Court in northern Illinois. One of the reasons the Supreme Court rejected two earlier suits was that the plaintiffs had not made their way through the lower courts first. Although the Supreme Court handles disputes between states, a widely observed legal doctrine says it should be turned to only as a last resort.
The Supreme Court also declined to consider lock closures under the umbrella of a decades-old legal agreement following a 1920s suit regarding water-sharing agreements among the Great Lakes states.
The latest lawsuit accuses the Corps of Engineers and the Water Reclamation District of operating a public nuisance—i.e., the locks. It asks the court to order more fish poisonings and greater use of nets to stop carp from entering Lake Michigan.
The suit comes 20 days after a single 20-pound bighead carp was found in the Big Calumet River, on the wrong side of electric barriers meant to keep out carp, about six miles from Lake Michigan….
Representatives of towing companies and ports along the inland waterways are finding the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the resulting moratorium imposed by the Interior Department on deepwater offshore drilling, has had very little effect on their business.
Major ports along the Gulf Coast report no noticeable change in the arrival of vessels. The Port of New Orleans, which is just west of the spill location, has had only two vessels arrive requiring cleaning—a ship and a tug and barge from offshore, said spokesman Chris Bonura.
The ports of Mobile and Pascagoula, which have seen nearby barrier island beaches oiled, remain open as well. To the west, the deepwater ports of Houston/Galveston, Lake Charles, Port Arthur and Freeport are unaffected, although tar balls that were found in Houston were reported to have “hitchhiked” on the bottom of an offshore barge.
As of July 20, only Pensacola and Biloxi Bay are closed during flood (incoming) tides, but opened during ebb (outgoing) tides, according to the Incident Command Center’s Trade and Carrier Support Group, Executive Summary No. 47.
“As we operate primarily in the inland waterways, the oil spill thus far has not impacted Canal Barge Company’s daily operations in any significant way,” said Merritt Lane, president and chief executive officer. “We have, however, about 60 deck barges supporting spill response operations. Canal Barge Company deck barges are working to protect Barataria Bay, Mississippi Sound, and the Mobile area from the spill.”…
Maritime Administrator David T. Matsuda testified on Capitol Hill July 14 that a notice of funding availability for eligible Marine Highway projects would be published in the Federal Register before the end of July.
Matsuda told the House Seapower and Expeditionary Forces Subcommittee that the Maritime Administration had completed several major steps in implementing the America’s Marine Highway Program this fiscal year. On April 9, MarAd published the final rule for the program, superseding the previous interim final rule published in October 2008. On April 15, MarAd issued a formal call for Marine Highway Project applications by public agencies.
The initial $7 million funding for the grants is provided in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2010. The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee voted July 15 to approve MarAd appropriations proposed for the next fiscal year beginning October 1.
Matsuda told the subcommittee that one of his agency’s goals is to help make this country’s national transportation system “more environmentally sustainable and economically competitive. For too long, America has overlooked the economic and environmental benefits of moving domestic goods on the water; we are changing all that with our America’s Marine Highway Program initiative.”…
Family members, company executives, fellow employees, vendors and friends gathered at Paducah, Ky., June 25 to congratulate Capt. Jeffrey G. Stover following the formal dedication of the repowered and completely refurbished towboat named in his honor. The triple-screw vessel was docked at the foot of Kentucky Avenue for tours preceding the recognition program conducted nearby at the Luther F. Carson Four Rivers Center.
The Jeffrey G. Stover is one of three 10,500 hp. towboats purchased last year from American Commercial Lines by AEP River Operations. The 195- by 54-foot towboat was built in 1977 by the former Nashville Bridge Company as the Miss Kae-D for Flowers Transportation Inc., Greenville, Miss. Others purchased were the W.J. Barta and Norb Whitlock. The latter boats have been renamed Robert L. Posey and Ron W. Callegan respectively and are currently at James Marine Inc. in Paducah where they are undergoing a similar repowering and rehabilitation. They are expected to re-enter service within the next few months.
AEP River Operations President Mark Knoy said the three vessels will be among the most powerful and efficient boats in the industry today. The total investment for purchasing, repowering and renovating all three vessels will be approximately $40 million, considerably less than the cost of building new towboats of similar size and power….
BAE Systems completed its acquisition of Atlantic Marine Holding Company after receiving all necessary U.S. approvals, the company announced July 13.
The company bought the assets from previous owner JFL-AMH partners LLC, a portfolio company of private-equity firm J.F. Lehman & Company, for a cash price of $352 million. The acquisition was announced in April.
The purchase includes Atlantic Marine’s shipyards in Mayport and Jacksonville, Fla.; Moss Point, Miss.; and Mobile, Ala. Those facilities employ about 1,000 people.
“BAE Systems Southeast Shipyard will complement our existing ship repair, maintenance and modernization capabilities to further serve the U.S. Navy and other maritime customers,” said Bill Clifford, president of BAE Systems Ship Repair….
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