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EDITORIAL

TWIC Program Is Like An Unfinished Bridge
Why the Department of Homeland Security and other federal government entities have not been able to bring the Transportation Workers Identification Card (TWIC) program to a satisfactory completion is beyond us. From March 10, 2011, when Rep. John L. Mica (R-Fla.) scorched the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for spending $500 million over the last decade and producing Transportation Worker Identification Cards (TWICs) that are “no more useful than library cards,” things have only grown worse. Mica is chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and was one of the authors of the legislation that created the TSA.

When the WJ reported Mica’s comments in its “Washington Waves” column in May 2011, the congressman noted that biometric readers had not yet been approved.

It seems ridiculous that TSA announced recently on its Web site that as many as 26,000 TWICs may be rejected by TWIC readers due to defective encoding when in fact there are no readers to be used. Talk about putting the cart before the horse! Though there exist several pilot testing programs for readers, final regulations for the readers still haven’t been published and when they will be is a mystery. By law, final regulations for those readers were to have been published by April 2011. (The purpose of the readers is to verify authenticity.)

To us, the TWIC program resembles an unfinished Mississippi River bridge. Those who wish to cross the span pay tolls along the way, but then discover the final section of the bridge hasn’t been constructed. The financial aspects of this program are staggering. It has been reported that as many as a million TWIC cards have been issued to port workers, truck drivers and credentialed U.S. mariners. Citing DHS estimates made four years earlier, our own columnist Carlo J. Salzano reported in that May column that the combined cost to the federal government and the private sector may reach $3.2 billion over a 10-year period, “not taking into account the full cost of implementation and operating readers.”

At the time, the WJ column also cited the Government Accountability Office (GAO) as saying it had successfully acquired TWIC cards using fraudulent documentation and had been able to gain port access using the fraudulent cards. Mica’s blast at TSA went into considerable detail about the program, but telling was his statement that TSA “still does not [as of May 2011] conduct risk assessments and cost-benefit analysis of its security programs as required by law.”

Mica said, “TSA’s Screening People by Observation Techniques (SPOT) program will require $1.2 billion over the next five years….”

One reaction to the lack of progress of the TWIC program:
“The Democratic members of the House Homeland Security Committee believe that the department should not require workers to renew their cards before the biometric security enhancements of TWIC are realized and the program has been fully implemented,” according to the office of Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.), ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee.

Action on a bill that would turn that belief into reality was introduced by Thompson in the House Transportation Security Subcommittee last March and has been pending there since. His bill, H.R. ll05, “would extend each worker’s renewal deadline until December 31, 2014, or when DHS issues a final rule for electronic readers (See “Washington Waves” in this issue.)

Early last year Thompson sent to Transportation Security Administrator John S. Pistole a request that transportation and port workers be allowed more time to renew their TWICs. Salzano, following up on that request this week, was told there has been no response to Thompson’s request. Combine that with the fact that H.R. ll05 is still in committee and there is no indication that it will be acted upon, and we can visualize nothing but further delays.

Pistole has assured the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee that implementation of TWIC “significantly enhances national maritime security.” However, we have learned from several sources that when workers present their TWIC cards to gain entry to specific entities, the “checker” doesn’t even know what a TWIC card is. Some gained entry by displaying drivers’ licenses.

Weekly News Summary For January 16–22, 2012:

Study Quantifies Costs of Inadequate Dredging

Inadequate funding for dredging the Lower Mississippi River could cause the national economy to lose $9.2 billion worth of cargo annually, reported Dr. Tim Ryan, in a study that was released January 11 in a press conference at the Port of New Orleans.

Ryan, a nationally recognized economist and former chancellor of the University of New Orleans, based that figure on losing 12.4 million tons of exports and nearly 5.9 million tons of imports. Losing export cargo could cost jobs, while losing the imports could mean higher prices at retail outlets.
The report, titled “The Economic Impact of Reduced Dredging of the Mississippi River,” was commissioned by the industry-funded Big River Coalition, which is seeking to have all money collected from imports under the Harbor Maintenance Tax used for its intended purpose.

In Congress, Rep. Charles Boustany, a Republican who represents southwest Louisiana, has offered the Realize America’s Maritime Potential (RAMP) bill, which would require all money collected by the ad valorEm tax on the value of imported cargo be used to maintain harbors where the imports come in.

The Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund collects more than $1 billion annually. Currently, that money is commingled with general revenues….
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Corps Mobilizes To Make Flood Repairs

After the monumental flood of 2011, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Mississippi Valley Division carefully inspected and completed damage assessment reports for all levees, channel improvements, navigation channels and structures associated with the Mississippi River and Tributaries (MR&T) project. From the damage assessments, a prioritized list of critical repairs was developed based on threat to human life and safety, as well as economic impacts. The recently approved Disaster Relief Appropriations Act has designated $802 million for repairs to the MR&T (see WJ, January 2).

“In eager anticipation of these much-needed flood recovery funds, our teams, partners and contractors are rapidly mobilizing to aggressively implement a broad array of repairs in the coming months” said Scott Whitney, regional flood risk manager for MVD.

With the coming flood season fast approaching and winter site conditions unsuitable for active construction, there will be many areas not fully repaired, resulting in increased risk within the system, MVD said in an announcement last week. This increased risk will require extra vigilance and advance preparedness in the coming months given the post-flood condition of MR&T levees, floodwalls, water control structures and navigation channels, the Corps said.

Taking into account the vulnerable condition of the MR&T project and projected National Weather Service Spring forecast, the Corps mobilized a Regional 2012 Flood Preparedness Team in mid-December to develop plans to manage, mitigate and communicate flood risks throughout the MR&T system. This regional effort will identify key risks within the MR&T, ways to minimize risk, and effectively communicate this information to partners, stakeholders and the public.

An interagency workshop is scheduled for February 22–23 in Memphis to carefully coordinate, refine and communicate this team’s findings, tools and recommendations across the broad array of those public officials with shared responsibility for the protection of the lives and livelihoods from flooding events….
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Governor Helps Celebrate Additions To Settoon Fleet

The main push of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s first term in office has been to make Louisiana “business–friendly” and create jobs. When he attended the recent christening of the mv. Fred A. Settoon in Belle River, La., he was honoring one of the most successful businessmen in the area of the Port Allen-to-Morgan City Intracoastal route.

Settoon Towing was celebrating the christening of the Fred A. Settoon, and the Shirley P. Settoon, its sistership, or wife-ship as Russ Settoon called it because it was named after Fred’s wife of 68 years. Russ, who owns Settoon Towing, is one of Fred’s five children. Fred has 15 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

The company started an expansion program in 2009 when it accepted delivery of its first large towboat, the Austin C. Settoon. The delivery of the Fred A. Settoon makes the current expansion program about 70 percent complete. In addition to the towboats, Trinity Industries has built eighteen 30,000-barrel barges for Settoon and is on target to deliver another 12 in 2012, Russ said.

In highlighting the state’s impressive rise in reputation among business publications, Jindal talked about the Fast Start Program that provides training for companies expanding or relocating to Louisiana. He also noted that the first time he was elected governor, Louisiana State University won the national football championship in the Louisiana Superdome.

Jindal was recently re-elected governor with only minor opposition and, at the time of the christening, LSU was preparing to play Alabama in the Superdome for the BCS national championship on January 9, Jindal noted….
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Painter Seeks River Hosts For Series

“People on the river are happy to give,” according to the lyrics of the famous song about a Mississippi River paddlewheeler, “Proud Mary.”

St. Louis painter Daven Anderson has experienced that generosity, as he recently spent two days aboard one of AEP River Operation’s newest towboats, the mv. Mountain State, gathering images for a series of watercolors on river subjects. And he hopes it will continue: Anderson needs other river hosts to allow him permission to ride their vessels. He estimates it will take him between 12 and 14 months to finish his series. He’s willing to travel on any river.

Anderson didn’t get much use out of his “very comfortable” guest cabin on the mv. Mountain State. Instead, he spent most of his time in the pilothouse taking 700 or 800 photos to use as references later in his painting studio in St. Louis’ historic Lafayette Square neighborhood. The best times for shadows and light, he explained, are mornings and early evening, because “the noon light tends to wash everything out.”

Anderson brought his latest river painting to the offices of The Waterways Journal: a pilot’s-eye view of a tow of AEP coal barges, heading into a glorious purple and yellow sunset. He has completed five of his projected series of river paintings so far. The first of the series, “Pushing Up The River At Sunrise,” was purchased by the Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri-St. Louis for its permanent collection.

The paintings themselves sell for thousands of dollars, but Anderson also sells giclées of his painting, a type of high-quality same-size reproduction, for much less. Anderson calls himself an “urban realist” on his Web site, and his river paintings often include industrial structures. (His Web site is www.davenanderson.com.)…
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Watco Buys Port Birmingham Barge Terminal And Short Line Railroad

Watco Transportation Services agreed to buy the Port Birmingham barge terminal from Transtar, the transportation subsidiary of U.S. Steel Corporation, in early December, as part of its deal to buy the Birmingham Southern Railroad. It was the third rail acquisition that Pittsburg, Kan.-based Watco announced that week. The port facility is located on the Black Warrior River. In a December 1 news release, BHRR said it planned to file the appropriate paperwork with the Surface Transportation Board (STB) later in December, and could begin operations as early as February 1.

The Port of Birmingham (also called Birmingport), where the terminal is located, was originally developed in 1920 by the Port of Birmingham Company. It was created in conjunction with the development of the Warrior River Barge Line. The primary export of the port, located on the banks of Locust Fork, has been coal from the Oak Grove Mine. The Barge Line Railroad that served it was later incorporated into the Birmingham Southern Railroad. The port was annexed by the city of Birmingham in 1986….
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Mild Winter Idles Some TVA Coal Plants

The unusually mild winter has idled many smaller power plants because of low demand—including many barge-served plants. The barge-served Cumberland Fossil Plant in Cumberland City, Tenn., is temporarily off-line—along with 22 other power plants across The Tennessee Valley Authority’s system, the Stewart Houston Times reported on January 9. Most are smaller plants that can be quickly restarted in case of colder weather.

When in operation, the Cumberland Fossil Plant generates 2,600 megawatts of electricity, which is more than 18 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, enough to power about 1.2 million homes.

“The [Cumberland] plant is in what we call ‘Not in Demand’ status,” Jessica Stone, a TVA spokeswoman, told the Stewart Houston Times. “The mild weather we’ve been having has several of our fossil units in NID. We dispatch all of the units in the fleet based partially on cost to generate, which helps ensure we are running the most economical units first,” said Stone….
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Alan Bates Memorial Set

The family of WJ Old Boat columnist Alan L. Bates, who passed away January 1, have set the date for a memorial event. The “Wake and Tall-Tale Telling” will be from 4–7 p.m. June 2 aboard the Belle of Louisville, the steamboat that he helped renovate from the old Avalon.. The Belle will remain dockside during the event so guests can come and go when they want. For more information, e-mail his granddaughter, Victoria Nugent, at victoria.nugent@louisville.edu.
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