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EDITORIAL

UMWA Seeks Corps Help To Solve Asian Carp Threat

When invasive species threats carry national implications, the federal government should provide funding and agency assistance to defend against the threat. Asian carp threaten fisheries in several states.

The Upper Mississippi Waterway Association (UMWA) sent a resolution on January 24 to the Commander of the Mississippi Valley Engineer Division requesting establishment of a protocol to restrict lock openings for recreational vessels operating through and above Lock and Dam 19 (at Keokuk, Iowa) until such time it determines that the restriction has no effect on the upriver movement of Asian carp. The upriver movement of carp threatens important game and feed fish habitat of the Upper Mississippi River and the prized recreational fishing lakes of Minnesota.

Commercial navigation interests on the Upper Mississippi have concurred that (1) large numbers of the invasive carp have been found in the river downriver of Lock and Dam 19, (2) no breeding population of Asian carp has been found upriver of Lock and Dam 19, (3) the 39-foot lift of Lock and Dam 19 is deemed adequate to prevent fish from jumping over that barrier, and (4) Corps data indicate recreational boat traffic represents two-thirds of all lockages on the Upper Mississippi River.

According to the UMWA, restricting recreational lockages at and above Lock 19 is a way to ensure that both commercial and recreational interests share the responsibility to decrease the spread of Asian carp. Lock and Dam 19 is the sole 1,200-foot lock in the Upper Mississippi River basin above Alton, Ill., and requires only one lockage per tow.

Government agencies have called for closing the navigation locks of Minneapolis, which consist of Upper and Lower Saint Anthony Falls, as well as Lock and Dam 1. Closure would do nothing to protect the Upper Miss south of Minneapolis nor the other major rivers of Minnesota, including the St. Croix and Lower Minnesota rivers, UMWA states.

Delegates to Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton’s recent Asian Carp Summit preferred a downriver barrier at Lock and Dam 19 as opposed to closing Minnesota locks. Economic impacts are a major concern.

While most non-government organizations and agencies are promoting lock closure, some summit participants have a better understanding of the economic impact of lock closing, UMWA reports. There are other implications. Lock closure would result in a drastic increase in road maintenance cost and dangerous air pollution. Over the past seven years barge traffic to and from Minneapolis averaged about 800,000 tons annually. That tonnage would translate into 1,033 loaded trucks per five-day week over the length of a 34-week barge season, much of it through the heart of Minneapolis. The figures do not include empty trucks returning for loads. Towboats generate less than one-third of the carbon dioxide generated by trucks to haul the same amount of cargo.

Whatever solution is selected, the results will impact recreational boaters as much or more than the commercial navigation community.

UMWA emphasized that recreational boaters must engage in the Asian carp issue. During 2011, fully 6,970 recreational vessels transited the three Minneapolis locks compared to 2,996 commercial vessels. For all 13 locks in the St. Paul District (Upper St. Anthony Falls through Lock and Dam 10) recreational transits numbered 52,583, and commercial transits numbered 11,449, representing almost a five to one ratio.

By restricting recreational lockages at and above Lock 19, the Corps would expand the number of stakeholders who will be involved in finding a solution, and who will be invested in making that solution work. Meanwhile, by going that far south, the Corps will buy more time to find a workable answer.

Weekly News Summary For February 13–19, 2012:

‘Cracker’ Plants Could Bring Barge Opportunities

Four new plants in the Ohio Valley river system, one to process natural gas and three to “crack” ethane—a natural gas product—into ethylene illustrate the potential of the fracking boom to economically transform Appalachian communities—and to impact the barging industry. While some of these opportunities may be years away, now is the time for barge companies to begin thinking of how they might participate, say industry observers.

On January 20, the Wheeling, W.Va. News Register reported that Texas-based natural gas driller and midstream energy services company Caiman Energy plans to invest a further $1.3 billion in its Marshall County, W.Va., cryogenic gas processing plant by the end of 2014.

Caiman’s barge-served Fort Beeler plant, near Cameron along U.S. 250 in Marshall County, opened only a year ago, in January 2011. It now processes about 120 million cubic feet of gas per day. Some of this gas flows to the site by a pipeline from Trans Energy’s nearby drilling sites, with more gas flowing to the site from Gastar Exploration and other drilling operations. By March 20, an additional 200 million cubic feet per day of processing capacity will come online, bringing total capacity to 520 million cubic feet per day. Caiman has about 60 miles of high-pressure, large-diameter pipeline in the Marcellus Shale and another 60 miles under construction, according to Business Wire.

Plants like this accept “wet” shale gas from the Marcellus and Utica shale “plays” from drillers like Trans Energy, Gastar, Chesapeake Energy, or CNX Gas Corporation. “Wet” gas contains ethane, propane, butane, pentane and other substances, in addition to the methane natural gas. The ethane, propane, butane and pentane—known collectively as natural gas liquids or NGLs—are then sent to a fractionation facility, which separates these products from one another….
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UMWA Asks Corps To Restrict Recreational Lockages

The Upper Mississippi Waterway Association is working to get the Corps of Engineers to take a proactive stance to block the advance of the Asian carp toward Minnesota waters, and to get recreational boaters involved in finding a solution.

In a resolution passed in late January, the association called for the Corps’ Mississippi River Division to establish a protocol to restrict lock openings for recreational vessels at and above Lock 19 on the river.

Lock 19, at UMR Mile 364.3 at Keokuk, Iowa, has a 39-foot lift, which is considered high enough to keep fish from jumping over the barrier. In its resolution, UMWA said no breeding populations of Asian carp have been found in the Mississippi River upstream from that point, although large numbers have been found downriver.

By restricting the number of lockages, the Corps would limit the opportunities for carp to move northward, the association says.

The resolution calls for action much further downriver than other control measures that have been discussed, and also involves recreational boaters much more. UMWA noted that recreational boat traffic represents two-thirds of all lockages on the Upper Mississippi River….
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Lock Reductions Threaten Navigation On Ouachita River’

Under continued funding pressure, the Corps of Engineers has proposed a plan to reduce lock hours on the Ouachita River system, and mayors of communities on the river are up in arms, the Monroe (Ark.) News Star reported February 7.

The Corps’ proposal would reduce the current 24-hour, seven-day-a-week operation on the river’s four locks to an 18-hour, seven-day-a-week operation at the Jonesville and Columbia locks in Louisiana and a 16-hour Friday, Saturday and Sunday schedule at the Felsenthal and Thatcher locks in Arkansas. The proposed reductions would not take effect until October.
During a February 7 meeting with the Corps on the issue in Monroe, stakeholders said the plan would “kill commercial navigation in southern Arkansas” and could eventually do the same downriver in Louisiana.
“You can kiss the upper Ouachita goodbye,” said Camden, Ark., Mayor Chris Claybaker during the meeting, which was held at the Tensas Basin Levee District headquarters.

Randy Martin-Nez of Golding Barge Line agreed. “You’re giving the death penalty by strangulation to the upper locks,” Martin-Nez said….
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Delta Mariner Moved; Salvage Continues

The Coast Guard approved the transit of the mv. Delta Mariner from the Eggners Ferry Bridge to a safe harbor on the Tennessee River on February 6. Salvage workers from T&T Bisso of Houston, Texas, first successfully cut the 8,400-ton Delta Mariner free from subsurface debris of the bridge, which carries U.S. 68/KY-80 over Kentucky Lake, at 10:15 a.m. The vessel was moved to shallower waters on Bickers Bay to allow T&T Bisso workers to access remaining pieces of bridge on the vessel’s bow by using cranes on spud barges.

In that location, the vessel is not expected to interfere with boats entering Kentucky Lake, which is a dammed part of the Tennessee River. Foss Maritime, the vessel’s owner, has also brought in its own salvage equipment and support vessels. A Murray, Ky.-based company, Mainstream Commercial Divers Inc., is working with T&T Bisso and Foss Maritime. The Delta Mariner’s crew of 16 will stay aboard during the salvage operations.
“The salvage operations are proceeding as planned, and it is a significant milestone that the ship has now been relocated downriver and clear of the Eggners Ferry Bridge,” said Cmdr. Claudia Gelzer, commanding officer of Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Paducah.

Foss Maritime spokeswoman Suzanne Lagoni told the Murray Ledger and Times that after all debris is removed, the vessel would be relocated to a repair facility. Foss also plans to remove all debris that fell into the water around the bridge. The Coast Guard reopened the river to recreational boats. A 25-foot response boat and crew from MSU Paducah remain on site to ensure safety of salvage operations.

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet announced it had placed laser markers on the bridge to monitor fractions-of-an-inch movements of the remaining piers. Three piers were damaged when the Delta Mariner struck the bridge on January 26, knocking out a 322-foot span. The ro/ro ship was moving rocket booster components from a Boeing factory to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida when the incident occurred. The cargo was undamaged.

Divers examined the underwater parts of the piers last week, said Keith Todd, KYTC District 1 spokesman….
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Ohio Bridge Set For February 20 Blast

The Ohio Department of Transportation announced the date for an explosive blast that will bring down the Fort Steuben Bridge, which crosses the Ohio River near Steubenville, Ohio, west and south of Pittsburgh, Pa.

Becky Giauque, an ODOT spokeswoman, told the Steubenville Herald-Star that the blast would occur on February 20, “as close to daylight as possible.” ODOT will announce more details, including its effect on traffic, at a later date.

Officials with ODOT said earlier the span’s towers and cables and much of its trusses will fall with a single blast detonated in a procedure expected to occur in about 15 minutes. Northbound traffic from the highway has been rerouted to the bridge’s former approach lanes while crews with the Joseph B. Fay Company of Russellton, Pa., remove the span’s deck in five- by 20-foot sections.

Nick Susich, a construction engineer for ODOT, said pieces of the bridge, some weighing up to 120,000 pounds, will be lifted from the Ohio River by crane and loaded onto several barges operated by the River Salvage Company of Pittsburgh, a subcontractor for the project.

Susich said the contractor will own the resulting scrap metal through a provision in its contract for the $2.3 million project.

River traffic will be cleared 24 hours before the demolition begins. “The Coast Guard requires that everything must be pulled out of the river within 24 hours,” Wasseem Khalifa, district bridge engineer for ODOT, told the Star-Herald. Khalifa added that small explosive charges will be set off in the river beforehand to deter fish from entering the area….
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