Weekly News Summary for April 14-20, 2008:
The New Orleans Engineer District was making plans last week to open the Bonnett Carré Spillway for the first time in 11 years.
The district announced April 10 that the spillway would be operated beginning April 11 to keep the volume of Mississippi River flows at New Orleans from exceeding 1.25 million cubic feet per second (cfs.). That flow rate was expected to occur by April 11, the Corps said.
Operation of the spillway will relieve pressure on local levees, lower river stages, and reduce the velocity of the river current, the Corps said. Without the spillway, the river was expected to crest at about 17 feet at New Orleans.
The spillway may be open for up to four weeks.
The decision to open Bonnet Carré is the responsibility of Brig. Gen. Michael J. Walsh, commander of the Mississippi Valley Engineer Division and president of the Mississippi River Commission.
Bonnet Carré, which is located 28 miles above New Orleans, is an element of the Mississippi River & Tributaries system, which is designed to provide flood protection to the Mississippi Valley from Cape Girardeau, Mo., to the Head of Passes. The MR&T system uses a variety of features, including levees and floodwalls, floodways—like Bonnet Carré—reservoirs and pumping plants, and channel improvement and stabilization features to protect the levees and improve navigation….
As if christening five boats at once last November weren’t enough, Florida Marine Transporters did the same thing March 19. Only this time it was in New Orleans—not Houston, where the company operates more vessels. Freeing up five boats for a christening in New Orleans was much trickier, said Louis Develle, FMT’s operations manager.
“The dispatchers did a great job positioning the boats so they could all be here at the same time. It was a monumental task. The port captains, electricians and carpenters deserve credit, too, for sprucing up the boats and getting them ready for the christening,” he said. Because of the high water, building the ramps from the wharf at the Hilton Riverside Hotel to the boats was particularly challenging.
Develle is still waiting to hear from The Guinness Book of World Records to see if the first event merits a listing. Now, he can strengthen his case.
Florida Marine, based in Mandeville, La., has christened 19 of the 23 identical towboats they have received so far from Eastern Shipbuilding Group. The company has ordered 35. They are being launched at a rate of one a month….
Ingram Barge Company, Nashville, Tenn., has acquired the assets of Capital Fleet Inc., Baton Rouge, La. Included in the deal are two harbor boats, the 1,200 hp. mv. Ace G and the 1,000 hp. Port Allen; a new office barge; a barge repair flat; and fleeting areas and equipment.
Ingram announced the acquisition April 4.
The operation will be renamed Ingram Capital Fleet. Nearly all of the former Capital Fleet employees will stay on under the new ownership, Ingram said.
“Capital has worked with Ingram for many years and is pleased to now become part of the Ingram Marine Group family,” said Bill Grantham, owner and president of Capital Fleet Inc. “Our associates appreciate Ingram’s long term commitment to the Baton Rouge area and look forward to continuing to provide first rate fleeting services.”…
Rocky Mountain snowpack is above normal for this time of year, but the hydrologists in the Northwestern Engineer Division say that doesn't necessarily mean the end is in sight for the eight-year drought in the upper Missouri River basin.
“While the amount of snow in the mountains is encouraging, we are still forecasting only 80 percent of normal runoff this year,” said Larry Cieslik, chief of the Corps' water management office in Omaha, Neb. “The snowpack normally peaks in mid-April. The low forecast is due to the relative lack of snow on the plains and the continued dry soil conditions as a result of the extended drought in the upper basin.”
Runoff for this year is forecast to total 20 million acre feet (maf.) The storage in the reservoirs was 37.1 maf. on April 1, about 1.2 maf. higher than last year at this time.
The two-day pulse of water from Gavins Point Dam for the endangered pallid sturgeon was successfully conducted on March 26-27, the Corps said. The pulse reached Kansas City on April 2, and, as forecast, remained in the river channel during its trip downstream, officials reported. Reductions in releases from five tributary dams in Kansas and Missouri eliminated the pulse from Kansas City to the mouth of the Missouri River just north of St. Louis….
The mv. David L. Griggs, pushing a 15-barge tow, was expected to be the first vessel through Lake Pepin’s ice to open the Upper Mississippi shipping season on Friday, April 11, according to Shannon Bauer, spokesperson for the Army Corps of Engineers.
The last measurement of Lake Pepin ice by the Corps on April 9, showed only a few areas of thick ice remaining. Miles 767 through 771 measured between 4 and 20 inches of white ice, with 16 inches at Mile 772. No blue ice was recorded. Thirteen out of 21 mile markers were declared “open.”
According to Corps spokesman Mark Davidson, barges can generally get through ice up to 12 inches thick….
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