Weekly News Summary for April 16-22, 2007:
The Coast Guard has begun a re-emphasis of the Uninspected Towing Vessel (UTV) Voluntary Inspection Program in order to help prepare industry for the required inspections coming as a result of Congressional mandate.
A first draft of the new mandated inspection procedures was rolled out at a meeting of the American Waterways Operators in Washington two weeks ago, although some sections have not yet been written.
The Coast Guard has been working closely with industry to develop inspection procedures. Implementation of the final inspection plan is anticipated sometime in 2009 and is expected to be similar to the Streamlined Inspection Plan currently regulating liquid-cargo barges.
The voluntary inspections are also an effort to increase safety on towing vessels, said Dick Frenzel, a certified marine surveyor who has been teaching classes in the Eighth District to active-duty Coast Guard members and volunteer members of the Coast Guard Auxiliary.
Frenzel, who has been a marine surveyor for 38 years and an Auxiliarist for 24 years, teaches the classes as an unpaid volunteer Auxiliarist.
Coast Guard Atlantic Area (LANTAREA) is taking the lead in the re-emphasis program, Frenzel said. With 80 percent of the inland towing vessels in the Atlantic Area, which includes the Mississippi River system and inland waterways, he said the re-emphasis is working to develop uniform inspection procedures in every sector….
Brig. Gen. Robert Crear, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Mississippi River Division, has signed a Record of Decision report allowing the St. Paul Engineer District to work to correct environmental and navigation-safety issues at Lock 3 on the Upper Mississippi River.
The report gives the district the go-ahead to begin developing plans and specifications for construction and for acquiring real estate from willing sellers. Additional funding will be needed from Congress to complete plans and specifications and for construction. The report is being transmitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to complete the National Environmental Policy Act process for the study.
The dam, which is north of Red Wing, Minn., is located on a bend in the river that makes navigation difficult during high flows because of an outdraft current that tends to sweep downbound tows away from the lock and toward the gated part of the dam.
Many outdraft-related navigation accidents have occurred, including collisions with the dam gates, the district said in an announcement….
The Water Resources Development Act should reach the floor of the House of Representatives next week, Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-LA) told The Waterways Journal during a Congressional Easter break visit to the St. Bernard Health Center in Chalmette, La.
One provision he expects to be included will be closing the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet (MR-GO) navigation canal east of New Orleans, an issue he says is “near and dear to my heart.”
“I keep hearing the Corps talking about some kind of [opening] structure at the GIWW [Gulf Intracoastal Waterway] and MR-GO intersection, and that ain’t closing it,” Rep. Melancon said, his voice rising in emphasis. He wants the waterway closed to both deep-draft and shallow-draft traffic.
“The Congressional delegation has said it doesn’t want the MR-GO; the governor has said she doesn’t want it; the people of the communities have said they don’t want it and I’ll be damned if I’ll stand and let them talk about that [opening structure],” Melancon continued. “We’re going to shut down the MR-GO, one way or another.”
Dug through a cypress swamp east of New Orleans in the 1960s, the MR-GO was designed to be a shortcut for deep-draft vessels from the Gulf of Mexico to slackwater docks in New Orleans.
The expected economic boom along the canal did not materialize. Instead, environmentalists claim the waterway allowed saltwater intrusion that killed the marsh grass and cypress trees. Wash from the ships added to the erosion. Many residents labeled the MR-GO as a hurricane highway, bringing storm surge into the city during Hurricane Katrina….
Conrad Industries Inc. recently inked a contract with Blessey Marine Services Inc., Harahan, La., to build two 8,400-barrel double-skin stainless steel barges. The barges will be a first for Conrad and Blessey.
The 217- by 42- by 10-foot barges will be used for the transportation of subchapter O and D, grade A and lower flammable or combustible cargos. The order marks Blessey Marine’s first venture into the stainless steel barge market.
“We intend to order additional stainless steel barges in the near future and welcome inquiries from our customers in need of such equipment,” said Walter Blessey, Jr., owner and chief executive officer.
For Conrad, Blessey Marine is a first-time new-construction customer….
Despite above-normal runoff in the eastern portion of the Missouri River basin from rain and melting snow in March, drought conditions persist over most of the upper part of the basin, with the mountain snowpack expected to peak to 25 percent below normal later this month.
“The higher-than-normal runoff the last several weeks has pushed the downstream reach of the Missouri well above full service navigation flows, allowing us to maintain releases from the reservoir system at extraordinarily low levels for this time of the year,” said Larry Cieslik, chief of the Water Management office. “The reduced releases, combined with localized runoff, has resulted in increases in the levels of the upper three reservoirs.”
Runoff above Sioux City, Iowa, in March was 114 percent of normal. For 2007, the revised forecast is 20.5 million acre-feet (maf.), 82 percent of normal. The mountain snowpack above Fort Peck is 73 percent of normal. In the reach between Fort Peck and Garrison, the Yellowstone River basin, it is 76 percent of normal. The mountain snowpack normally peaks about mid-April….
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