Weekly News Summary For May 17-23, 2010:
The explosion and oil leak from the deep-water drilling rig Deepwater Horizon two weeks earlier was much on the minds of attendees at the Greater New Orleans Barge Fleeting Association¹s (GNOBFA) annual River and Marine Industry Seminar. Several presenters were called away at the last minute to deal, in one capacity or another, with the spreading oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
By the time the conference ended on April 30, the spill was about the size of Delaware, heading rapidly for the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, and developing into a major media story.
One presenting attorney revealed that he was a day away from filing suit against British Petroleum PLC, the rig’s operator for owner Transocean Ltd., on behalf of an injured engineer. He noted that he had read in that morning’s paper that the head of BP PLC, Tony Hayward, had said that the rig¹s fail safe-system had “obviously failed miserably.”
His strong advice to fleet owners or towboat operators: “Never say anything like that to the media” if you’re unfortunate enough to be in Hayward’s position.
The seminar, at the Intercontinental Hotel in New Orleans, was marked by a high level of audience participation. Moderator Maurice Hebert Jr., co-founder of the annual event in 1982 and now retired after almost 40 years of practicing marine and environmental law, urged the audience to ask questions, even to interrupt the speakers. The result was a lively and informative series of exchanges….
The Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee is planning a second round of carp poisoning with rotenone, fish harvesting and sampling along a five-mile stretch of the Little Calumet River in the Chicago area. The action is scheduled to take place from May 20 through 26.
The operation will require closing the river from just north of the Willmette pumping station to about one mile downstream of T.J. O’Brien Lock and Dam. It was timed to avoid disrupting the Memorial Day weekend at the end of the month. The closure will likely happen beginning midnight on May 19, to enable the team to apply the rotenone May 20.
Planners said that no additional rotenone actions or closures were planned during the summer, although that could change if carp are discovered closer to Lake Michigan.
A revised Asian Carp Control Strategy Framework was released May 5. A press release, posted on ACRCC’s Web site at asiancarp.org, said the rotenone sampling operation would begin May 20 and would last “five to six” days. The rotenone will be applied the first day, and the recovery phase—including testing, electric fish harvesting and sampling, detoxification, and removal of gear—will last four to five days.
The closure to vessels is necessary because the operation entails block nets and other equipment stretched across the channel….
As Kentucky and Tennessee slowly recovered from last week’s record rains and floods, the Nashville Engineer District announced May 10 that its inspection of damage and repairs to Cheatham Lock was completed. Repairs would take “a minimum of three weeks to return to temporary operational status,” the district said in a Notice to Navigation Interests.
Even after opening, the Cheatham Lock will only operate during daylight hours until repairs to its damaged electrical system are complete.
The Nashville District also closed recreational areas around Old Hickory Lake and J. Percy Priest Lake until after May 16. J. Percy Priest boat ramps were closed until further notice.
Additional notices will be issued as repairs progress, and posted to the Nashville District’s Web site at www.lrn.usace.army.mil/flood.htm….
Fifty years ago, there were as many as 43 companies competing in the Western Rivers fueling business. Today there are only eight or nine in the entire Mississippi Valley.
“You have to put money back into infrastructure to stay competitive and stay in business,” said John W. “Johnny” Stone Jr., president of Stone Oil Distributor LLC, which is headquartered in Gretna, La., across the Mississippi River from New Orleans. Annual sales were reported to be $42.1 million.
Stone is the second-generation owner while his son, John W. Stone III, who is in charge of fuel buying and hedging, is the third generation. Some of the 306 employees have been with the company 30 years, a testament to the good working conditions Stone works hard to maintain.
The company is planning an aggressive building program with nine new barges, three each of three different designs. The first three diesel barges will be 140 by 54 by 12.5 feet with 14 individual tanks. Each tank will have its own fill and discharge line. Total capacity for these diesel barges will be from 6,000 barrels to 12,000 barrels….
An employee of Jeffboat died after he fell 20 feet from a barge deck at about 7 a.m. May 10, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal.
The Jefferson County coroner gave his name as Robert Harrison Jr., 50, of Louisville, Ky. Harrison died from multiple injuries sustained in the fall, he said.
Jeffboat pipe welder Eric Caines told the Courier-Journal that Harrison was trying to step around a 24-inch fan while carrying a 50-pound suitcase full of welding equipment when he fell.
The accident’s cause is under routine investigation by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration….
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