Weekly News Summary For May 18-24, 2009:
As director of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Development Authority, Mike Tagert regularly advocates for the economic importance of the waterway, the biggest single project the Army Corps of Engineers has yet undertaken, and one of the world’s largest waterways projects of any kind.
Twenty-five years after it opened, Tagert now has more detailed figures to back up his advocacy. A study released in February details the multiple economic impacts that the Tenn-Tom has had on the local, state and national economies.
Entitled “Analysis of the Economic Impact of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway: 1996-2008,” the study was prepared by Phillip Mixon and Judson Edwards, two professors at Troy University’s Center for International Business and Economic Development, using official sources. It examines figures from the period 1996 to 2008, a period of steady growth. The authors looked at state and federal tax information, as well as information from the authority itself. Mixon said the authority was hands-off and let the figures fall where they may. “It was one of my favorite studies I have worked on” for that reason, he said.
The study encompasses all commercial impacts of the waterway. It includes any business that makes direct use of the waterway, not just shippers, and any business (including recreational or tourist-related) that publicly stated that the waterway was a contributing factor in its decision to locate nearby. “A papermill that uses water from the waterway may not use it for shipping, but it wouldn’t be there without that water,” Mixon explained…
Details of President Obama’s $3.4 trillion budget proposals for the fiscal year beginning October 1 finally made it to Capitol Hill May 7, along with the president’s plan to cut $17 billion from 121 government programs, a plan that quickly drew heavy opposition from members of his own party.
Agencies singled out for some of the program cuts included the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, $245 million; the Department of Transportation, $202 million and the Department of Homeland Security, $90 million.
For fiscal year 2010, the administration requested $5.1 billion for the Corps’ civil works program, down from $5.4 billion approved for this fiscal year. Details show $1.7 billion for construction, down from $2 billion this year. The administration would allocate funds from low-performing construction projects to projects that have a substantial positive economic and/or environmental return.
The Corps budget also proposes the adoption of an alternative funding source to replace the current fuel tax, but does not provide a specific proposal, beyond the earlier proposal to implement a lock usage fee….
On May 7, representatives of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) listened as river industry representatives lobbed tough questions about the proposal of a company, Free Flow Power, to install thousands of small turbines along the bottom of the Mississippi River. The St. Louis public hearings were the last of a series of hearings held up and down the river during April and May to record public input.
Free Flow Power Corporation was founded “to produce cheap, clean, renewable energy from moving water without building new dams or diversions,” according to its Web site (www.free-flow-power.com).
The meetings, called scoping meetings, are only the start of a long licensing and permitting process that will culminate with the writing of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and will offer more opportunities for public and industry input along the way. The steps in the process are laid out under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
Under a tentative schedule, the company expects to engage in study planning through November and file its formal application by December 2010. FERC will prepare a draft EIS by October 2011, according to Ramya Swaminathan, vice president of project development for Free Flow Power….
Three years ago, Jon Gonsoulin, president of LeBeouf Bros. Towing and Bourg Dry Dock, told The Waterways Journal of ambitious plans that included a highly automated shipyard using computer-driven welding and steel-cutting machines to support a barge-construction program for his company. He also planned to build the first of six graving docks on the company’s 1,000 acres at Mile 49 on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW), near Houma, La. He also spoke of his plans to expand and upgrade his fleet of towboats.
Today, all his plans are reality.
On March 6, Bourg Dry Dock launched the fourth 30,000-barrel double-skin tank barge, the Gonsoulin 504, constructed for LeBeouf Bros. Towing in ceremonies at the construction yard. The Gonsoulin 504 is scheduled to be part of a tow with the Gonsoulin 503 and the mv. Jackie Gonsoulin.
Since 2006, when The Waterways Journal carried a story on the new 74- by 28-foot towboat Sydney Ann, LeBeouf Bros. Towing has added the towboats Katie Gonsoulin, Richard Gonsoulin II, Julie Gonsoulin and Jackie Gonsoulin from Intracoastal Iron Works in Bourg La., and the Merle Gonsoulin, Matthew James and Michele Gonsoulin from LaForce Shipyard in Bayou la Batre, Ala.
The 85- by 30-foot towboat H.J. Dupre and 61- by 22-foot Creole Spirit are currently being refurbished and repowered. The H.J. Dupre is being fitted with a larger wheelhouse and quarter deck, internal stairways, and is being repowered with Cummins KTA-50 engines. The Creole Spirit is being repowered with Cummins KTA-19 engines. Bourg Dry Dock is nearing completion on both vessels….
With no slowdown in sight, John Bludworth Shipyard recently announced receipt of a contract to build two 3,300 hp. towboats for Florida Marine Transporters Inc., Mandeville, La. Located in Corpus Christi, Texas, the busy shipyard has already delivered two boats to Florida Marine and has two more under construction, plus other work.
Previously delivered for Florida Marine were the Rena Marie, in October last year, followed by the Grace Nichole in December, both 84 by 30 feet with 2,600 hp.
Underway are the mvs. Capt. Norman Antrainer and John Cox. The Antrainer is a 3,300 hp. towboat, and, like the two just announced, measures 110 by 32 feet; it is due this August. The Cox, which is identical to the Rena Marie and Grace Nichole, is scheduled for completion in December.
Earlier, the shipyard delivered the 1,200 hp mv. San Austin to Buffalo Marine Service, Houston. A second boat for Buffalo Marine is being built that will measure 84 by 30 feet and have 2,000 hp. Expected in May, it will be named San Brendan….
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