Weekly News Summary For May 22-28, 2006:
Coast Guard Reveals Proposal For TWIC
The Transportation Security Administration and U.S. Coast Guard have announced they have approved proposed regulations for a biometric-based identification credential for port workers. The credential, called the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) would use “Smart Card” technology and would include fingerprints, photograph and basic information about the worker.
“TWIC is designed to ensure that individuals posing a security threat do not gain access to our nation’s ports,” said Kip Hawley, assistant secretary of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The proposed rulemaking “represents a significant milestone toward putting TWIC on the fast track,” he said.
The TWIC will be the subject of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) with a 45-day comment period and four public hearings. As of WJ press time, the notice had not yet been published in the Federal Register.
TSA estimates that workers will pay about $139 to receive a TWIC. Workers with current, comparable background checks would pay about $105 for the credential, TSA said in the announcement. The TWIC would be valid for five years….
The Army Corps of Engineers has revised its estimate for completing the interim gates and temporary pumps on the 17th Street and London Avenue outfall canals to mid-to-late June.
This delay will not affect the Corps’ ability to restore pre-Katrina levels of flood protection to New Orleans. The Corps will complete the work on the gates and pumps at the Orleans Avenue Canal by June 1. They will also restore the hurricane damaged levees and floodwalls along the rest of the New Orleans area hurricane protection system to their pre-Katrina level of protection by June 1.
“Our goal since February when we started on the gates was to have them ready for the start of the hurricane season June 1,” said Col. Lewis Setliff III, commander of the Corps Task Force Guardian, in a release.
“If we’re faced with a storm surge in Lake Pontchartrain before the structures are ready to fully operate, we have plans to close the canals using sheet piles and to pump storm water from the canals into the lake using portable pumps.”
Towing industry concerns about the undocumented girth of a visiting queen were dispelled May 15 as the excursion steamer Delta Queen barely squeezed through the auxiliary chambers at Wilson Lock with only inches to spare. The Queen, like all river traffic, was detoured around the main chamber, which has been closed for routine maintenance and repairs since May 2.
The DQ’s “measurements” are not the same as currently listed in the Inland River Record, and therein lies the rub (pun intended).
The newer, main lock, which opened to navigation in 1959, measures 600 by 110 feet and has a single 94-foot lift, but the original facility, built in 1927, consists of two 292- by 60-foot chambers, working in tandem to accommodate the difference in elevation necessary to bypass the infamous Muscle Shoals at Tennessee River Mile 259.
When towing industry officials first learned the Delta Queen was scheduled for a trip to Chattanooga during the main lock chamber closure, they were concerned the old steamer may not have enough clearance to navigate the old lock chambers. Some feared the wall dimensions may have varied since they were built in 1927. There was also concern that the Queen’s recorded dimensions might be off by a few inches following a hull replacement several years ago….
Advance Boiler & Tank, a tenant at the Port of Milwaukee located at the port’s inner harbor mooring basin, is receiving several barges containing steel for a local power plant construction project.
Advance Boiler is fabricating these pieces and then barging them to the power plant later this summer. The first barge arrived on May 3 while others are expected in June, October, November, December and March.
Betty Nowak, development and marketing representative for the Port of Milwaukee, said a relatively new U.S. Coast Guard regulation allowed the port to work with river barges.
“We were able to work with the Coast Guard to allow river barges up here,” she said. “The regulations are that the barges must be 10 years old or younger, no more than three barges in a tow, tows must be within five miles of shore, cargoes must be dry, non-hazardous and waves must be lower than five feet. We also developed some safe harbors where they can turn into if a storm comes in.”…
Paul Johnston, spokesman for the Northwestern Engineer District, said the Missouri River spring rise is working its way downstream after peak flows ended on May 13 and 14 after the pulse was initiated at midnight May 12.
The rise is initiated to promote the spawning of the endangered pallid sturgeon.
“The releases were cut off on Tuesday (May 16), and peak flows take 10 days to get to St. Louis,” he said. “So that puts us at the 23rd, and all indicators show the tributaries falling off to the point that the water levels will be lower than what they were before the pulse was initiated.”
The pulse was 9,000 cubic feet per second (cfs.). Releases were incrementally increased above the 16,000 cfs. currently being provided to support minimum navigation. The peak release of 25,000 cfs. was held for two days.
As the pulse travels downstream, these flows were forecasted to raise the river by 2.5 feet near Omaha and taper off to about a foot in central Missouri.
Beginning May 16, releases were to be gradually reduced over 10 days until they reach the level necessary to maintain minimum service flows….
Point Pleasant, W.Va.—AEP/Memco honored longtime employee and recently retired Capt. Leonard Whittington on April 24 by dedicating the mv. Leonard L. Whittington. The boat is the former mv. F.M. Baker.
The dedication took place at the Point Pleasant Riverfront Park as a crowd of friends, coworkers and relatives looked on.
Capt. Bruce Darst, port captain with AEP River Transportation, made the welcoming remarks and introductions. Point Pleasant Mayor Jim Wilson was recognized and in his remarks recognized AEP’s contributions to the community. Keith Darling, senior vice president-towboat operations for AEP/Memco, noted that Capt. Whittington began his career with O.F. Shearer & Sons, the forerunner of the AEP fleet, in 1959. He also noted Ann Shearer in attendance, widow of Capt. Bert Shearer, who had been very active in the family company at the time that Whittington began as a deckhand.
Role Model
Darling introduced Capt Whittington’s wife Linda by saying that she was the only thing he had had longer than his career with the company, referencing their 48-year marriage. He went on to say that he had searched for some “dirt” on Leonard to use at this dedication, but had been unsuccessful. He described Capt. Whittington as a dedicated 46-year employee who protected his crew, as well as the company assets, that he always did the right thing and is a loving husband and family man—“a role model for us all.”…
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