Weekly News Summary For May 24-30, 2010:
One month after the tragic fire and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig, engineers of oil giant BP are still struggling to control the release of crude oil after the blowout preventer failed during evacuation on April 19.
BP admits to 5,000 barrels of crude leaking from the damaged well site per day. Other media accounts say it could be significantly more.
By May 19, BP said it had inserted a tube into the damaged well head and was recovering as much as 3,000 barrels daily. The Transocean-owned rig was drilling in 5,000 feet of water about 50 miles from the Louisiana coast.
Meanwhile, state officials along the Gulf Coast began seeing tar balls along beaches. The first were reported at Dauphin Island, an Alabama barrier island, then along Mississippi islands and along the Louisiana coastline. Tests are being conducted to determine if the tar balls are related to BP spill. There is concern that much of the heavy crude oil is suspended in the water column and not reaching the surface.
Another big concern is that the crude oil will get into the marshlands that provide habitat for spawning fisheries species. A coating of oil could kill the marsh grass and micro-organisms at the bottom of the food chain, eventually starving shrimp, oysters, crabs and fish….
After a years-long struggle by fans and supporters of the Rock Island Swing Bridge that crosses the Mississippi River at Inver Grove Heights, Minn., to find ways to preserve it, the old bridge is set for the final stages of its demolition beginning May 24.
The action was made possible by Minnesota’s cancellation of a two-year moratorium on any further demolition it passed last year as efforts to save the bridge were underway. The moratorium bill was passed after some spans were demolished last summer.
However, two existing spans totaling a 670-foot section of the bridge will be retained as a fishing pier and river viewing area, said Eric Carlson, director of parks and recreation for the city of Inver Grove Heights. That section currently stands on Piers 3 and 4. After Piers 6, 7 and 8 are removed, two new spans to connect the existing section with the shore will be built and installed, he told The Waterways Journal.
Rehabilitation plans are estimated at $2.2 million, according to a Web site that details the city’s plans at www.ci.inver-grove-heights.mn.us/index.aspx?NID=419. But it notes that funding is still not settled, and asks visitors for donations….
Point Bio Energy LLC will locate a new manufacturing facility in the Port of Baton Rouge to manufacture wood pellets for generating electricity. The new facility will create up to 100 new direct jobs, 273 new indirect jobs, and represent more than $100 million in capital investment, the port said in an announcement.
The plant is scheduled to begin construction this summer, and will begin delivering product in the fourth quarter of 2011, said Bill New, Point Bio Energy LLC chief executive officer. The majority of the wood pellets will be exported to Europe, which will result in increased shipping activity at the port. The estimated 450,000 metric tons of wood pellets produced annually from the plant will also be an economic boon to Louisiana’s forest products industry, which has been hit hard recently due to the national decline in new housing construction and in the pulp and paper industry.
The wood pellet industry has experienced significant growth recently due to a push by European countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The lumber-based fuel is seen as a “greener” alternative to coal. Demand for wood pellets has increased from 6.9 million tons to 8.9 million tons and is expected to grow by 25–30 percent in the near future. Wood pellets have both industrial and residential applications as fuel and, unlike fossil fuels, are considered carbon-neutral because wood releases the same amount of carbon whether it’s burned or decays on its own.
The Point Bio Energy plant will purchase timber from south Louisiana, grind it into sawdust at the port, and press it into small pellets with the same type of machinery used to make dry dog food.
According to Point Bio officials, the deep-water Port of Greater Baton Rouge was selected due to a number of strategic advantages, including being located within a sustainable forest management area with an ample amount of suitable timber acreage. This distinction provides Point Bio an opportunity to transport significant wood supplies to its facility at a much lower price point than its competitors….
America’s waterways have historically made, and continue to make, important contributions to a competitive economy and energy conservation. They also continue to make valuable contributions to America’s national security and defense.
During World War II, the Atlantic Intracostal Waterway functioned as a critical transportation route for military supplies bound for Europe, secure from the threat posed by German U-boats that patrolled off the Atlantic coast. At the same time, the Tennessee River provided navigation to the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in eastern Tennessee, a facility that was integral to the success of the Manhattan Project. The 1960s saw components of the Saturn V, the vehicle that successfully carried the first man to the moon, transported by barge to and from design and test facilities at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
One current example of the waterways’ valuable contributions to America’s national security and defense is their efficient use by the Delta Mariner. Designed and built to safely transport sensitive high-value cargo on both inland rivers and open oceans, the 312- by 85-foot, 8,000 hp. Delta Mariner is the largest vessel to operate on America’s inland waterway system. The Delta Mariner transports Atlas and Delta rocket components that are too large to efficiently transport by highway or rail, and are critical to our nation’s space program and national security. Common Booster Cores, used to propel payloads into orbit, are shipped from the United Launch Alliance 1.5 million-square-foot assembly facility on the Tennessee River in Decatur, Ala., to launch sites in Florida and California via the Ohio and Mississippi rivers….
Col. Milton Barschdorf, 97, longtime Greenville Port director and the founder of the Inland Rivers Ports & Terminals Inc., died May 3 at the Belvoir Woods Health Center, Fairfax, Va.
Barschdorf began working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1938; in 1955, he was named deputy commander of the Lower Mississippi Valley Engineer Division and secretary of the Mississippi River Commission. A year later, he assumed command of the Vicksburg Engineer District, where he served until his retirement from the Corps in 1959.
He was then named to the newly created position of port director for the Port of Greenville, a post he held until his retirement in 1982.
Under Barschdorf’s leadership, the Port of Greenville became one of the leading shallow-draft river ports on the Mississippi River.
The port’s public terminal operations grew beyond all projections. Vigorous marketing and public relations activities in developing and soliciting cargo resulted in several “firsts” for the Port of Greenville—innovative packaging, loading out and shipment of finished lumber by barge throughout the inland waterway system, first LASH barge trial shipment for direct export to overseas destinations; designation as an official port of entry with resident customs agent; inauguration of oceangoing vessels of the Mini Line with headquarters in the Port of Greenville; and shipment by containers….
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