Weekly News Summary For June 1-7, 2009:
Washington, D.C.—The American Waterways Operators (AWO) and Waterways Council Inc. (WCI) have criticized the administration’s fiscal year 2010 budget proposal to replace the inland waterways fuel tax with a lockage tax.
A similar proposal was made by the Bush administration and rejected by the 110th Congress.
Urging Congress to reject the proposal again, AWO said that “replacing the excise tax on fuel that equitably distributes taxes on all commercial waterways users with a lock usage tax would impose disproportionate tax burdens on vessels transiting certain segments of the inland waterways, while other vessels using the system would pay little or nothing.
“This flawed approach would increase the cost of shipping essential commodities such as grain and petroleum and would undermine the nation’s inland waterways transportation system, the most economical and environmentally friendly mode of cargo transportation. Moreover, it would not solve the waste and over-expenditure problems that plague the current system for constructing and funding vital inland waterways infrastructure.”
Tom Allegretti, president and chief executive officer of the association, said that spending tax money wisely “cannot occur until bad habits have been reformed. While it is industry’s responsibility to pay its fair share of taxes, it is the government’s responsibility not to waste tax dollars. The lock usage tax proposal doesn’t achieve either goal. Imposing this tax would unfairly burden the mode of transportation that has the smallest carbon footprint and still has unused capacity. It is totally counterproductive.”…
In a rain-drenched ceremony May 27, the Louisville Engineer District dedicated the newest lock on the inland waterway system, the $430 million second chamber at McAlpine Locks and Dam at Louisville.
The new lock chamber, 10 years in the making, gives the McAlpine facility twin 1,200-foot locks, both for the purpose of speeding navigation traffic and as a backup in case one chamber would have to be taken out of service.
The dedication ceremony was held on the concrete apron between the two chambers, but unfortunately the heavens opened up and a downpour began just moments after the first speaker took to the microphone. Fortunately, however, two large tents—one covering the speakers and one over the some 200 invited guests—kept everybody reasonably dry.
“There’s an old Army saying: if it ain’t raining, we ain’t training,” said Lt. Gen. Robert Van Antwerp, commanding general of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “I guess we’re training today.”
Despite the weather, though, he said the dedication event marked “really a great day for America.”…
Mississippi state lawmakers approved a bill that gives the Port of Greenville a $3 million grant for improvements, including dock renovation, a new automated grain-handling facility, and new ground equipment.
Port officials praised the bill, calling it a first step toward bringing Greenville and the Mississippi Delta “back on path to economic recovery,” according to a May 20 press release by the port.
Port Commission Chairman Phield Parish said the commission began working on setting port development priorities in early 2008. After the priority list was completed in June, the commission began its search for funding sources.
“We started walking through the halls of state agencies, state government, and Congress to determine support and funding that those programs might warrant. I’m tickled today to say that we were successful in those efforts,” said Parish. Though reduced from the amount originally asked for, the $3 million was welcome nevertheless….
Five fishermen set out from Dulac, La., in a 24-foot aluminum boat 10 p.m. on the night of May 20 for a midnight fishing tournament, part of an annual event called the Oilman’s Fishing Rodeo.
Sometime that night, the boat struck a stationary barge along the Falgout Canal, near Bayou Dularge, La., landing under the barge’s rake bow and killing all five men aboard. Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Captain Samuel Martin told the Associated Press that the men apparently hit their heads on the barge’s underside. The men died from head trauma; drowning was not a factor, the county coroner told the Associated Press.
The men’s bodies were not discovered until just before 10 the next morning, when a barge worker spotted the boat and one body protruding from underneath the barge, the Terrebonne Parish sheriff told wwltv.com. The boat was still upright with the bodies inside, except for one man who apparently crawled onto the barge, where he died from trauma and blood loss. Department of Wildlife and Fisheries spokeswoman Marianne Burke said investigators were determining whether the barges had their required lights turned on.
The victims were described as regular contestants in the fishing event. Two were from Louisiana and three lived in Texas; their ages ranged from 43 to 59. The men were described by the Independent Weekly as being well known in Louisiana’s oilfield community….
Turn Services introduced two new horses to the river industry during a christening celebration April 24 in New Orleans, La. The mv. Affirmed and mv. Citation are identical vessels designed by Corning Townsend and built by C & C Boat Works in Belle Chasse, La.
The new boats replace the mv. Secretariat that was sold in April to Grifco Transportation and renamed the Clay Griffin (see related story in this issue). While they are 60 feet shorter in length than the 131-foot Clay Griffin, they have close to the same amount of power. The new boats generate 2,200 hp. each. They are the 11th and 12th boats for Turn Services.
Only a couple days after Earth Day, Frank Morton Sr., president of Turn Services, couldn’t help but note the fuel efficiency of the vessels. They are now a part of an industry that is “the most environmentally friendly mode of transportation,” he said. Morton, who also serves as vice chairman for American Waterways Operators (AWO) Southern Region, added that industry continues to increase the environmental advantage of barge transportation.
Morton welcomed another partner of Turn Services to the stage, Capt. Lincoln Stroh, commander of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Sector New Orleans.
Stroh, who has since been assigned to Washington, D.C., as the Coast Guard’s deputy director of prevention policy, presented the U.S. flag to the captains of each vessel. He also announced that Turn Services, like its affiliate Associated Terminals, has offered the Coast Guard use of its vessels as training platforms….
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