Weekly News Summary For June 7-13, 2010:
Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, designated National Incident Commander for federal efforts to fight the massive oil spill leaking from the sea floor after the sinking of the drill rig Deepwater Horizon, said June 2 that he has told British Petroleum, the rig’s operator, to pay for five additional sand berms, for a total of six, in the Gulf of Mexico to block floating oil from contaminating coastal marshes and wetlands.
The sand berms have been strenuously urged by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and other state officials. They are to be built with material dredged from near coastal waters or the outer reaches of the Mississippi River delta.
In recent weeks, Jindal has accused the Corps of Engineers of delaying on the berm proposal, and has said that Louisiana might go ahead with its own efforts to build the berms without seeking the federal permits or approvals that would otherwise be required. Criticism has been increasing of the federal response to the spill. Jindal has also been adamant that British Petroleum will ultimately have to pay for all of the state’s cleanup efforts.
Allen’s statement said: “Consistent with all the work undertaken in recent weeks to assess Louisiana’s barrier island proposal and gather input from local officials, environmental experts, and top scientists and engineers, I have directed BP to pay for five additional barrier island projects in addition to the one I approved last week as part of our continuing commitment to do everything possible to protect our vital coastal communities from BP’s leaking oil. Based on a thorough expert analysis, we believe that these six total projects, which will be constructed expeditiously in the areas most at risk for long-term impact by oil, will effectively stem potential damage to these fragile shorelines.
“After committing to providing Gov. Jindal our determination within 24 hours of our meeting with local officials and environmental experts to discuss these projects yesterday, I notified him this afternoon. I reiterated to him that this administration will hold BP responsible for providing full payment for any strategy that will protect our valuable coastal communities from the impacts of their catastrophe.”…
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….
When is a rule not a rule, but “more of a guideline,” in a well-known phrase? Apparently, it depends on your point of view. The authors of one particular rule have a different view than those it affects.
Many inland ports are under the impression that they face a cutoff of automatic annual Corps of Engineers dredging if their annual cargoes fall below a million tons. Sometime around 2005, several sources told The Waterways Journal, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, looking for ways to save money, came up with a cost-cutting idea soon embodied in a rule.
The rule would limit automatic annual dredging by the Corps of Engineers at certain coastal ports that didn’t meet a cost-benefit analysis to justify the annual expense—or so OMB thought. The figure that OMB allegedly arrived at was a million tons of cargo a year. Any port that didn’t meet that target would not automatically receive annual dredging.
But the Corps of Engineers says it’s not really a rule, despite what those on the receiving end of the cutoff say.
Doug Garman, a public affairs officer for the Corps of Engineers, told The Waterways Journal in an e-mail: “The Office of Management and Budget has not imposed a rule that precludes ports with less than a million tons of cargo a year from receiving funds for maintenance dredging.”
The Memphis Engineer District rededicated the dredge Hurley in a ceremony June 1, following an eleven-month project to lengthen the vessel by 48 feet.
Called one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken by the district’s Ensley Engineer Yard, the work resulted in a dredge that can work in significantly deeper water. That makes the 17-year-old vessel a much more valuable asset for work in the deep-draft channel portion of the Mississippi River below Baton Rouge, La.
Essentially, workers drydocked the dredge, sliced off its front end (called the “horns”), welded in 48-foot extensions (called “sponsons”) and reattached the horns. They also constructed a new and longer “ladder,” which is the huge trestle-like structure that supports and adjusts the dredge’s suction head. Several other significant upgrades were also performed.
Construction of the new ladder began last summer at the Ensley yard, while the Hurley was still out working. The vessel entered the Ensley drydock in January, after the 2009 dredging season was over. The new ladder was installed by the end of March, and the structural welding of the extensions was completed in early May.
Other important work performed including relocation of the powerful ladder hoisting winch, and construction and installation of a new A-frame to support the front end of the lengthened ladder structure….
The civil works program of the Army Corps of Engineers, funding, future dredging, and quality management were among the areas covered at the National Dredging Meeting May 26 in Washington, D.C.
Discussing the Corps’ future dredging program was Jim Walker, chief of the Corps’ navigation branch, who listed several dredging goals: Maximize funds spent on moving material; optimize use of dredging equipment; and optimize contracting process development.
Walker said if the “status quo” is maintained, the dredging program will be faced with declining funds and purchasing power, fewer maintained channels, and reduced depth and width. A full Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, he said, could double the program, provide new capital investments in equipment and better maintained channels, provide more maintained channels and open the way for more beneficial use of dredged material.
Walker recommended an assessment of the Corps’ inventory that would determine how many of the nearly 1,000 navigation projects are being actively maintained, and what would it take to fully maintain those projects. He looked for answers to a number of questions, such as what percent of maintenance dredging material is presently being beneficially used; how long until channels cannot be maintained due to lack of adequate material placement; and what is the current material placement capacity.
Among the dozen speakers was Gary A. Loew, chief of the Corps’ Programs Integration Division, who said the Corps expects “a major debate on federal funding priorities” beginning with the fiscal year 2011 budget….
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