Weekly News Summary For July 5-11, 2010:
A bipartisan group of 47 senators and congressmen sent a letter to President Obama on June 28 asking for permanent separation between Chicago waterways and Lake Michigan as a way to stop Asian carp from entering the lake.
At the same time, legislation was introduced in both the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate to require the Corps of Engineers to speed up studies of the costs and benefits of a so-called hydrological separation of the two systems, entailing permanent closures of locks. The Corps maintains that it would take five years of research to determine whether that would be the best step; the bill calls for an expedited study to be completed by 18 months.
Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) introduced the “Permanent Prevention of Asian Carp Act” in the Senate. Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) introduced similar legislation in the House.
“Last week’s discovery of an Asian carp in Lake Calumet was a wake-up call that we need to do more and we need to do it quickly,” said Durbin.
“We can’t wait while the Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies broadly examine methods of controlling invasive species; we must act now. Our bill creates an expedited study of the feasibility of separating the waterways. While this method would require a complex feat of engineering, we need to understand the costs and benefits and whether this method offers the best hope for a long-term solution for containing not only the carp, but other invasive species.”…
Eagle Claw Fabrication LLC announced plans last week to build a 150,000-square-foot facility specifically designed for the construction of wind turbine towers at the Port of Muskogee, Okla.
Eagle Claw expects to create approximately 175 jobs in Phase 1 of the project.
Groundbreaking for the $28 million manufacturing facility is targeted for the third quarter of 2010, and it is scheduled to come online as early as spring of 2011. Eagle Claw plans to move to full capacity late in 2011 to meet growing demand for new wind towers.
The 47-acre site for the facility is within the jurisdictional boundaries of the Port of Muskogee, located at River Mile 393 on the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System. The site is adjacent to the port’s railcar marshaling yard, connecting with the Union Pacific Railroad in Muskogee.
“Access to the McClellan-Kerr Waterway, via the Port of Muskogee, provides Eagle Claw with unique and substantive competitive advantages over other turbine tower manufacturers, including substantial transportation cost savings that can be passed along to its clients,” said Eagle Claw founder Tom Word. Over the last 35 years, Word has owned, operated, managed and subsequently sold multiple U.S. steel fabrication companies….
“We oppose this legislation. All the McCain bill would do is put more Americans out of work.”
That unequivocal “no” was expressed by the Maritime Cabotage Task Force (MCTF) in reacting to the introduction by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) of a bill that would repeal Jones Act restrictions on coastwise trade. The measure (S. 3525) introduced June 23 would amend the law to permit the issuance of a coastwise endorsement for a vessel that qualifies under U.S. law to engage in the coastwise trade.
While introducing his bill on the Senate floor, McCain said, “This antiquated and protectionist law has been predominantly featured in the news as of late due to the Gulf coast oil spill.
“Within a week of the explosion, 13 countries, including several European nations, offered assistance from vessels and crews with experience in removing oil spill debris, and as of June 21, the State Department has acknowledged that overall it has had 21 aid offers from 17 countries. However due to the Jones Act, these vessels are not permitted in U.S. waters.”…
Thirty years ago there existed many family-owned and managed river transportation companies. Today, few remain due to consolidations within the industry and the recessionary environment of the 1980s. A few privately held firms remain, some utilizing professional and non-family management. One of the few families still talking business around the Thanksgiving dinner table are the Parkers of Tuscaloosa, Ala. Parker Towing Company was founded in 1940 by a young Capt. Tim Parker, now deceased, with the purchase of a used sternwheel towboat. The company has grown to be one of the largest barge and towing firms in the Southeast, currently operating 20 boats and 224 owned hopper barges with additional boats and barges under contract for delivery later this year.
Carrying on the tradition is Tim Parker Jr. chairman of the firm. Parker is a graduate of the University of Alabama and the Harvard Business School’s Owner/President Management Program. Following graduation from Alabama in 1966, Tim served two years of active duty in the U.S. Army, including a tour in Vietnam. Returning to Tuscaloosa after the Army, Tim joined the family business.
It did not take long to determine that the timing was not right. “My father and I clashed over almost everything. We mutually agreed that I should work somewhere else and perhaps return later. It was absolutely amazing, when I returned five years later how much my father had blossomed, matured and become much more intelligent. The obvious truth was that I was too immature and young to give him credit for what he had accomplished; namely starting a business from scratch, working through some hard times and laying the foundation for a business that had a chance to succeed for multiple generations.”
Long active in civic affairs, Tim Jr. served 12 years as a member of the Alabama State Legislature. He’s a past chairman of the Tuscaloosa County Industrial Development Authority and has long been active as an alumnus of the University of Alabama. Today he serves as chairman of the Alabama State Port Authority and as a member of the Inland Waterways Users Board. In addition, Parker is on the board of directors of Mercedes-Benz U.S. International Inc. He’s been active in too many waterways and civic groups to list here.
In September 2009, Alec G. Dreyer became the first person with a non-maritime background to be to be hired as chief executive officer of the Port of Houston Authority.
Dreyer had spent two years as chief executive officer and a director of Horizon Wind Energy LLC, a wind energy developer, until it was sold to Energias do Portugal S.A., a Portuguese utility. From 2000 to 2005, he served as executive vice president of Dynegy Inc., a publicly traded company, and president of DynegyGeneration, one of its divisions.
Prior to 2000, Dreyer was president of Illinova Generating Company and senior vice president of Illinois Power Company. He began his career as a senior manager in the accounting and auditing services division of PriceWaterhouse in St. Louis, where he earned a B.A. from the University of Illinois and an M.B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis.
Dreyer currently serves as non-executive chairman of the board of Comverge Inc., a clean energy company that provides metering solutions to electric utilities and their customers. He has also served on the board of directors of publicly traded EcoSecurities Group PLC, which sources, develops and trades carbon credits….
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