Weekly News Summary For July 27 - August 2, 2009:
Test runs using remotely controlled physical models running through the Lake Borgne Surge Barrier flood gates under construction on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway were “much easier” than the transits reflected in simulator models, noted Raymond Butler, executive director of the Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association.
Butler and other industry representatives used the Corps of Engineers facility at Vicksburg to test models on July 14. Models using 1:100 scale of the structures and a tow are “very impressive and a testament to the talent and skill of Howard Park, Randy McCollum and their team of technicians and craftsmen,” he added.
However, using the remotely controlled models produced a new issue not seen in computer modeling. Eastbound tows stalled in flood tides.
Also tested during Industry Day was the model for the West Closure Complex, which will block flood waters from entering the New Orleans metropolitan area from the GIWW west of the confluence of the Harvey and Algiers canals.
“We visited the West Closure Complex and ran a scale-model 70-foot-wide tow through its 225-foot-wide navigation span,” Butler said in an e-mail. “The dramatic reduction in risk of allision, compared with the 150-foot width at Lake Borgne, is very apparent! There were no problems at all apparent during the brief time we were able to run the model through this structure, even at its maximum flow rate.”…
Waterways Council Inc. president and chief executive officer Cornel Martin told St. Louis-area WCI members July 20 that all parties are working hard toward a resolution of the infrastructure-funding crisis on the inland waterways.
Martin and WCI communications director Debora Colbert were in St. Louis for an editorial board meeting with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The WCI officials were accompanied to the newspaper office by officials from the Nature Conservancy and Audubon Society, along with local navigation representatives, all in support of WCI’s message about the advantages of water transportation.
“It’s kind of disarming when you come in with a team approach and a message that our waterways are not just about commerce; they’re about the environment, fuel efficiency, about all the positive things we want to say,” Martin said. The Nature Conservancy and Audubon have joined with WCI to push for the Navigation and Ecosystem Sustainability Program (NESP), the navigation and environmental improvements authorized under the Water Resources Development Act of 2007.
The Post editors didn’t make any commitments for editorials or coverage, but they were “very positive” in their comments and feedback, Martin said….
The House voted 320–97 July 17 in favor of the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010 (H.R. 3183), which includes $5.5 billion for the fiscal year 2010 civil works program of the Army Corps of Engineers.
The total for the Corps includes $2.12 billion for construction, $2.5 billion for operations and maintenance, $142 million for investigations, and $190 million for the Corps’ regulatory program.
The House rejected the administration’s proposed lockage fee to replace the current fuel tax to fund the Inland Waterways Trust Fund, stating that none of the funds will be used to award any continuing contract that commits additional money from the Trust Fund unless or until such time that a long-term mechanism to enhance revenues in the fund sufficient to meet the cost-sharing authorized in the Water Resources Development Act of 1986 is enacted….
The U.S. Maritime Administration has announced $17.1 million in grants to 14 small shipyards in 10 states, part of the Assistance to Small Shipyards program.
“Small shipyards are vitally important for the health of the maritime industry, and for the nation’s economy,” said Ray LaHood, secretary of transportation. MarAd is an agency of the Transportation Department.
The purpose of the grants is to make capital and infrastructure improvements that facilitate the efficiency, quality and competitiveness of shipyards.
The Department of Transportation is also using the Small Shipyard Grants program to administer grants to be made under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Those grants will total $98 million and are expected to be announced shortly….
In 1982, Johnston’s Port 33 purchased land at Mile 432 of the Arkansas River to develop a terminal. The site was a success. In less than 20 years, the terminal was at full capacity.
“Warehouses, oil tanks, outside storage pads, grain elevators, offices, roads and docks had taken all the available space on our 35-acre site while handling nearly 2 million tons annually,” said Steve Taylor, vice president.
The terminal needed to expand, and from that need grew Johnston’s Port 33 South. In 2000, the company contracted to purchase 90 acres just downriver of the current site, subject to lowering the flood plain in the area.
However, site selection may have been the easy part. The site was a “prior converted wetland,” so it could be developed, but it was below the 100-year flood plain, Taylor explained. It took 2-1/2 years and work with an independent engineering firm to prove that the existing flood plain was incorrect. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) ultimately agreed to lower the flood level….
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