Weekly News Summary For August 24-30, 2009:
Representatives of the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority said the state of Louisiana does not have the expertise, or funds, to assume operations and maintenance of the flood gates crossing the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW), which are currently under construction by Corps contractors on both sides of the Mississippi River.
Speaking before 250 people at the 104th annual Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association (GICA) convention in New Orleans on August 14, Tim Doody, president of the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority—East, said once the structures are completed, the Corps is expected to turn them over to the state flood agency to operate.
“Look at the title of the state agency,” Doody said. “Nowhere does it say ‘navigation.’ We believe it is an oversight in [congressional] legislation to give it to the state and provide no funding for operation and maintenance.”
The state wants the Corps to keep the structures and responsibility for operation and maintenance, Doody said, urging GICA members to contact their congressional delegation for legislation to keep the structures under Corps control.
The Corps operates and maintains locks and lock chambers for navigation, much as these flood gates will be, he said. About 40 tows daily are expected to transit the West Bank structure and 25 are expected to transit the East Bank structure daily, including all jet fuel barge tows for Gulf Coast military facilities….
A controversial new study of the Missouri River basin’s water resources proposed by North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan could “rip the basin apart” by reviving old conflicts between upstream and downstream interests, the study’s opponents warned at an August 14 meeting of the Mississippi River Commission. Lynn Muench, senior vice president of The American Waterways Operators, said impounding more Missouri River water upstream could “cripple the economy of Middle America.”
The meeting was held in St. Louis aboard the mv. Mississippi, a towboat belonging to the U. S. Corps of Engineers on which the MRC holds conferences at river towns during two tours each year. Even though MRC has no formal responsibility for the Missouri River, the meeting was dominated by complaints about Dorgan’s efforts to push the study. Virtually every presenter opposed Dorgan’s proposed study.
The study would formally review the intent of the 1944 Flood Control Act, also known the Pick-Sloan Act, that established current Missouri River policy—and that has sparked much litigation over the years between upstream and downstream interests. Courts have generally held that navigation is one of the essential purposes of Pick-Sloan.
Sen. Dorgan, who chairs the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations subcommittee and is a member of several other committees with a say in water project funding, got $25 million appropriated for the study as part of the 2010 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill.
All of Missouri’s elected officials have opposed the study, and several sent representatives to the MRC meeting. On July 29, Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill introduced an amendment to strip the money for the study from the 2010 bill. Earlier, in December, McCaskill and Sen. Kit Bond wrote a letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee asking to remove the study from the 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Bill, in which it was also included, and which was signed into law March 9…
The Maritime Administration announced on August 18 its award of almost $100 million to shipyards around the country in a special stimulus supplement to the Small Shipyard Grants program.
Driven by economic crisis, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (stimulus bill) granted awards a total of 10 times the amount of last year’s regular Small Shipyard Grants, during the first year the program was introduced.
The grants are a 75 percent match for the proposed projects; companies have to come up with the other 25 percent. The one-time ARRA grants come in addition to smaller, regular Small Shipyard Grants that were announced earlier.
As before, shipyards awarded grants were located all over the country.
Of the 70 companies that received the grants, about 20 serve the inland waterways of the Mississippi basin, or are closely affiliated with companies that do.
Last year, few of the grants exceeded $1 million. The average amount of the grants was larger this year, with many between $2 million and $3 million for cranes, forklifts, dock expansions, and other yard equipment. James Built LLC of Calvert City, Ky. received $1,843,935 for a press brake, two rough terrain cranes, a wheelabrator, and a CNC plasma table….
During the second half of an all-day meeting of the Mississippi River Commission, visitors were treated to a tour of chevron dikes that are saving the Corps of Engineers millions in dredging costs—and have helped spur tens of millions more in shoreside investments.
Two of the chevron dikes, shaped like boomerangs with the open end downstream, are located between Merchants Bridge and McKinley Bridge, and the other is just south of McKinley Bridge in St. Louis Harbor.
The project was designed using advanced hydrodynamic modeling at the Corps’ Applied River Engineering Center at the foot of Arsenal Street in St. Louis.
By channeling the Mississippi River’s water in a way that uses it to scour channels on both sides of the chevrons, the dikes save hundreds of thousands a year on dredging costs—up to $925,000, according to one estimate. At that rate, they will pay for themselves in about five years. Between 1999 and 2005, the Corps spent $5.5 million in dredging costs to maintain the required minimum depth of nine feet and channel width of 300 feet.
But those are only the direct benefits to the Corps….
Members of the Harvey Canal Industrial Association (HCIA) and the Coast Guard are continuing to meet in an effort to work out an arrangement in which commercial vessels can be granted waivers to remain in the Algiers and Harvey Canals when hurricanes approach.
The most recent meeting was held August 13. The Times Picayune headline reported storm policy rules were “eased.” Guidelines to consider allowing waivers for vessels to remain in the canals were proposed by Capt. Ed Stanton, commander of Coast Guard Sector New Orleans, at an earlier meeting with HCIA.
Even though he understood the cost and complexity of clearing out floating vessels from the canals, Stanton said at the previous meeting that he was opposed to granting waivers.
The waivers could be granted, he said, but as a minimum requirement, industry would have to demonstrate its vessel moorings could withstand a 100-year hurricane. Such a storm would put a 10-foot storm surge and 135 mph. winds in the canals, which connect the Mississippi River and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway on the west bank in New Orleans.
“We agreed on a new way forward,” the paper quoted Stanton. “Businesses can keep vessels in the canal if they take sufficient measures to mitigate the risk of barges breaking loose and damaging floodwalls.”…
On August 12, St. Louis-based publishing company The Waterways Journal Inc. acquired the assets of Little Horse Enterprises Inc., which includes the bi-monthly magazine International Dredging Review (IDR), an annual directory for the worldwide dredging industry and a Web site, www.dredgemag.com. That day, H. Nelson Spencer, owner of The Waterways Journal, and Judith Powers, owner of Little Horse Enterprises, signed documents in their respective offices in St. Louis and Fort Collins, Colo., effecting the transfer of ownership.
“I had been running the company as well as writing and editing the magazine for 28 years,” said Powers, who continues as editor as an employee of The Waterways Journal. “It was time for a company with a wider business capability to take over the operation. This way I can concentrate on covering and writing industry news. Running the business was starting to dominate my work days.”
“I recently saw a copy of The Waterways Journal in the break room of the hopper dredge B.E. Lindholm on the East Coast,” said Powers. “Everybody in the marine world in the U.S. is familiar with The Waterways Journal, and all have good things to say about the company and the owners. The Waterways Journal was my first pick as a new home for IDR, and the dredging industry is fortunate that they are taking it on.”
The Waterways Journal, founded in 1887 in St. Louis, is a well-established family run business serving the inland and Gulf intracoastal waterways. The flagship of the company is The Waterways Journal, a weekly trade publication for the inland barge industry. The company also publishes a magazine for recreational boating in the Midwest and South titled Heartland Boating, as well as related directories and books.
“The Waterways Journal prides itself on serving our customers well and fighting for their needs,” said publisher H. Nelson Spencer. “IDR is a good fit for us because dredgers share a lot of the same needs as inland navigation, including common sense legislation, proper public funding, industry cohesiveness and better public outreach. IDR will be a powerful proponent on all issues important to its readers and advertisers. Fortunately, we don’t have very far to go, as Judith has done an outstanding job of nurturing the magazine for the past 28 years and building quality relationships along the way. She is very well respected in the dredging community and we are very happy and fortunate to have her join us.”…
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