Weekly News Summary For October 9-15, 2006:
Congress Puts Off WRDA Until After November Election
Two days before adjourning for the congressional elections, House and Senate negotiators on the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) issued a joint statement that the bill (H.R. 2864) was being put on hold until Congress returns November 9.
“We made a great deal of progress and there was a lot of good faith compromise and negotiation involved,” said Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. “We just ran out of time. But we’re all committed to completing a comprehensive WRDA bill when we return after the November elections. In the meantime, we’ve instructed our staffs to continue to meet throughout the recess to address many of the unresolved issues.”
Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, said that significant progress was made but that “time simply ran out to pass a bill by the end of September.” Inhofe said he looks forward to returning in November to work toward passage of the bill “as soon as possible. A WRDA bill is long overdue and I have every intention of completing the bill this year.”…
As soon as funding can be obtained, the navigation industry can have at its fingertips a new high-tech means of “reading the river” that may reduce the chances of another calamitous halt to river traffic such as occurred in 2005 on the upper Ohio River.
Demonstrated to industry and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials September 12, at Tom Bevill Lock and Dam on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, the Real Time Current Measurement (RTCM) system will provide pilots with a real-time measurement of the current at a lock before they make their approach or departure.
Scott Noble, senior vice president-shore based operations and services for Ingram Barge Company and one of the developers of the concept, had been challenged to think “outside the box” for a way to prevent occurrences like the ones at Pike Island, Belleville and Montgomery locks last winter. He was also chairman of the River Industry Executive Task Force at the time, which was asked by the Coast Guard to study the incidents.
“One thing we came up with is the fact that our pilots have very scant information about what the currents are doing as they approach locks, bridges and other structures,” he said. The locks either put the word “outdraft” up on the message board or the pilot has to rely on what the lockmaster says or what other pilots are able to tell him, none of which provide him with “very definitive” data.
Noble contacted the engineering department of Vanderbilt University and together they concocted the idea of putting a mechanical device in the lock approach to gauge the current. Unbeknownst to them, the Corps of Engineers was already testing just such an instrument….
With 85 percent of the nation’s 4,800 towing vessels homeported within the jurisdiction of the Eighth Coast Guard District, which includes most of the Mississippi River system, Rear Adm. Joel Whitehead updated the members of the Maritime Navigation Safety Association (MNSA) meeting in New Orleans on vessel security plan verifications and uninspected towing vessel developments.
Whitehead, in one of his first major presentations since taking command of the Eighth District, said the Coast Guard has already verified security plans of 1,600 of the 3,000 vessels in the district.
“My goal is to achieve 100 percent compliance by partnering with industry to verify that all towing vessels meet the MTSA requirements by the December 31 deadline,” he said, thanking those who have already been examined and urging the rest to schedule exams.
“Vessels that have not completed this exam by the deadline may face unnecessary operational delays,” he cautioned.
With Congress mandating that towing vessels be added to the list of inspected vessels, “We are basically going to add over 5,000 vessels to the Coast Guard’s fleet of responsibility for inspections.”
“As we all know, this is a significant and major regulatory project that requires the towing vessel community’s input and time,” he said, adding the Coast Guard received “an overwhelming number of replies” after a request for comments in the Federal Register in December 2004….
American Commercial Lines Inc. (ACL), Jeffersonville, Ind., announced last week that it will offer the nation’s first Inland River Pre-License Steersman training program in partnership with the Northeast Maritime Institute, Fairhaven, Mass.
The program, which was approved by the U.S. Coast Guard on August 31, can shorten the total time of license eligibility for apprentice mate—the first stage in the licensing process of a professional mariner—by approximately 50 percent, ACL said in the announcement. The program includes classroom, simulator and sea time.
The new program will initially be offered only to ACL employees.
ACL and Northeast Maritime Institute are currently working on the next phase of the program, which may further shorten the remaining licensing period….
Dark clouds, an overcast sky, rumbles of thunder and intermittent showers failed to dampen the spirit for participants at Ingram Barge Company’s dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony conducted at its new Paducah operations facility September 28.
Instead of holding the ribbon cutting ceremony in front of the attractive, multi-million dollar facility with the name emblazoned across the main entrance, attendees gathered beneath a large tent erected in the parking lot to shelter guests from thundershowers that drifted across the area throughout the day. In his welcoming remarks, Craig Philip, company president and chief executive officer, told the guests that if the thunder and lightening returned prior to the conclusion of the festivities, “we may terminate the event and move under the eave,” referring to the large canopy area adjacent to a side entrance. Fortunately the rain held off until local dignitaries and company executives had concluded their brief remarks, after which guests rushed beneath the canopy for the official ribbon-cutting as the rain returned briefly.
Featured speakers were Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher, Paducah Mayor Bill Paxton and McCracken County Judge-Executive Danny Orazine. Offering the benediction and asking a blessing on the building was the Rev. Jean Smith, executive director of the Seamen’s Church Institute, New York….
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