Weekly News Summary For November 28-December 4, 2005:
The US Army Corps of Engineers has put a hold on dredging the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet (MRGO) canal, a shortcut from New Orleans to the Gulf of Mexico. During Hurricane Katrina, the controversial waterway silted up to 23 feet in places, from its controlling depth of 36 feet.
Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-Napoleonville) said he asked the Corps to suspend the dredging while local officials resolve their differences about the waterway. On November 21, the first term congressman said he was told by the Corps the $14 million authorized for dredging had been “defunded” through the end of the fiscal year.
Despite two meetings with residents of St. Bernard Parish who want the MRGO closed, officials of the Port of New Orleans maintained their position that the most reasonable approach for the channel was contained in a five-point Memorandum of Understanding between the port and Parish President Henry Rodriguez.
The plan calls for enhanced flood protection, closure of the MRGO to 28 feet from its current 36-foot draft, relocation of terminals impacted, expedited completion of the Inner Harbor Navigational Canal (IHNC) Lock and development of industrial facilities on the channel….
Paducah’s river front skyline will see a dramatic alteration in the coming year when construction of Ingram Barge Company’s new multi-million dollar operations and warehouse facility begins to rise above the city’s floodwall at the junction of the Ohio and Tennessee rivers.
Bitter, bone-chilling temperatures in the 20s greeted company executives, local and state government officials and spectators who gathered beneath a large canopy near the flood wall along South Third Street early on the morning of November 17 to witness the formal groundbreaking ceremony during the coldest day of the late fall season. In deference to the cold temperatures, dignitaries and company executives cut their comments to a bare minimum.
David Denton, chairman of Paducah’s Economic Development Council, garnered an immediate laugh and applause when he dramatically ripped up his prepared comments as he welcomed the participants and spectators.
Denton prefaced his introductions by recalling his first involvement with the Ingram firm. He said he remembers going to Ingram’s Nashville headquarters in the 1970s and 80s to negotiate with David Rutledge and their attorney Steven J. Mason and others, resulting in Ingram’s new sand yard that was developed adjacent to the fledgling riverport complex. He recalled meeting Bronson Ingram who he described as “a gentleman of the highest caliber, great intellect and great vision.”…
A letter drafted by Worth Hager, secretary to the National Waterways Alliance and president of the National Waterways Conference Inc., was sent to the leadership of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives to encourage action on President Bush’s emergency funding proposal sent to Congress on October 28.
“Of particular importance in this bill are funds to rebuild critical infrastructure on the Gulf Coast, including the levees around New Orleans,” Hager states in the letter. “Funding for these efforts was not contained in the just-passed Energy and Water Development Appropriations bill, as it was expected that the needs would be addressed in the supplemental.”…
Business interests will not return to Louisiana if they face “uncertainty” with the levees, said Larry Rase, chairman of the (La.) Governor’s Maritime Advisory Task Force.
For businesses to return, and to attract new industry investment, the levees have to be rebuilt to withstand Category 5 hurricanes so weather–related business interruptions are kept to a minimum, he said.
The federal government stepped in to help San Francisco after the World Series earthquake and New York after the 9-11 attack; now it is time to help Louisiana recover from the most destructive hurricanes in the country’s history, Rase said.
Rase was appointed to the 16-member task force by Gov. Kathleen Blanco prior to Hurricane Katrina. The task force’s goal is to identify strengths and the needs of the state’s vast waterway resources and recommend legislation to enhance Louisiana’s market position. The first report is due March 2006.
The nation has a very short memory and the “window” of intense interest in Congress to rebuild Louisiana is closing quickly, he said, creating an urgency in proposing legislation….
Capt. J. Scott Chotin Sr., a legend on the river, died November 21 at Touro Infirmary in New Orleans of natural causes. He was 89.
Inducted into the National Rivers Hall of Fame in Dubuque, Iowa, in 1986, the recipient of the 2002 Seamen’s Church Institute Lifetime Achievement Award and the subject of a book titled 100 Years On The River; The Chotin Family and Their Boats, Capt. Chotin began his career on the river when he was 10 years old, trimming the window panes of his father’s boats during breaks from school.
When he graduated at 17, he went to work full-time as a steersman on the str. J.N. Pharr, running from New Orleans to Monroe, La. on the Ouachita River. He was a veteran pilot by the time he was 24.
At one point, he and his father, Capt. Joe, had the distinction of being the youngest and oldest licensed pilots on the river. Together, their life’s work spanned nearly a century on the waterways, first in the bayous of south Louisiana and eventually along the full length of the Mississippi River and practically all of its tributaries….
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