Weekly News Summary For December 7–13, 2009:
The commander of the Chicago Engineer District, Col. Vincent Quarles, announced in a December 2 press conference that while the Corps is considering “all options” to stop invasive Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes, it wasn’t yet ready to close locks such as the O’Brien Lock at between the Calumet-Sag Canal and Lake Michigan. Closing the lock could affect flooding and water quality, Quarles said.
Tests of fish DNA in the water that were released November 17 indicate that carp may have already penetrated through to the Calumet-Sag Channel, as close as six miles from Lake Michigan.
The Calumet-Sag Channel connects the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal with the lake. If carp are indeed present in the Calumet-Sag Channel, only the O’Brien Lock stands between them and the lake.
Responding to the press conference, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and several environmental groups said they would ask Michigan’s attorney general to file suit to force the lock’s closure, according to the Associated Press.
Meanwhile, the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal was closed December 2 for the beginning of a rotenone fish-poisoning program that the Corps calls the linchpin of its effort to keep the carp out of the Great Lakes. A 5.5-mile section of the Chicago Sanitary Canal was closed for at least four days between Romeoville and the Lockport Lock….
In January 2009, new Coast Guard regulations required all vessel operators to file detailed vessel response plans (VRPs) that will guide and document their response to salvage or firefighting incidents. Operators were given 18 months to comply, but as one salvage executive noted, “Eighteen months may sound like a lot of time, but it really isn’t” (WJ, March 23).
Now a strategic alliance between two salvage companies may make that task easier for vessel operators.
Inland Salvage Inc. and River Salvage Company announced the agreement on November 25. Their intention is nothing less than to cover most of the inland waterways with exactly the kind of rapid-response salvage capability operators need. Combined, ISI and River Salvage bring more than 35 years of experience in marine salvage and heavy lift experience to the alliance.
As Eli Zatezalo, president and chief executive officer of ISI noted, “No single salvage company exists today that can cover the amount of waterways that we are talking about. The alliance and our overall plan intends to accomplish just that.”
The two companies, which have worked together before, fit together “like pieces of jigsaw puzzle,” said Zatezalo. ISI’s headquarters is in Mobile, Ala. It helps that Zatezalo and RSC’s president, Jimmy Zubik, are both from Pittsburgh and know each other well. Zatezalo’s brother is a diver in Pittsburgh for the Corps of Engineers. RSC, headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pa., and founded in 1977, already covered 3,000 miles of waterway, centering on the Ohio River and its tributaries….
The White House Council on Environmental Quality announced its proposal for significant revisions to the Principles & Guideless for Water Resources on December 3. The revised document would guide federal water policies for all agencies, not just the four previously covered (Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Tennessee Valley Authority).
The Army Corps of Engineers previously handled the writing of the document under the authority of Water Resources Development bills, but that responsibility was given to the CEQ by the Obama administration. The revision effort has been led by Terry Breyman, a former longtime Corps official who is now a CEQ staffer.
The document will undergo a 90-day review and comment period and be sent to the National Academy of Sciences for its own review, which might take six months or longer….
The mv. Coral Dawn was the last boat out of the Twin Cities for the 2009 Upper Mississippi navigation season.
The 5,400 hp. American River Transportation Company towboat was pushing 12 barges of corn and soybeans when it departed St. Paul early on December 2, reports the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
The 2009 season began on March 23 and lasted 254 days, the longest season in five years, the newspaper reported. A warmer-than-normal fall allowed towboats to operate about a week longer than usual, helping to move out more of the late harvest.
Meanwhile, the St. Paul Engineer District reported that all of its navigation locks would close for winter maintenance work on December 7.
The St. Paul District operates and maintains 13 locks and dams, beginning at Upper St. Anthony Falls in the Twin Cities and ending at Lock and Dam 10 in Guttenberg, Iowa….
F. Miller Construction LLC has become the newest tenant of the West Calcasieu Port, Sulphur, La.
The company recently completed the relocation of its equipment yard from Highway 90 East in Lake Charles, La., to its new facility on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway at the port, 12 miles south of I-10 on Highway 27. The relocation enables the company to expand its operations in the Louisiana market.
F. Miller Construction LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Orion Marine Group Inc. Orion purchased the 75-year-old company in 2006 to expand Orion’s operations in Louisiana.
“Bringing an internationally recognized marine construction company into our family of tenants with the stature of Orion Marine Group truly underscores the efforts being taken by the West Calcasieu Port board of commissioners to grow and expand maritime commerce and industry along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway in Calcasieu Parish,” said Brent Clement, president of the West Calcasieu Port board.
“F. Miller Construction has played an important role in the evolution of Southwest Louisiana’s maritime business community for a long time,” Clement said. “The potential for our regional economic development to grow and prosper comes into play when you have a 45-year-old public entity entering into a working partnership with a quality publicly traded marine construction company that has decades of successful operations and work history.”…
Haydel Marine Towing LLC, a new company founded by 30-year maritime veteran, Capt. Gregory Haydel of Franklin, La., christened its first vessel earlier this year.
Built by Inland Boat Works of Bridge City, Texas, the new boat measures 39 by 24 feet with a draft of six feet, eight inches and an eye level of 38 feet from the stilted wheelhouse. It is powered by three John Deere 6081 diesels with a total of 1,200 hp. Reduction is 6.17:1 via Tonan TM828D gears.
There are two flanking rudders on each outside engine. The three forward rudders each have five-inch “stump jumpers” to help protect the 50- by 42-inch four-blade Michigan propellers. Each main engine is equipped with a 5 gpm. hydraulic pump as a backup to the steering system in the event of a loss of power from the two Isuzu 30 kw. generators.
The push boat can carry 7,200 gallons of fuel and 2,400 gallons of water.
There is a large bunkroom with four bunks plus storage, and a crew lounge with a 42-inch LCD high-definition TV, in the air-conditioned and heated cabin…
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