Weekly News Summary For December 15-21:
Some inland barge interests are angry that they were effectively cut off from significant input on design of the $700 million Surge Protection Flood Gate on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) in New Orleans East and had to sign a “non-disclosure agreement” before they were allowed to look at the plans, even after the design-build contract was awarded.
The result is the Corps designed two, parallel 150-foot wide gates on the GIWW that industry quickly asserted it considers too narrow and a hazard to safe navigation. In April, the Corps included the 150-foot gates in specifications for the largest design-build contract in its history.
The Corps is conducting advanced computer modeling simulation of towboats running through the 150-foot gate opening through February, 2009, to show the structure is safe for navigation.
“You should know that the inland barge industry is not at all happy with things concerning this project!” wrote Raymond Butler to The Waterways Journal on November 30. Butler is executive director of the Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association (GICA).
“…This is one of the worst-handled projects I can recall ever having to deal with concerning the Corps of Engineers.”
“The placement of a 150-foot-wide structure of the type the Corps is building will be a safety hazard to barge traffic, a significant risk to the public that depends upon reliable flood protection, and has the potential to become a major source of maritime commerce delay,” he said….
On December 19, a 35-year-old exemption for commercial vessels will expire, dramatically changing the liquid-discharge regulations for all vessels over 79 feet long.
Vessel owners should expect the changes to be immediate. No actual permits will be issued or required, at least for now, and a spokesperson for the American Waterways Operators said that enforcement protocols by the Environmental Protection Agency will follow later.
Violations can result in fines of up to $32,000 per day. And some states are dragging their feet on a required response, potentially exposing towing operators to citizen lawsuits.
“The language here is a bit confusing,” said Mary McCarthy, government affairs associate of the American Waterways Operators. “There is not an actual permit that operators have to file for. The 100-page regulation itself is the ‘permit.’” …
Ever since infrared cameras first captured images of tank barge emissions in 2005, the issue of how much volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are emitted by tank barges into the atmosphere has been percolating through the river industry’s consciousness. But hard numbers have been scarce.
Now the first study of barge emissions with hard numbers, to be published sometime in the first quarter of 2009 by Louisiana’s Department of Environmental Quality, promises to significantly raise the visibility of this issue, which is likely to be the next important environmental challenge for the barge industry.
The study, years in the making, is largely the work of Bruce Hammatt, an administrator at Louisiana’s Department of Environmental Quality who has been advising other authorities that have taken an interest in barge emissions. He is due to retire in February, close to the time he expects his study to be published.
The document is undergoing scientific reviews by the Environmental Protection Agency and the state of Louisiana. Hammatt said the document might be published as a joint Louisiana/EPA document sometime in the first quarter of 2009, rather than in a peer-reviewed scientific journal….
To hear the presidential candidates tell it, 2008 was all about change. Not just about whether change was needed—everyone seemed to agree on that—but the discussion revolved around who could bring the most change, and deliver it the fastest. And the year certainly did bring political change in Washington, with the nation electing its first Democratic president in eight years, and its first black president ever.
There were some radical changes brewing on the inland waterways as well, although, as in Washington, it may not be until next year that we really begin to see those changes take effect. In a sense, 2008 provided us with a sneak peek of the change—whether it’s towboat inspections, radically new towboat designs, or changes in infrastructure appropriations—that could be just around the corner.
For better or worse, here’s a look at some of the major stories that we covered in 2008 that may have their biggest impacts on the industry in the coming years.
In an exceptionally busy year for boatbuilders, probably the most interesting vessel to hit the waterways this year was the Frank T. Stegbauer, built for Southern Towing by Steiner Shipyard. The 3,200 hp. boat is the first linehaul towboat to be built with Z-drives, meaning the propellers/nozzles can be rotated 360 degrees, eliminating the need for rudders….
A new name and new interactive exhibits were unveiled at Paducah’s Water Street river museum November 13. Paducah Mayor Bill Paxton smashed a bottle of champagne across the front steps to rechristen the centuries-old building housing new state-of-the-art electronic simulators and video cameras with live and recorded images of passing river traffic.
As guests sat in chairs along Water Street, still paved in bricks that bore horse-drawn wagons to the former warehouse from steamboats along the Ohio River, museum board chairman Glen Anderson pointed to a temporary sign proclaiming the facility as the River Discovery Center.
“Today, we’re going to get a taste of the future,” he proclaimed, as he described three new high-tech exhibits that were constructed in the museum’s former offices, which have been temporarily relocated during the next phase of expansion. Anderson said the center hopes to add 30 or more exhibits and an aquarium during the next three to five years.
The highlight of the day was the unveiling of a highly detailed and responsive simulator capable of providing three different types of vessel operation: a quick-reacting speedboat, a Coast Guard patrol vessel and a towboat with barge. Each scenario offers a different environment with specific characteristics relevant to the vessel being simulated, but they all contain easily recognizable landmarks and opportunities to navigate through local bridges, past other vessels or make landings at docks. Many guests touring the pilothouse said they felt like they were actually turning and listing as the kids made high speed turns with the speedboat….
The Waterways Journal encourages letters to the editor.
Have something on your mind?
Send letters to: jshoulberg@waterwaysjournal.net.
(Please indicate whether or not your letter is intended for publication.)
