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AMS COMMITTEES |
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1st USCG District MSO Boston USCG Activities New York MSO Providence MSO Portland Group/MSO Long Island Sound |
5th USCG District MSO Hampton Roads Coast Guard Activities Baltimore MSO Wilmington MSO/Group Philadelphia |
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New Ballast Water Experimental Treatment Program Launched
The Coast Guard has launched a new program aimed at facilitating the installation of experimental shipboard ballast water treatment systems for vessels subject to the current ballast water management regulations. Vessels subject to the rules include those that have traveled beyond the 200-mile U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The new program, the Shipboard Technology Evaluation Program (STEP), would allow participating vessel owners to receive equivalences to the future ballast water regulations for the participating vessels. STEP is one of several Coast Guard initiatives aimed at reducing the introduction of nonindigenous species to U.S. waters through ballast water.
The equivalences granted under STEP are intended to serve as incentives for vessel owners to participate in shipboard evaluations of prototype treatment systems that might not meet discharge standards mandated by future regulations, thus creating more options for vessel owners seeking alternatives to ballast water exchange. Navigation and Vessel Inspection Circular (NVIC) 01-04 describes the application process for vessel owners interested in STEP. More information on the Coast Guard's ballast water program and the STEP application can be found at http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-m/mso/step.htm.
Legislative News
House, Senate Convene for Second Session of 108th Congress
The House and Senate convened on January 20 to officially kick-off the Second Session of the 108th Congress. The first order of business was completion of an omnibus spending measure that encompassed the remaining Fiscal Year (FY) 2004 appropriations bills carried over from last year.
The mammoth spending measure, totaling $373 billion, was approved by the House in December 2003. On the Senate side, however, Democratic delaying tactics had slowed progress on the spending package. On January 22, the Senate finally passed the omnibus by a vote of 65-28. President Bush is expected to sign the measure into law.
Of the 13 annual appropriations bills, seven remained unfinished and were rolled into the omnibus. The other six, including the Energy & Water Development bill that provides funding for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Homeland Security bill that allocates funds for the U.S. Coast Guard, had already passed as stand-alone measures (see November 21, 2003 and October 10, 2003 AWO Letters).
Association News
Important Dates and Reminders
- January 29: New Member Orientation, 3:00 - 5:00 p.m.,
Sleep Inn, Memphis, TN. For more information, contact Marilyn
Clark.
- January 29: Midwest & Ohio Valley reception and regional
dinner, 5:30 p.m., Comfort Inn Downtown, Memphis, TN. Dinner location
TBA. For more information, contact Marilyn
Clark.
- January 30: Midwest & Ohio Valley Joint Regional Meeting, Comfort Inn, Memphis, TN. For more information, contact Marilyn Clark.
AWO Safety Calendars Still on Sale
AWO is now taking orders for its 2004 AWO Safety Calendar. This year's theme focuses on Bridge Transit Safety, and presents recommendations to prevent bridge allisions and mitigate their consequences. It features over a dozen beautiful, full-color photos -- all winners of AWO's third annual Safety Calendar Photo Contest.
To order your copies of the Safety Calendar, please complete an order form and mail it with payment to the address indicated on the form. If you have any questions, please contact Traci Fischer at (703) 841-9300.
2004 AWO Letter Sponsorships Now Available
AWO is now accepting sponsorship applications for the 2004 AWO Letter. Each great advertising opportunity costs $500, which includes a front-page "sponsorship block" featuring your company's name, location, logo, and Web site address. The ad is also placed on the AWO Web site, www.americanwaterways.com. Each issue is archived and kept on the site for at least two years. We currently have the following issues available:
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March 19 April 2 May 14 May 28 June 11 June 25 July 9 |
July 23
August 6 September 3 September 17 October 29 November 12 December 17 |
A sponsorship form is attached to this newsletter, so if you would like to sign up for a sponsorship, please complete the form and fax it to Traci Fischer at (703) 841-0389. If you have any questions, please contact Traci at (703) 841-9300. Remember -- sponsorships are sold on a first-come-first-served basis, so reserve yours today!
Welcome, New Members!
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Cocodrie Boat Rentals, Inc.
8114 Redfish Road Chauvin, LA 70344 Rep: Mr. Houston Foret President |
Brusco Tug & Barge, Inc. |
In the News
"Corps of Engineers Gets Bum Rap Concerning Management of River"
This opinion-editorial, written by Harold Andersen, appeared
in the January 8 Omaha World-Herald. It is reprinted here in its
entirety.
Today a reply to some of the unfair criticism that has been heaped on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in connection with its management of water flows in the Missouri River.
Proponents of a "restored" river with a more natural flow have, among other accusations, charged the Corps of Engineers with protecting barge traffic at the expense of a flow more like that in the pre-dam days.
Little or no public consideration has been given to the fact that the Flood Control Act of 1944, which resulted in flood-controlling, power-producing dams and channelization of the river below Sioux City, listed the following as purposes of the legislation:
Flood control, aid to navigation, irrigation, hydroelectric electricity generation, municipal and industrial water supplies, stream-pollution abatement, sediment control, preservation and enhancement of fish and wildlife and creation of recreational opportunities.
That language - still binding on the Corps of Engineers today - doesn't lend much support to those trying to push fish and wildlife enhancement and upstream recreation to the head of the line as the corps tries to resolve conflicting viewpoints while still carrying out its congressionally mandated job of managing the river flow in a way to serve a variety of interests.
Despite the fact that the corps has been working for a good many months on revising its master manual for managing the river, the corps is repeatedly accused of "stalling" and resisting change from the "status quo." Let's look at the facts:
For a good many months, three creatures on the endangered species list - the piping plover, the least tern and the pallid sturgeon - were front and center in the controversy over the way Missouri River flow should be managed by the corps. Story after story featured the three as victims of the corps' refusal to manage dam-released water flows in a way that would please natural-flow advocates and provide more favorable breeding habitat for the three species.
On Dec. 18, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released a new assessment of an Army Corps of Engineers proposal to revise its operating manual for the Missouri River. One quick reaction was to focus now on the pallid sturgeon as still being in danger of becoming extinct unless the corps makes greater changes in river flow patterns.
But what, I wondered, had happened to the least tern and the piping plover? Had they simply flown away, out of the controversy, or had they become extinct, as threatened in story after story after story over the past several years?
I discovered - in the 18th paragraph of a news story - that the Fish and Wildlife Service had found that the corps' new river-flow proposal would not imperil the terns or plovers, whose numbers have actually increased since a 1997 flood created more sandbar habitat. And the pallid sturgeon's survival would be threatened only in "some sections" of the river below the Gavins Point Dam.
So two-thirds of the endangered species argument has been answered, and the corps continues to be accused of dedication to maintaining the status quo.
Never mentioned by any of the natural-flow advocates, so far as I'm aware: The pallid's range extends from Montana to Louisiana. It is not concentrated exclusively in a stretch of river a relatively short distance below the Gavins Point Dam. And the Department of the Interior is providing a $250,000 grant for biologists to buy nearly 1,400 acres along the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers in a project intended to protect and enhance pallid habitat.
Then there is this ironic reality, which natural-flow advocates never publicly acknowledge, insofar as I know:
The natural-flow advocates' goal is bringing the flow of the river closer to what it was before it was dammed and channelized. The irony is that a primary purpose of the Flood Control Act of 1944 was to reverse the natural high-water flow that created flooding in the spring (Omaha's airport was under water in 1952, and only heroic sandbagging efforts by volunteers prevented the flooding of downtown Omaha) and reverse also the natural unchannelized pattern of summertime low-water flows inadequate to support barge traffic or allow maximum generation of hydroelectric power to meet summer peak demands.
So some natural-flow advocates are today using the Endangered Species Act (they are now down to the pallid sturgeon as a sort of "stalking horse") to try to reverse what has been congressionally mandated public policy for more than half a century.
There is talk of compromise in the controversy, and that possibility should surely be encouraged. But the "natural flow" advocates certainly don't enhance their credibility by ignoring the Flood Control Act of 1944 and unfairly criticizing the Corps of Engineers as it tries to respond responsibly to a variety of conflicting viewpoints while carrying out its congressionally mandated responsibilities.
"Two Barge Companies Drop Anchor"
The following article, written by Jack Naudi, appeared in
the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on January 14, 2004. It appears here
in its entirety.
Uncertain about the depth of the Missouri River this summer, the two barge companies that move grain and fertilizer on the Big Muddy have shut down their operations, at least through 2004.
Memco Barge Line of Chesterfield and Blaske Marine of Alton stopped taking orders last week from grain and fertilizer wholesalers positioned along the river.
"Our experience the last couple of years has demonstrated to us that it's just not practical to go there at the rates the customers want to pay," said Roger Blaske, president of Blaske Marine.
The decision to halt business stems from a 13-year debate over the river's summer depth. The level is controlled by the amount of water released from upriver dams by the Army Corps of Engineers.
Upriver states have fought to reduce summer flows to keep water levels high in reservoirs. In addition, environmentalists said a deeper Missouri River in the summer threatens two species of birds and the pallid sturgeon. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently sided with the environmentalists, and the Corps of Engineers must follow that opinion by reducing summer flows this year.
Blaske said the low flow, coupled with a continuing drought in the upper Midwest, will leave the river with too little water.
Blaske Marine once could link up to nine barges and move them on the river. Lately, the company could link no more than three, and still those were stuck frequently last summer, Blaske said, damaging barges and causing expensive delays.
"When you lose two or three days on a trip sitting on a sand bar, the economy doesn't help there, either," he said.
The impact of eliminating the barges remains uncertain. Barge traffic on the Missouri has declined steadily over the last 12 years - with barge operators and others blaming uncertain water levels.
Most of the 8.3 million tons of cargo shipped on the Missouri in 2002 involved moving dredged sand and gravel less than 10 miles. The rest - 1 million tons - comprised long-haul shipments of several products: grain for export, fertilizer to farmers and asphalt for road projects in Kansas City.
By comparison, 317 million tons of products were shipped on the Mississippi River that year.
Despite the comparatively small business on the Missouri, grain farmers need the barges, said Steve Taylor, program manager of the Missouri Corn Growers Association.
In some places, there is no easy access to rail cars, he said. And even where rail is an alternative, it's typically five times more expensive than barge. Trucks are about 10 times more costly.
"In the short-term, there will be some major impacts," Taylor said. "Items like fertilizer and major areas like grain transport don't have a good alternative" to barges.
Paul Davis, owner and general manager of Interstate Marine Terminal, is particularly concerned about the long-term prospects. Interstate Marine in Boonville, Mo., is a wholesale dealer of fertilizer and grain, and most of its supply is shipped on Missouri River barges owned by Memco and Blaske. The company's business has fallen along with the Missouri River's depth. Interstate Marine was expecting to move 25,000 tons of products last summer and fall. Instead, it moved just 1,300 tons.
"If we're able to stay in business, it will be a real struggle," Davis said. "If nothing changes on the demand side, what will we do? Will it be moving by truck from St. Louis to the interior of Missouri?"
Indeed, the answer remains elusive. Mark Davis, a spokesman for Union Pacific Railroad, which stands to benefit from a halt in barge shipping, said grain probably will be shifted to rail and sent to other markets, including Mexico and the Pacific Rim.
The rest, say agriculture and transportation experts, will be used domestically.
But getting fertilizer and asphalt to their destinations will require a shift in transportation modes. A fully loaded nine-barge tow carries roughly the equivalent of a train stretching 1.5 miles or trucks stretched end-to-end for 20 miles.
Because the Missouri River barge shipping season is compressed into short periods each spring and late summer, Paul Davis predicts transportation problems.
"It will add to the lines of trucks down there (in St. Louis) and to the congestion on the highways," he said. "Logistically, it will be difficult for the dealers to get the fertilizer when they need it."
A third company, Magnolia Marine Transport Co. of Jackson, Miss., plans to deliver asphalt to customers along the Missouri River, especially in Kansas City. But company officials are concerned.
"The best way to say it is they're going to try," said David Humphreys, an attorney in Jackson who represents Magnolia. "At this point, there aren't enough rail cars and trucks to adequately supply the Kansas City market with asphalt."
But Magnolia, which is owned by an asphalt company, expects to pay a heavy price for Missouri River deliveries. "We'll be bumping and grinding and tearing up our equipment," Humphreys said.
One barge industry proponent said the trouble on the Missouri could spread to the Mississippi. More than half the water in the Mississippi that flows past St. Louis comes from the Missouri.
Shutting off the Missouri River spigot will lead to lower Mississippi River levels as well, said Lynn Muench, vice president for the St. Louis office of the American Waterways Operators.
In fact, Muench said, it's already happened. After the Missouri River flows were reduced in August, several tows ran aground in the St. Louis area. The Mississippi was shut down for several days to barge traffic while the Corps of Engineers deepened the shipping channel.
With a tow's daily expenses running from $5,000 to $10,000, Muench estimated that the industry lost $1 million to $2 million a day.
Her worst fear, however, is long-term reliability of the Mississippi River barge industry, especially as just-in-time delivery becomes more critical.
"You want to tell customers we can get it there, and I don't think we can," she said. "With this (low) water, is it going to be one day (late)? Is it going to be 30 days?"
Responsible Carrier News
RCP Auditor Training Session to be Held
The Responsible Carrier Program (RCP) Accreditation Board has scheduled RCP auditor recertification training for March 2-4. The training includes an orientation for newly approved RCP auditors and a recertification for auditors trained in 2001. The majority of auditors are recertifying for the second time. The first class of AWO-certified Responsible Carrier Program auditors was initially certified in 1998. AWO is proud that these professionals continue to provide members with a value-added audit that is improving safety throughout our industry.
The upcoming training will follow the same format as previous auditor recertifications. The orientation session, held on March 2, is a full day devoted to reviewing the Responsible Carrier Program in detail. This session will also concentrate on the principles and process of conducting audits, the audit checklist, and criteria to evaluate compliance with elements of the RCP.
Since auditor recertification is required every three years, the Accreditation Board has developed a new program for auditor recertification. This session will be held on March 3-4. The goal of the program is the continuous improvement of auditor skills in understanding and conducting RCP audits, and will focus on communication.
Accreditation Board members will conduct both sessions. RCP auditors will be evaluated via group exercises and will need to complete individual written assignments to successfully complete the rigorous training.
Please contact Kathy Rehak at (703) 841-9300 for further information.
Safety Department Welcomes New AWO Members
Fifty-two companies, 26 in December alone, is the record number of members who joined AWO in 2003 to take advantage of all the benefits that come with membership, especially the opportunity to participate in the AWO Alternative Security Program (ASP) and the Responsible Carrier Program (RCP). In welcoming these new members, the AWO Safety Department routinely contacts them soon after they join AWO in an effort to learn the details of their operation and offer help as they begin working to implement the RCP. During these calls, the Safety Department routinely talks to each of these new members about information that is available on our Web site, www.americanwaterways.com, including: the RCP itself, RCP implementation checklists, safety lesson plans and the list of AWO-certified auditors. New members are also encouraged to contact AWO to obtain copies of the several safety tools available to AWO members including: brochures on alertness, hot work, and confined space safety; and videos on RCP implementation, oil spill response and downstreaming. Each new member is also encouraged to participate in one of AWO's safety committees. The safety committees provide members with an opportunity for their safety professional to get together with other safety professionals in our industry and share information on ways to promote safety and reduce accidents. Finally, each new member is encouraged to use AWO as a resource to assist them as they work to implement their RCP and ASP.
All AWO members, not just these most recent additions, are encouraged to contact Bob Clinton or Kathy Rehak in the AWO Safety Department at (703) 841-9300 if they have any questions, or need more information on any of the safety tools mentioned in this article. The AWO Safety Department is dedicated to assisting all of our members improve safety as we begin 2004.
Regional Reports
Atlantic Region
Coast Guard Proposes Modification of Baltimore Harbor Anchorage
Project
On January 14, the Coast Guard issued a Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (SNPRM) modifying the dimensions of the dredging program and regulations applicable to anchorages in Baltimore Harbor (Federal Register, Vol. 68, No. 9). The Coast Guard is accepting comments on both the NPRM and the SNPRM.
The original Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) outlined a series of vessel regulations related to the notification of the Captain of the Port (COTP) and the use of anchorages in the Harbor, including:
* No vessel shall be anchored in Baltimore Harbor or Patapsco River outside the anchorage areas for a period of more than 24 hours; * No vessel shall be anchored or moored in such a manner as to extend into the established channel; * No vessel shall be positioned so as to obstruct or endanger the passage of another vessel; and, * Except in an emergency, no vessel may occupy an anchorage without the express permission of the COTP.
The COTP may grant a revocable permit to a vessel for habitual use of the anchorages; COTP may order the shifting of vessel(s) within the anchorages; and, COTP may order specific conditions for vessel anchoring such as the scope of chain, readiness of engineering plant and usage of tugs.
Further, no vessel within the anchorage may transfer oil to or from another vessel without permission of the COTP and four hours advance notice is required for such permission. The COTP may also require every person having business aboard a vessel handling Class 1 (explosives) or dangerous cargo, other than a member of the crew, to hold either a pass issued by the COTP or another form of identification prescribed by the COTP. Each non-self propelled vessel handling Class 1 or dangerous cargo must have a tug in attendance at all times while at anchor. Additional regulations address the notification procedures and the time vessels may spend in Anchorage Areas 1, 3, and 7 and the Dead Ship Anchorage. Comments on the proposed regulation may be sent to LJG Timothy Martin, Fifth Coast Guard District, Navigation and Waterways Branch, (751) 398-6285 or by email to trmartin@lantd5.uscg.mil. Comments on the SNPRM are due February 13, 2004.
Atlantic Region to Meet in Washington, D.C.
Atlantic Region members with meet on February 10, 2004 at The Fairmont Hotel in Washington, D.C. for their annual meeting.
The meeting is being held in conjunction with a fundraiser for Congressman Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ), Chairman of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The meeting will begin at 9:30 a.m. followed by the luncheon for Congressman LoBiondo at 12:30 p.m.
The meeting will include presentations on the new safety regime, the role and responsibilities of the regional offices, a review of the 2004 national and regional priorities, and discussions of several regional issues related to state taxes and no discharge zones. On the evening of February 9, the "Atlantic Region All Stars" will dine at The Palm restaurant for an evening with good friends and colleagues. Please complete a registration form and fax it to Marilyn Clark at (985)674-2291.
Pacific Region
Washington Legislature Holds Hearing on Oil Spill
The Washington State House Committee on Fisheries, Ecology & Parks held a Work Session on Thursday, January 15 on the Point Wells oil spill of 4,800 gallons in Puget Sound, which occurred on December 30. This Work Session involved an update on the response to the spill by the Department of Ecology, the U.S. Coast Guard, the National Response Corporation, the Suquamish Tribe and Foss Maritime Company, as the responsible party. Steve Scalzo, President of Foss Maritime Company, emphasized that Foss took full responsibility for the spill and the response, which is almost completed except for some shoreline area clean-up. Both the House Committee members and the federal and state authorities praised the effectiveness and results of the response.
Following the Work Session, the committee held a public hearing on the spill. Jerry McMahon, AWO Vice President - Pacific Region; Cholly Mercer, President, Pecos Inc.; and Mike Moore, Executive Director of the Puget Sound Steamship Operators Association, participated in a panel on maritime industry efforts to prevent oil spills as well as the importance that the legislature not adopt any new initiatives in response to the spill until the investigations are completed by the appropriate agencies.
AWO lobbyist Cliff Webster, Carney Badley & Spellman, arranged 14 individual meetings for himself and Jerry McMahon with the members of the House Committee on Fisheries, Ecology & Parks and the Senate Committee on Natural Resources, Energy & Water to discuss the spill. Also discussed was the tank barge industry's willingness to work with the legislature and appropriate agencies on lessons learned from the investigation to prevent future oil spills from transfers from a facility to a barge. House Committee Chairman Mike Cooper indicated that he intended to introduce legislation to require pre-booming of oil transfers from a facility to a barge in advance of the results of the federal and state investigations. He did pledge to work with industry and other stakeholders to improve and perfect the legislation, which he estimated would be submitted the week of January 20. For further information contact Jerry McMahon (206) 768-3538.
Pacific Region to Hold Annual Meeting in Seattle
The Pacific Region will hold its Annual Meeting in Seattle on Thursday, February 5. The meeting will be held at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel (formerly the Four Seasons Olympic Hotel), 411 University Street, Seattle, and will begin at 7:30 a.m. with a continental breakfast.
The meeting will involve an important discussion with Pacific Region members regarding the industry's future safety regime, AWO's regional activities and work, and will include elections of Pacific Region officers and directors for 2004.
All Pacific Region members are urged to attend and participate. To register for the meeting, please complete the attached registration form and fax it to Marilyn Clark at (985) 674-2291. For further information on the meeting, please contact Marilyn at (703) 841-9300.
Midcontinent Office
Governor Expresses Concern on Missouri River Flows: "Administration's
Plan Devastating to River Commerce and Agriculture"
Missouri Governor Bob Holden (D-MO) expressed "deep concern" about the Administration's new plan for managing the Missouri River in a January 16 letter to President George W. Bush. The Governor "applauded" the President's August 2003 comment opposing "court-ordered low flows" that disrupted a "valued Congressionally-authorized use." The Governor encouraged the Administration to develop a "common-sense plan" such as those presented by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
St. Louis MSO Announces AMS Committee Meetings
St. Louis MSO Commander, CDR Suzanne Englebert, has announced several Area Maritime Security (AMS) Committee meetings. The towing industry is invited to participate in the final development phase of the AMS Plan (see story, page 4). The goals of each meeting will be to: 1) provide an overview of the background and current status of the Area Maritime Security Plan, 2) detail the desired end state of the plan and actions/information needed to achieve it, and 3) assign specific tasking/information requirements to committee members for development and inclusion in the plan. The meetings are scheduled to run from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
January 27: Isle of Capri Hotel
Bettendorf, IA
(563) 359-7280
January 28: Par-A-Dice Hotel
East Peoria, IL
(309) 694-5812
January 30: Radisson Riverfront Hotel
St. Paul, MN
(651) 292-1900
February 3: Embassy Suites
St. Louis, MO
(314) 241-4200
Questions concerning the meetings should be addressed to Lt. Tom Morgan at (314) 529-3091 or tmorgan@cgstl.uscg.mil or to Lt. Carol McAllister at (309) 782-0627 or CMcAllister@grpumr.uscg.mil.
This edition of the AWO Letter is sponsored by:
For further information, contact:
Anne Davis Burns
Vice President - Public Affairs
801 North Quincy Street
Suite 200
Arlington, VA 22203
PH: (703) 841-9300
FAX: (703) 841-0389
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