Charlevoix is fighting to keep a United States Coast Guard vessel ported, U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Acacia is set to be decommissioned next year, several community leaders, and lawmakers are researching the chance of attracting the 140-foot Morro Bay which was decommissioned after the September 11, 2001 attack in New York .
In May, Adm. Papp assumed command of the Coast Guard's Ninth District, the Great Lakes, which includes more than 6,500 miles of shoreline and 1,000 miles of international border. This Homeland Security command includes some 7,000 regular, reserve and auxiliary Coast Guardsmen and civilian workers.
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This page was last updated: March 14, 2008
Canadian Coast Guard Begin Joint Marine Security Patrols
The CCG and the RCMP will begin joint marine security and law enforcement patrols along the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River. This new partnership creates a major new on-water law enforcement and marine security presence and fast response capacity.
Coast Guard Machine Gun Boats
U.S. Coast Guard boats armed with machine guns will be patrolling off the shores of Lake Michigan this month. Coast Guard spokesmen said the boats will be here to train local units, assist in routine patrols and provide a few days of security for a Canadian frigate visiting Navy Pier.
Lt. Rolando Hernandez, spokesman for Coast Guard Group Milwaukee, said the boats will not appear as a result of last week's bus and train bombings in London. Armed with M240 machine guns, the 25-foot fast-response boats, part of the Marine Safety and Security Team, will be sent from the East Coast. The Department of Homeland Security has bought several hundred such boats since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, about 35 of which are stationed in the Great Lakes, Coast Guard spokesman Lt. J.G. Ryan Barone said.
The response CG Boats have already been in the area are have been prepped to quickly be outfitted with machine guns. Hernandez said the armed Coast Guard boats will remain in Lake Michigan until sometime in August while training units in Group Milwaukee, whose jurisdiction is the western shore of Lake Michigan.
MAJOR CONCERNS AND PROBLEMS AT THE CLEVELAND COAST GUARD STATION.
Coast Guard Rear Adm. Robert Papp stated "One of the worst stations is right under my nose," at the station just below his office. In March, a sewer line backed up and contaminated the station's prefabricated headquarters on Lake Erie. Eight crew members were forced to move to a nearby Holiday Inn, costing $10,000 in hotel bills so far.
When a distress call comes in at night, crews have to knock on hotel doors to get everyone up, and then get into a government-issued pickup truck for the quarter-mile trip to a pier. Petty Officer Timothy Kelley said it takes crews 10 to 15 minutes to get from the hotel to the pier. Papp said the delays "are not unacceptable," but he wants to resolve the station's future.
Holding up construction is a fight between the Mayor’s office and Coast Guard Officials over the cities desire to move the present station several hindered yards away opening landscape considered prime residential land. Papp indicated it does not make sense to invest over 10 million dollars which is not available instead present plans are to infuse 700,000 in repairs to the current station.
ONE OF A FEW FEMALES SERVING IN CG
Whether it's a routine health matter, a serious injury or just someone to talk to, officers and crew aboard the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Mackinaw know they can count on "Doc" to pull them through.
"Doc" is the nickname given to the medic on any ship, and the current corpsman on the Mackinaw has trained and treated patients and crewmembers over the past two years, of her assignment aboard the current Mackinaw.
The officer in charge of the health of those serving on the Mackinaw, Health Services Tech. 1st Class Claudia N. Simpson, treats everything from simple blisters to major medical and trauma emergencies
Simpson is one of 10 females currently aboard the Coast Guard's biggest Great Lakes icebreaker, including three officers, two 1st class petty officers, one 2nd class petty officer and four cadets stationed in Cheboygan for summer training.
Bush administration unveils costly plan to clean up Great lakes
Details Coming soon
Decommissioning of the cutter Acacia and possible replacement is currently being studied.
Since the Acacia is set to be decommissioned in the summer of 2006, Charlevoix community leaders and lawmakers are working to replace the Acacia with the currently retired 140-foot Morro Bay. The 140 foot Morro Bay was decommissioned shortly after the events of September 11, 2001, were she had been stationed
Cary Godwin, the executive officer lieutenant on the Acacia, said Rear Adm Papp made a request to the United States Coast Guard headquarters for the Morro Bay to relocate to the Great Lakes. The request is still being processed. The Coast Guard will determine the location of the ship with a homeport study. The study weighs several issues, including what the cutter's primary duties may be and which port would be best suited for the mission.
Currently, there are Great Lakes buoy tenders in Duluth, Port Huron and Cheboygan. In 2007, the new Icebreaker Mackinaw will be commissioned in Cheboygan. The New Mackinaw was designed ice breaking, providing buoy tending, and search and rescue missions.
The current plans for the Acacia are to possibly restore her as a Coast Guard museum or more likely it would be sold.
The Charlevoix City Council hired former U.S. Rep Bob Davis as a consultant to help secure a replacement ship for the Acacia. Davis, U.S. Representative from 1979 to 1993 was instrumental in attracting the Acacia after the USCGC Mesquite was grounded off Keweenaw Point in 1989. The ship has been on he bottom of Lake Superior off Keystone Bay since 1990.
The 2006 decommissioning of the Acacia will end an era. Since 1905, the Coast Guard has been present in Charlevoix.
Legislators: Protect our ports
A coalition of lawmakers from the Great Lakes states is protesting the fact that most Great Lakes ports including the Port of Rochester were left out of the running for federal grants to strengthen security against terrorists. In May, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it would give out nearly $141 million in port security grants for 2005.
the department used three main criteria in determining which ports would be eligible for the grants: consequence, vulnerability and threat. "Consequence means answering questions like: What's the population surrounding the port?" "What would be the economic consequence if it were attacked? Are there national security considerations such as the presence of petroleum plants, hazardous materials facilities or the presence of tankers that would be carrying hazardous or flammable materials?"
The department consulted with Coast Guard and intelligence officials to assess the vulnerability of various ports and the potential threat against them, Short said.
Among the 66 ports deemed eligible for security grants this year were Baltimore, Boston, Cincinnati, Honolulu, Houston, Miami, New Orleans, Philadelphia, San Francisco, St. Louis and Wilmington, Del.
Great Lakes will keep more water
Great Lakes states, Ontario and Quebec on Thursday released revised agreements that would largely ban diversions of water from the Great Lakes. The agreements also call for joint U.S.-Canadian review of any projects that would increase the use of Great Lakes water.
The new agreements are being supported by seven of the eight Great Lakes states Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota -- and the two Canadian provinces.
The Great Lakes contain 20 percent of the world's fresh water.
The Ohio Environmental Council will hold a strategy meeting from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. July 27 at Cleveland Metro parks' Canal Way Center in Cuyahoga Heights. More information is available at www.greatlakesforever.org
CORT SPORTS NEW STACK
COLORS
NEW MACKINAW
The New Mackinaw
81st COAST GUARD FESTIVAL
The Annual Coast Guard Festival is set to begin August 29th thru July 7, 2005 in Grand Haven, Coast Guard assets will include:
USCGC Mackinaw
USCGC Acacia USCGC Bristol Bay
USCGC McLane
additional information will be updated
Coast Guard has tightened Security both on and around Ferries
In the wake of the terror attack that killed over fifty in London, the United States Coast Guard in conjunction has increased security on and around ferries such as the Badger and Lake express. The most noticeable security has been the increased presence of CG and Sheriff Patrol boats as they escort of inbound and outbound ferries in and out of ports. Other measures are also in effect but are considered confidential by the Homeland Security Administration
Grand Haven MI Coast Guard Stations 47 foot Life Boats
New Homeland Security Program using "Pigeons" as critical lookouts
NEWNAVIGATION MENU 02-2008
Coast Guard rescues three boaters after boat sinks
(Ludington, July 24, 2005,Four people are back on dry land Sunday night after the Coast Guard rescued them from their sinking boat. The boat sank off the coast of Ludington, just after 1:00 p.m. Sunday afternoon. It was taking on water because of a cooling hose problem. The passengers had to jump into Lake Michigan until the Coast Guard arrived.
Congressman Bart Stupak (D-Menominee) today applauded legislation recommending that the Coast Guard acquire an icebreaking vessel to replace the soon-to-be decommissioned ACACIA Coast Guard Cutter.
"I'm extremely pleased to see Congressional support for keeping a cutter in northern Lake Michigan," Stupak [shown] said. "My hope is that the Coast Guard would keep a vessel in Charlevoix. The ACACIA has provided essential navigational search and rescue services, servicing nearly 200 buoys and lighthouses and keeping the channels free of ice."
The recommendation to the Coast Guard came as part of a larger Coast Guard reauthorization package that also contains provisions to maintain at current levels icebreaking capabilities across the Great Lakes.
The language demonstrates strong Congressional support for retaining an icebreaking vessel in northern Lake Michigan.
Stupak worked throughout the legislative process to see that the bill addressed the ACACIA issue.
The legislation specifically acknowledges that maintaining a vessel with icebreaking capabilities is particularly important because the Canadian government has decommissioned one of its buoy tenders, which will increase demands on U.S. icebreakers.
"Maintaining an icebreaking tug in Charlevoix will help maintain commercial shipping in Northern Michigan," Stupak said. "I'm glad to see Congress send this clear signal to the Coast Guard that there is a need to keep sufficient ice-breaking assets on the Great Lakes."
04-10-2006
as reported by this site last year.
Source: Congressional News
Charlevoix
Acacia Final Run
04-17-2006--On a beautiful, sunny Northern Michigan morning, the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Acacia powered up the ship, set off the lines and headed out to sea on Lake Michigan to commence one of the last buoy runs in the history of the Acacia. For the past 62 years the World War II-era cutter has represented the Coast Guard in the Great Lakes region.
The Acacia was named after the U.S. Lighthouse Service Acacia, the only Lighthouse Service vessel sunk during World War II. During her time serving the Coast Guard she has serviced more than 200 buoys, lighthouses and other navigational aids. The cutter's area of operation has ranged from as far south as Calumet Harbor, Ill., to south Chicago, and as far north as Little Bay DeNoc, Mich., including Green Bay, Wisc., Sturgeon Bay, Wisc., and Wisconsin's Door Peninsula. The cutter also participates in other duties such as search and rescue and ice breaking assistance in the cold winter months of the northern Great Lakes.
The keel was laid and the ship was built in Duluth, Minn., in 1942 and will be decommissioned June 7. This is the last of the 180-foot buoy tenders of the Coast Guard.
Overall Hits
May 12 --Oglebay Norton Company (OTC: OGBY.PK) today announced that it has signed a definitive purchase agreement to sell six of its nine marine vessels. The agreement includes long- term contracts for transporting limestone from the company's Michigan quarries. Closing of the sale is subject to regulatory clearance; therefore, terms of the agreement have not been disclosed. In addition, the company stated that it intends to sell its remaining three vessels and is in negotiations with a potential buyer.The company also announced an agreement with Wolverine Power Cooperative. The company has granted Wolverine Power with an option to purchase approximately 440 acres of previously mined property at its Calcite quarry in Rogers City, Michigan. Over the next two years, Wolverine Power will explore the feasibility of a base load plant using Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) technology, a clean coal technology as defined by the U.S. Department of Energy at the Calcite site. In addition to the sale of the property to Wolverine Power, the company would provide high quality chemical limestone to support the CFB technology along with the infrastructure to receive / handle waterborne solid fuel. Additional terms of the agreement have not been disclosed. Wolverine Power Cooperative is a not-for-profit generation and transmission electric cooperative headquartered in Cadillac, Michigan.
Michael Lundin, President and CEO, Oglebay Norton Company stated, "We continue to execute our strategy of expanding on our current markets and developing new markets for our limestone and limestone fillers businesses, while maximizing the profitability of our sand and lime businesses. The sale of the vessels will enable us to pay down our debt which will further strengthen our balance sheet. Upon the closing of the sale, we will be well positioned to refinance our existing debt. We also remain committed to redeeming the convertible preferred stock in the near future."
Michael Lundin also stated, "We are excited about the relationship that we have developed with Wolverine Power and look forward to assisting them in the evaluation of a base load power plant on our Calcite property. We believe that this project will provide many opportunities for Wolverine, for the Rogers City community and for us."
Oglebay Norton Company, a Cleveland, Ohio-based company with a 150-year tradition of service, provides essential minerals and aggregates to a broad range of markets, from building materials and environmental remediation to the energy and metallurgical industries
Oglebay Norton selling six of its nine remaining marine vessels
Tilden Mine Accident ends in Death
June 28, 2006--A Cleveland Cliffs employee was killed in an accident, Wednesday June 28, 2006 at the Tilden Mines. Cleveland Cliffs Officials stated that 49-year-old Carl Rintamaki of Ishpeming fell through the roof at the pellet plant Ishpeming EMS responded to the scene. Mr. Rintamaki was pronounced dead at Bell Hospital. Both Cleveland Cliffs and the United Steelworkers Union have begun a joint investigation into the accident, in addition Federal Investigators will be at the plant to investigate as well.
3 arraigned on terror charges - Officials concerned Mackinac Bridge was a target
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USCG Responds to Possible Mac Bridge Threat
8/14 - Sault Ste. Marie, MI - U.S. Coast Guard Sector Sault Ste. Marie increased patrols across the Straits of Mackinac in response to a possible terrorist threat to the Mackinaw Bridge Sunday.
After learning of a possible threat to the Mackinaw Bridge, the U.S. Coast Guard increased the number of patrols in the vicinity of the bridge. The additional patrols are being conducted to deter, detect and allow for a more timely response to any possible threats made to the bridge.
The general threat level in which the Coast Guard operates under has not increased. The Coast Guard will work with local law enforcement authorities and other DHS agencies to assist as needed.
We would like to remind the public to contact local authorities if any suspicious activity is observed in the vicinity of the bridge.
USCG News Release
MARCH 14, 2008
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States military, the same way as the U.S. Marines, the Navy, and the Army. In wartime the Coast Guard sees the same type of action as its counterparts, currently Coast Guardsman are serving in Iraq. In addition to the role of the United States Coast Guard in times of war they are a more diversified Military Organization charged with law enforcement responsibilities, Water way Management, Search and Rescue, and take part in Research Projects.
After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the United States Coast Guard has been charged with the largest military role for Homeland Security. The United States Coast Guard today, has been reorganized under the Department of Homeland Security; the Coast Guard is and remains the Military Branch charged with the Safety and Protection of all U.S. Citizens. Since September 11, 2001, the upgrade of equipment, training, and recruitment has finally been addressed and subsidized. The United States Coast Guard protects the waterways, shipping lanes, shipping and shipping harbors. In addition the Coast Guard plays a significant role in the fight against drug trafficking, intercepting illegal aliens from other countries who attempt to enter the U.S. illegally.
The United States Coast Guard provides protection, search and rescue, icebreaking duties just to name a few of the duties here on Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, Lake Erie, Lake Huron, and many channels and rivers in the Great Lakes region. Prior to September 11, 2001, Coast Guard Personnel serving on the Great Lakes, where many Freighters come from many other Nations, Nations that are known today as threats against the United States. Coast Guard Vessels on the Great Lakes carried gun lockers that contained only shotguns, 9mm and 45mm guns, police sectors are better armed by officers and weapons. That are carried to major incidents such as a standoff.
As part of the rebuilding, reorganization, and the replacement of world war two vessels, the Coast Guard is finally being equipped with machine guns and other necessary tools and Weapons which are needed to protect and defend Potential terrorist targets.
The Coast Guard has set up 34 areas to be utilized for live fire practice zones, many States border the Great Lakes such as Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota and Wisconsin, just to name a few in addition Canadian provinces also border the Great Lakes. With the acquisition of both new equipment and Vessels such as Rapid Response boats, the new multi mission Mackinaw and the 225ft. Alder, and Hollyhock, along with other assets owned by the Coast Guard, the decision was made was long over due to appropriately outfit these vessels with machine guns, and other defense armament necessary to provide Coast Guard Personnel to respond to critical security situations, and provide a means of defense.
What is very ridiculous is the vast waters of the Great Lakes, that recreational boaters, and environmentalists, have delayed the deployment of the Live Fire Training Zone citing concerns over spent shells, claiming that they could cause contamination to fish, plant life, and would interfering with pleasure boating. This is so ridiculous, in one live exercise trial by the Coast Guard they notified all craft continuously prior to and every ten minutes during a live exercise fire without incident. The Coast Guard utilized radar and in the air surveillance demonstrating their diligence in maintaining safety.
These live fire training zones are critical to the training of Coast Guard personnel, training essential for providing security to shipping lanes, the Mackinac Bridge, shipping ports, the Sault Locks. These areas cannot be protected with handguns and shotguns, if a terrorists event took place any where on the great lakes, do you really believe that the aggressors are going to be unarmed or simply give up because they see a Coast Guard vessel?
Spent ammunition will not harm the fishing industry, the shipping industry, the pleasure boat industry or plant life, if the Coast Guard abandons these training exercises, especially following all of the media coverage regarding their rancor over the live fire zones media coverage of this issue has taken place overseas, just how long will it be before a terrorist group strikes if the coast guard is not adequately armed and trained?
That decision made to appropriately arm the men and women who serve in the United States Coast Guard, was not made haphazardly, a lot of planning, and a lot of preparation has gone into selecting the appropriate areas to conduct training exercises. Appropriate security needs to be maintained as provided by the Coast Guard during the 200 Super Bowl held in Detroit Michigan.
Now Canadian officials and others are complaining about the Coast Guard taking tne necessary steps to provide security in U.S. waters. Keep in mind all the salt water freighter that come through the Welland Canal and have deposited zebra mussels and many other species. Target practice and dispensed shell are not going to harm U.S. or Canadian Waters of the Great Lakes.
The United States Coast Guard has gone out of its way to provide the reasoning and rationale for the creation of these 34 zones, by utilizing an interactive web site, public information meetings in a public statement. On September 11, 2001 united states coast guard provided security following the attacks in New York at the World Trade Center both from the water ant the air. The events of September 11, 2001 demonstrate the need for Coast Guard Personnel to be trained to respond to the potential threat, in order to achieve this on the Great Lakes they must be trained appropriately with the assets provided.
09-29-06 BOATER ESCAPES WATER SPOUT ON LAKE MICHIGAN "GO"
11-19-2006 The 434 foot bulk carrier Virginiaborg the vessel stopped in Sault ST. Marie Michigan the freighter sustained minor damage after a fire broke out in her cargo hold burning part of her cargo of sugar beet pellets. Sault St. Marie Michigan Firefighters assisted by the crew extinguished the fire. The Sault St. Marie Coast Guard Station Investigated the cause of the fire.
FIRE BREAKS OUT IN FREIGHTERS CARGO HOLD
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Port of Indiana Burns Harbor Welcomes First Ships of Season
Press Release April 12, 2007
PORTAGE, Ind. The first two ships of the 2007 international shipping season have arrived at the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor/Portage.
The Cyprus-flagged Isolda, captained by Z. Ksiezopolski, arrived overnight carrying 8,148 metric tons of steel coils from Ijmuiden, Holland. Built in 1999, the 653-foot vessel stopped in Cleveland before coming to the Port of Indiana and will next travel to Milwaukee to discharge its remaining cargo before going to load grain at Thunder Bay, Ontario. The Isolda made four trips to the port last year.
The steel coils were offloaded by port stevedore Federal Marine Terminals for general distribution in the region. About 40 local workers from the International Longshoremen's Association Local 1969 and International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 will unload the ship today in about 10 to 12 hours depending on weather.
The Canadian-flagged Algo Marine arrived at 8 a.m. today bringing 27,000 tons of potash from Canada to Frick Services, a fertilizer and dry bulk distribution company located at the port. The self-unloading vessel will take about 14 hours to unload depending on the weather.
Every year, from the end of March through December, the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Seaway – “the fourth coast of the United States” – opens its international waterway to ships calling on U.S. and Canadian ports throughout the Great Lakes.
The Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor/Portage is a 600-acre port and maritime industrial park located on Lake Michigan just 20 miles from Chicago. The port has 12 ship berths and 25 tenant companies within its boundaries.
The Ports of Indiana operates three ports, including two on the Ohio River in Jeffersonville and Mount Vernon. Overall, Indiana’s three-port system handled $1.89 billion of cargo in 2006, including $820 million in total shipments at the Lake Michigan port.
A New Great Lakes Shipping Site Page Number 2 has been Uploaded for the purpose of displaying Pictures pertaining to shipping Vessels as well as Bridge Walk 2007. This new page will be fully online by mid to late October 2007. Click the " Blue Go" text. "GO"
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Dirty Jobs sets air date for Mackinac Bridge Episode
August 04, 2007-Mike Rowe from the Discovery Channel’s "Dirty Jobs" visited the Mackinac Bridge in May to film an episode showcasing the work that bridge maintenance crews perform each year on the "Mighty Mac." The hour-long Mackinac Bridge episode, entitled "Bridge Painter," is scheduled to air on Tuesday, August 7, at 9 p.m., on the Discovery Channel. The episode is airing in conjunction with the bridge’s 50-year anniversary
Mackinac Bridge jumper's body recovered
St. Ignace - Aug 10, 2007 - Authorities say they’ve recovered the body of a woman who jumped from the Mackinac Bridge Thursday afternoon.
The unidentified woman's body was located in the water about two miles west of the bridge, authorities said.
Police say despite attempts to talk the woman down, she jumped from the bridge's south tower about 3:50 p.m., falling 175 feet into the Straits of Mackinac.
She was pronounced dead at a U.S. Coast Guard station in St. Ignace.
It's the Mackinac Bridge's second jumping fatality this year, and one of more than a dozen in the bridge's 50-year history.
Man born on Mackinac is reunited with Paramedic who delivered him
A man believed to be the first person born on the Mackinac Bridge has been reunited with the emergency medical technician who delivered him nearly 24 years ago.
Medic Cathy Flores said Shawn Shuman entered the world at 5:10 p.m. on May 11, 1983. His mother, Kim, had visited her doctor in Kinross in the Upper Peninsula when she thought she might be having contractions even though she was just six months pregnant.
"I didn't feel well at all," she told the Cheboygan Daily Tribune for a Friday story. "The doctor said I should go to the hospital in Petoskey because they had a specialist and the only neonatal unit in the area at the time if the baby did come early, but he didn't think I would have the baby that day."
Flores said she had been with the Kinross Ambulance Corps for about a year and a half when she helped Kim Shuman in the back of the ambulance as they crossed the 5 mile-long Mackinac Bridge. Mary Fletcher, the driver, decided to head back to the hospital in St. Ignace, at the bridge's northern end.
"I told Mary we didn't have much time, and she made a U-turn in a service cut-across on the freeway," Flores said. "We had our emergency lights on and had crossed already."
A police officer pulled over their vehicle for making an illegal turn.
"I yelled out that we were having a baby in the back if he wanted to help and then he let us go," Flores said.
The ambulance pulled off the bridge roadway at Pier 17, the bridge's south anchor block, to work on the delivery, Flores said.
Shawn Shuman, 23, weighed just 2 pounds, 3 1/2 ounces upon arrival at Mackinac Straits Hospital. He was transported in a mobile incubator to the Petoskey hospital, where he stayed for about two-and-one-half months.
Shuman said his birthplace occasionally comes up in conversations.
"I've had people bring up where I'm from and the bridge and they are like, 'no way' when I tell them where I was born," he said. "I'm glad my mom didn't name me Mac, though."
The new ‘super lock’ for Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan may have to wait two years for a change in the White House. The Bush administration has refused to fund the construction of a long-awaited new shipping lock on the St. Mary’s River for Great Lakes marine commerce.
In a Feb. 28 news release, Michigan congressman Bart Stupak, whose district includes the Sault and the government-run canal complex, called out the Bush administration saying it is ignoring “critical infrastructure needs based solely on dollars and cents.
“This decision ignores the importance of the Soo locks to our nation’s economy and is negligent in protecting our navigation infrastructure,” says Stupak in a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers headquartered in Washington, D.C., the operators of the canal.
In his letter to corps commander Carl Strock, Stupak says if the lock were ever disabled due to age, accidental damage or by terrorism, it would take months to repair and disrupt cargoes of food, fuel, steel and energy supplies.
The St. Mary’s River, linking Lakes Superior and Huron, is considered a vital shipping channel and is used to move iron ore, coal, grain and other commodities to various North American and international ports.
The huge mega-project, price tag has ranged between $225 million and $340 million, was expected to take five years to complete. By the corps’ own admission in various studies through the years, the Sault Ste. Marie canal and the need for a new lock is considered vital to Great Lakes shipping. The U.S. Congress authorized the construction of a new lock in 1986 but total project funds were never released. After a 15-year wait, U.S. Congressional lawmakers finally approved an appropriations bill in 2001, with an initial $3 million toward the project.
In 2002, the corps was doing some preparatory work by dredging the river approach to the proposed lock. Plans were to demolish two older and shallow locks to make way for the new lock.
ANSWER FOUND FOR SHRINKING GREAT LAKES?
Federal study in spring
Corps officials are dubious, but the Georgian Bay study held enough water with federal lawmakers that in spring U.S. and Canadian federal governments will embark on their own $14.6 million study that will, among other things, attempt to determine if a drain plug really has been pulled on the lakes. It is coming at a particularly apt time.
The low water is causing consternation from shoreline property owners and boaters who can't reach their docks to freighter operators who say they can't deliver maximum payloads of iron ore to the region's steel mills. There is also the collective fret that a prized natural resource is simply draining away. The grumbles grow louder with each dip in the charts that track water levels, though levels have always fluctuated widely in relation to regional weather patterns. "I hear it every day," said Dennis Schornack, U.S. chairman of the International Joint Commission, a Canadian and U.S. board that oversees boundary-waters issues. The new study will focus only on whether there is a man-made problem. If there is, the next logical question would be: Is there a man-made fix?
"Absolutely," said Mary Muter of the Georgian Bay Association, which raised the $200,000 for the study that was conducted by the respected engineering firm W.F. Baird & Associates Coastal Engineers. Muter and Schornack both note that a structure to partially plug the St. Clair River was planned to compensate for an expected dip in Lakes Michigan and Huron water levels when the 1960s dredging was completed, but it was never built. Lakes Michigan and Huron are actually one body of water connected at the Straits of Mackinac.
Muter said the solution now likely would be to fill in the channels the river has carved on its own since the dredging, and somehow armor the river bottom so it doesn't happen again. "We definitely think something should be done," Muter said.
Schornack said any such decision would have to be weighed against its costs to construct and the potential damage to shorefront property owners worried about erosion. "That would be a very controversial recommendation," he said, "but it's possible."The situation is already controversial.
The Corps of Engineers does not dispute that the 1960s dredging permanently lowered the lakes, because it did create a faster flowing river. Federal engineers have maintained that the project, combined with earlier dredging and riverbed mining, resulted in a permanent loss of about 16 inches from the lakes' long-term average level. The Georgian Bay study, however, argues that water levels have since dropped about another foot because the river is effectively dredging itself through erosion caused by faster flows.
That number is determined by measuring the relative levels of Lakes Michigan and Huron against Lake Erie, which is downstream. Historically, the lakes' water levels have fluctuated together, but the gap between Michigan-Huron and Erie is shrinking. The corps said that is not necessarily due to Michigan and Huron draining away. It could be a change in the precipitation levels in each basin, or it could be tied to the Earth's crust rebounding unevenly since the last glacial period.
The Georgian Bay Association is convinced it's tied to erosion, and they say it is getting worse. They say they even have evidence the lake has dropped since they first released their study in 2005. Muter said another analysis her group recently funded shows that measurements taken on the river bottom in 2002 and then in 2005 reveal Michigan-Huron levels are continuing to drop at a rate of at least an inch every five years. Scott Thieme, chief of the corps' hydraulics and hydrology office in Detroit, did not dispute the Georgian Bay group's estimate of the volume of material that disappeared from the river bottom from 2002 to 2005, but he said it fell within the margin of error of the equipment used to take the measurements.
Muter bristles at that explanation. She said the problem can be identified by essentially sticking a measuring stick in the river. "It's this deep in 2002 and this deep in 2005," she said. "This was not complex bathymetry. You just do the math."
Issue beyond these shores Glen Nekvasil, vice president of the Lake Carriers' Association, is doing his own math. He doesn't like the way it's adding up for freighters plying the Great Lakes and their connecting channels.
He points to low water as the reason an ore freighter departing Lake Superior in January could carry only about 59,000 tons, about 12,000 tons below its capacity.
"When you're leaving that much cargo behind in periods of peak demand, it's a real challenge," he said. Nekvasil is keeping an eye on the St. Clair issue, but he's more concerned that the Corps of Engineers is falling behind on other dredging projects to keep other harbors and channels at depths adequate for freighters to carry maximum cargo loads.
"We've got to work to correct that situation," he said. Muter agreed that low water is an issue beyond the shores of Lakes Huron and Michigan, and that means it is unlikely any additional water will be available to release from Lake Superior in the summer months to alleviate the low water levels on Michigan and Huron. NOAA's Sellinger said Lake Superior's outflow, the St. Marys River, historically has accounted for about 30% of the water that feeds Michigan and Huron. February flows on the St. Marys River averaged about 67,000 cubic feet per second over the past century. This February, they had throttled back to about 49,000 cubic feet per second.
U.S. House OKs construction of shipping lock at Sault Ste. Marie
04-20-2007 The U.S. House has voted to end a two-decade delay in building a new Great Lakes shipping lock, although it's still uncertain whether Congress will come up with the money.
A provision ordering the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to expand the Soo Locks complex at Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., was included in a $15 billion water projects bill passed Thursday. The measure must clear the Senate and get President Bush's signature to take effect.
U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., accused the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in February of planning to kill the project. John Paul Woodley Jr., assistant secretary of the Army for civil works, insisted then that no decision had been made.
Lynn Duerod, spokeswoman for the Corps' district office in Detroit, said Friday the situation "looks promising" but the agency was waiting to see whether the proposed lock would clear remaining hurdles in Congress.
The bill authorizes federal agencies to build it, but separate legislation is needed to provide funding.
Congress in 1986 first approved construction of a new lock large enough to accommodate the biggest freighters hauling iron ore and other bulk cargo on the St. Marys River, which links lakes Superior and Huron.
Lawmakers have appropriated about $13 million over the years for planning and design, but haven't provided construction money. The price tag has jumped from $227 million in 1986 to $341 million.
The House measure calls for the federal government to pay the entire cost. In past years, Congress has asked the Great Lakes states to help foot the bill.
The Soo complex includes three functional locks, but just one — the Poe Lock — can handle ships longer than 767 feet. Of nearly 70 U.S.-flagged Great Lakes vessels, 31 are that size.
If the Poe were disabled, it would create a huge shipping bottleneck and cause iron ore shortages that could cripple the domestic steel industry, Stupak said. A second Poe-sized lock would keep traffic flowing, he said.
The version of the Water Resources Development Act approved by the House deletes a caveat from previous years that the Army Corps secretary must endorse the new lock before it's built.
The Corps' Detroit office concluded in a 2005 analysis the project wasn't justified on economic grounds alone but was worth the money when national security was considered.
"The time for studying the problem is over," Stupak said. "We're telling them what to do. They're going to build this lock."
