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February 13, 2006 -- Vol. 6 Issue 7 Written by Jack R. Simpson (unless otherwise noted), owner of J.R. Simpson & Associates, Inc. and contributing editor to The Waterways Journal.
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 In This Newsletter:
Thought For The Week
“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” — Anais Nin A Personal Note From Jack
 When we look into a mirror, do we see what we really are, or do we see what we want to see?
When we examine an issue, do we understand how things really are, or do we see things as proponents or opponents want us to see them. Let us consider the proposal by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to modernize seven locks on the Upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers. This issue has stirred up a great deal of controversy. For the critics, we can look upon their opposition as a continuation of their effort to bring about sustained progress and not let the Corps improve the waterway. The proponents want to improve the river system, which they believe will in turn improve profits for barge transportation by eliminating bottlenecks. It will also serve our foreign trade efforts well. Critics, and there are quite a few, argue against the project because they say barge traffic on the Upper has been declining. Proponents believe that to leave the locks as they are, that is at 600 feet in length, is shortsighted. World demand for food will increase demands on transportation and, therefore, we will need the larger locks. Since prices were down on corn and much was held over in elevators last year, shouldn’t one assume that is a temporary condition? We have to use statistics from a longer period of time to get a true reflection of what is happening. To what extent drought has impacted the situation, we don’t know. But drought is relatively short-term as well. It was a more simple issue before the U.S. got into fighting terrorists. Whatever we may wish to believe about the right or wrong of it, facts are that financial burdens on our country have increased greatly, and the President’s budget calls for numerous reductions in an effort to be able to keep feeding the war machine financially. Before Iraq it could reasonably be stated that the U.S. Government wastes enough money every year and that the $3.5 billion needed to carry out the Upper Miss/Illinois river projects would be a minor expense. After all, we are going to spend $8 billion to restore a swamp in Florida. And after all, half of the $3.5 billion is to be spent for environmental improvement. Multi-billions have been spent on the Big Dig in Massachusetts, and multi-millions have been spent on a highway to nowhere in West Virginia, all at taxpayers’ expense. But there are some new wrinkles to consider — wrinkles that have not been forthcoming in the news. For example, there are 65 new ethanol plants in the Upper Miss region, many near the Mississippi River. One observer says corn shipments on the river have dropped drastically because the corn is being sold to ethanol plants, where the price is better than farmers can get if they ship to tidewater. We know that farmers are also investing in ethanol plants. This observer believes that since corn is going to ethanol plants and because there has been no increase in livestock feeding, the future for corn shipments on the river is not clear at the moment. (Readers who want to take the time can use “new ethanol plants” as key words in Google and find quite a bit of information, including a map showing where the new plants are located as relates to the Mississippi River.) Others have said that there are indications that ethanol production could increase shipments on the river. Would ethanol be moved by barge? We don’t know. Would corn be moved around within the reaches of the Upper Mississippi to bring it to the plants? We don’t know. Both are possible. This ongoing, sometimes confusing issue has prompted John Paul Woodley, Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) to write a letter to Joshua Bolten, director of the Office of Management and Budget, expressing his views on whether or not to support the Upper Miss/Illinois rivers project proposal. Attached to the letter to Bolten are letters that Woodley sent to Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert and Senate President Richard Cheney. These letters are quite lengthy. Reduced to pertinent features, they can be summed up in the following paragraph: Woodley wrote: “In summary, I recommend the proposed project identified in the report of the Chief of Engineers be modified whereby construction of seven new locks and dams be conditionally authorized, but will be held in abeyance until the results of new models demonstrate economic justification, and that the use of electronic global positioning systems to automatically guide navigation be incorporated into the full authorization of small scale structural and non-structural navigation features, as well as in existing and future lock and dam construction.” Woodley indicates elsewhere that the new study is likely to take at least five years. Woodley wrote to OMB Director Bolten, “Please advise this office whether the recommendations are consistent with Administration policy.” Woodley’s enclosures to Vice President Cheney and House Speaker Hastert conclude with, “The Office of Management and Budget advises that there is no objection to the submission of the report to Congress.” We would not expect OMB to disagree with Woodley, since OMB agrees with Woodley’s line of thinking. (See details below.) Is there a battle ahead? Last week about 80 U.S. senators signed a letter to Majority Leader Bill Frist, demanding a vote on the Water Resources Development Act, which was passed handily by the House last year. The bill includes $3.6 billion for the Upper Miss/Illinois rivers project. (The number of senators who signed the letter seems to change depending upon who is reporting it. The National Waterways Conference said 80 had signed and another who supported it didn’t get to sign it before it was sent.) One can anticipate a face off if the senators believe that it is time for the project to get underway and that the federal government has for too long ignored deteriorating waterways. The other side of the coin is that Woodley’s letter could throw a wrench into the works and result in further delay. I think it is realistic to assume that opponents of the project will latch on to the Assistant Secretary’s suggestions and use them as ammunition against the project. I am of the opinion that world demand for food will eventually force us to modernize the river facilities in question. The locks are 70 years old. OMB suggests that with prudent investment in maintenance, we can keep those failing locks operating safely and reliably for another 50 years. But just keeping them operating at the same capacity is not particularly good if the climate changes and increased river traffic develops. At the risk of being silly, let me make some comparisons. In St. Louis, workers will begin soon to repair and update a 12-mile stretch of Highway 40. In additional to much needed maintenance, major changes will be made at interchanges (now bottlenecks) that were designed to handle 1930s traffic. Just maintaining these interchanges so that vehicles can move through the area safely while still trapped in traffic jams would not solve the problem. To put it more simply, if a school district bus designed to carry 24 students is faced with moving 48 students because of increased enrollment, just keeping the bus in good running order will not solve the problem of increased demand for transportation. Aren’t the river problems similar to these? I believe firmly in the principle of modernization of the locks. There is also the fact that if construction of the locks is put off, project costs could rise astronomically. (When bids were ready to be opened for the replacement locks at Locks and Dam 26 in 1974, the cost of the project was put a $383 million. After a decade of delay, the cost rose to more than $1 billion. In addition to that, railroads were able to charge an additional $750 million a year in rates during the 10-year delay. The actually boasted about it.) We are involved in expensive military action, and the President faces tough decisions. He thinks, perhaps, that if a boat is sinking, the available finances should be spent on plugging the holed hull rather than painting the boat. Ironically, replacing locks is not akin to a face lift. The transportation infrastructure is deteriorating, and the Upper Mississippi/Illinois rivers play a vital role in exporting successfully Midwest agricultural products. To follow OMB’s advice and, in so many words, patch the aging locks with baling wire and duct tape, would result in the loss of valuable time at a period in our history when South American countries are scrambling to take our agricultural export markets away from us. They are improving their river systems while we are quibbling over ours. The President and his administration should remember that the Mississippi River and tributaries system has served our nation well during periods of both peace and war. What will be the outcome of Woodley’s letters? It is hard to see the forest for the trees. Wanting us to see things their way are three major forces — the project opponents, who never want to see the project succeed; the Bush Administration, which is juggling for a delay so it can have more money available for war; and the marine industry, which sincerely wants the project completed because the waterways have been ignored for too many years and completion of the project would benefit both the industry and our nation’s foreign trade program. Stay tuned. Newsletter News
Farther along in this letter you will find an email from a reader who is inquiring about the use of our articles in other publications. My rule is clear. Anyone can use B&B stories, providing credit is given and providing the purpose is merely to share the news with others. After all, that is why we write them. To use pictures legitimately, the person making the request should plainly request the use of the pictures, identify specifically where they saw them and name the photographer. We will forward the request to the photographer. Permission must come from the photographer unless it is a B&B picture. If it is a B&B picture, we merely ask for credit. Web Site News
We thank those who conscientiously mention the availability of B&B and our web site to others. It helps build visitations to our site. For Those Inclined To Pray
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By joining our Prayer Circle, you can tap into the prayerful support of circle members wherever they are. Membership and prayer requests are open to everyone.
On The Waterfront
(Editor’s note: The following story has been airborne and on the web. Whether it is true or not, I cannot say. It goes against the grain, so to speak, just as turning over control of port operations at sites located at either end of the Panama Canal to Chinese companies did a few years ago. But to our knowledge, nothing negative has come of that. My first reaction, even though the AP reports that the Bush Administration considers the United Arab Emirates an important ally in the fight against terrorism, was that it goes “beyond the pale.” It’s something like putting the fox in the hen house to guard the chickens. Still, we live during a time of global expansion, and U.S. companies have operated in countries around the world for decades.) Foreign Operators Poised To Oversee Operations At Six U.S. Ports The Associated Press reported Saturday (February 11) that a company in the United Arab Emirates is poised to take over significant operations at six American ports, including New Orleans. The move is part of an international corporate sale of London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company to Dubai Ports World (DP-World). The AP raises the concern that “The move allows a country with ties to the September 11th hijackers to have influence over a maritime industry considered vulnerable to terrorism.” AP says that the British company is the fourth largest ports company in the world and that its sale would effect commercial U.S.-port operations in New Orleans, New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, Miami and Philadelphia. The U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which includes representatives from the departments of Treasury, Defense, Justice, Commerce, State and Homeland Security, approved the purchase. The sale, listed at $6.8 billion, is expected to be approved today (Monday). It was pointed out by shipping experts that D-P World has a strong interest in operating ports securely and efficiently and that many of the world’s largest port companies are not based in the U.S. Even under foreign control. It is expected that U.S. ports will continue to be operated by unionized American employees. (We wonder for how long?) Carnival Ship Ecstasy Breaks Loose With 1,100 People Aboard On 5:35 a.m. on Saturday (February 11), the Carnival Ship Ecstasy broke loose from its mooring at the Poland Avenue Wharf in New Orleans and spun out of control on the Mississippi River. The 855-foot ship was quickly brought under control by three tugs and ultimately came to rest against the Algiers riverbank just down river from Algiers Point. At one point the wayward ship narrowly avoid hitting two Military Sea Lift Command ships moored nearby. Passengers were warned immediately to don lifejackets and head for the deck, where many of them gathered around lifeboats. The Coast Guard reported that most of the 1,100 people aboard were law enforcement officers and other city workers. The vessel was charted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to house hurricane evacuees. All told, it was to provide housing for 1,600 people. Judge Favors President Casino In Parking Lot Lawsuit (An Update) A federal bankruptcy judge reinstated on February 10 a $1.50 per car parking fee that Columbia Sussex Corp. of Kentucky had agree to charge President Casino when it planned to buy the casino on the St. Louis riverfront. When Columbia decided not to purchase the casino, it raised the parking fee to $25 per car. President Casino charged that the firm was trying to force them to buy the parking lot, which Columbia Sussex owns, for an unreasonable price. Some 40,000 customers a month, about 75 percent of President Casino's patronage, parks on the lot. When the fee was raised to $25, the casino stopped using the lot. Gulf Coast Clean-up of Hurricane Debris Begins It is reported that about 150 volunteer workers are now cleaning up debris from coastal waterways. Of the 30 million cubic yards of debris that Hurricane Katrina left behind, 3 million of it ended up around and in the waterways. In a few weeks the Department of Marine Resources and the Coast Guard will use heavy equipment to begin removing debris from 400 waterways, the report said. Removal Of Sunken Asphalt Barge Gets More Complicated Efforts to empty and remove a Magnolia Marine Transport asphalt barge sunk against the K & I bridge on the Ohio River at Louisville have been thwarted because the onboard heaters no longer function, a company representative said. The 800,000 gallons of asphalt aboard must be heated to 240 degrees to be pumped out. That will add several more days to the salvage as portable heating coils are brought to the site. The barge sank January 26 after three 80-foot units broke loose from a tug. It was reported on the 27th that two of the barges had been recovered. River Salvage Co., Pittsburgh, is on the job. Mother Of Drowned Worker Sues River Transport Firm The mother of a drowned towing company worker (Corey Stocki) has filed a lawsuit against Steel City Marine Transport, Freedom, Pa. Stocki was employed on the Mv. Gregory David. Victoria Stepanek is seeking $150,000 under the Illinois Wrongful Death Act and the Jones Act. Stepanek charges that the company was negligent for furnishing her son with a defective ratchet and for not furnishing adequate help from other crew members for the performance of his job. The complaint states that the direct result [of this negligence] caused the victim to fall overboard and drown. You can contact the editor directly at jacksimpson@littleriverbooks.com. advertisement
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Re: Wakerobin The information about the Wakerobin in the January 23 Bitts & Bytes was very interesting. In addition to towboats, lakeboats and trains, I am also interested in lighthouses and lighthouse history. My wife and I have been traveling around the Great Lakes visiting and photographing the various lights. We have had a blast looking into all the lighthouse/maritime history around the Lakes. It is interesting to find that the US Lighthouse Service owned a towboat/steamboat for navigation light work on the Mississippi River. What a neat part of lighthouse history! This leads me to the question if it would be OK to forward the Wakerobin information to Lighthouse Digest magazine. If not, I can at least tip off the editor, Tim Harrison, about the information so he can look over the issue of Bitts & Bytes via the Little River Books website. He may be interested in publishing some information about the Wakerobin. I don’t recall them publishing any info about her before. Lighthouse Digest covers everything lighthouse no matter how small the involvement with lighthouses are. If it involves the US Lighthouse Service, US Coast Guard, lightships, lighthouse tender boats, old stories/experiences, current day restorations etc. they want to know about it. Please advise on my course of action. I think Mr. Harrison would be interested in this small piece of lighthouse/maritime history. Eric Johnson (Editor’s note: Eric’s email reminds us to tell B&B readers that we do welcome lighthouse pictures for our Photo Center. We will need name of facility, location, date of picture and photographer (or poster).) Re: Capt. Meriwether Lewis  Lots of talk lately about the dredges “Mitchell” and “Black”. Lest we forget, there was a third member of the Missouri River dredging party, the Capt. Meriwether Lewis (or Captain, don’t know which was her documented name). She showed Captain on the wheelhouse and Capt. on the pilothouse nameboard. Of course to put Captain on the name board would have required a larger pilot house. See pictures attached which I took in March of 1973 at the Corps yard in the mouth of the Gasconade River. The Lewis was already in mothballs, the death warrant had been all but signed for the Black and Mitchell. They were an impressive sight, all three hovering there together in the chilly March air.
Mike Herschler (Editor’s note: Mike’s pictures are in the Photo Center this week.) Boat Photo Center
 Pictures this week include four of the dredge Capt. (Captain?) Meriwether Lewis from Mike Herschler; two of the R. L. Ireland and two of the Sarah S from Brent Maletic; a mystery boat from Ron Richardson; and the St. Joseph, Webby 1 and Lois E from Mike Murphy.
(See note in Newsletter News about the use of Photo Center pictures.) Recipe Box
Do you have a good recipe you’d like to share? Submit your recipes here! The Book Beat
If you can bring yourself to phone in a book order, there are several really good bargains I will offer. In some cases, all the money I receive will all go to the author, except for the S&H fee, of course. Included in this list is “Let The Lower Lights Be Burning” by Dean Gabbert, $5.00 “In Search of Moon River” by Byron Rozier, $5.00; “Moby Dick” by Herman Melville, $8; “Grab a Bush” by R. Allen Coleman, $4.00; “Portraits From The Past” by Neal R. Fink, $5.00. You can click on the links here to see the pictures of the books and descriptions but they will show the regular retail prices charged on the web. To order at bargain prices, you must call Jack at 314-921-4419 or cell 314-341-4419 (only the prefix changes) and use a Visa or Master Card. This offer is good only as long as the books last. advertisement
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February 13, 2006 By Kathy Flippo  Let’s go back to 1955 again to finish up the traffic report for July 11th. The Mv. Frank L. Blaske (another boat I knew) came down at 10:13 a.m. with five MTs and came right back up later that evening with three coal and one something else. Something else is because that is where I can’t read the newspaper any more. The Blaske was built in Alton, Illinois, in 1945 and was 120 feet by 27 feet and had a 7-foot 3-inch draft. She had 6-cylinder Atlas diesels, two of them, and had 1,200 horsepower. Blaske Lines of Alton was the owner and builder, and this boat was named to honor Capt. Hugh C. Blaske’s father.
There was also a Mv. Hugh C. Blaske that came up the Upper occasionally, but it was a little boat just 114 feet long and having 800 horsepower. It was an old boat in 1955 because…to continue reading, click here. See you on the Web, Jack Little River Books jacksimpson@littleriverbooks.com Don't forget to visit our website! |
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