SESSION I

TIME: Tuesday 9 May, 10:30-12:00

ROOM: Elizabethan Room A

TRACK: Inland and Deep Draft Navigation

TOPIC: Navigation and Plan Formulation

MODERATOR:

PRESENTATIONS:

Title: Plan Formulation in a Constrained Budget Environment

Presenter(s): David Grier, IWR; Mark Hammond, LRH

Abstract: The Inland Waterways Users Board, an industry Federal advisory committee, was established by Congress in WRDA 86 to make recommendations to the Secretary of the Army on construction and rehabilitation projects on the inland waterways of the United States. The Corps is the proponent for the Board and the DCW serves as Executive Director of the Board. Board members are appointed by the Secretary of the Army and represent a range of geographic areas, commodity groups, and both shippers and carriers. The Board meets two or three times a year and submits an Annual Report to Congress with its recommendations for navigation investment priorities to be cost-shared from the Inland Waterways Trust Fund. The Board’s Annual Report highlights industry priorities for seven ongoing lock modernization projects, three major rehabilitations, and numerous projects in PED or under study. The Board also expresses alarm about constrained funds that have slowed project completion schedules, delayed initiation of urgently needed major rehabilitations, added to the likelihood of unscheduled lock closures, and resulted in the loss of over $5 billion in navigation benefits that can no longer be recovered. However, the Trust Fund would be quickly exhausted if all projects proceed at higher funding levels.

Title: Innovative Dredging Analysis of Federally authorized/maintained small boat harbors

Presenter(s): Kevin W. Bluhm, St. Paul District and Jason Weiss, URS

Abstract: Innovative Dredging Analysis of Federal small boat harbors. Four Federally maintained small boat harbors on The Lake of the Woods Minnesota were in need of supplemental dredging and past work was very costly and each harbor analyzed separately. The goal of the decision document was to give management a better decision tool that would show the real need, or value of the harbors, and several potential methods to optimize future dredging activities by performing various activities at one time, advanced dredging, or innovative (non-traditional) dredging techniques. An optimization table was built into the analysis and alternative dredge concepts were explored to give several future investment streams and allow operations persons to look at the big picture for the investment. Issues like harbor of refuge, use analysis and regional benefit analysis were addressed. The information has been beneficial for the local governments to see value/impacts, and for the Corps decision makers.

Title: Fix or Fail, Evolution of a Rehab

Presenter: Craig Newcomb, Walla Walla District

Abstract: As our projects age infrastructure investments are necessary to assure full operational capability. Throughout the Corps many projects are well beyond design life and in need of repair. In 1995 Ice Harbor Dam downstream lock gate was replaced under emergency repair due to accelerated fatigue cracking, and various projects have replaced valves, hoist machinery, controls and other equipment. In 2002 structural cracks associated with pintle bearing on Lower Granite downstream miter gate necessitated emergency repairs. Major rehabilitation repair work was identified to rehabilitate Lower Monumental navigation lock for a total of $26.6 million for plans, specifications and construction, and it was to be completed under the Major Rehab Program. This presentation will highlight the collaborative efforts of the Walla Walla District and other districts, along with the Institute of Water Resources, Inland Waterway Users Board, and others to complete the Lower Monumental Lock and Dam Major Rehabilitation Report. The Product Delivery Team reached throughout the Corps to learn form others and enlist their experience. They had to find a model, gather information, calculate reliability data, and estimate economic and environmental consequences. The process was a continual joint effort among all involved as the engineering and modeling evolved.

Title: Deep Draft Navigation in the South Atlantic Division – An Overview

Presenter(s): Terry Stratton, SAD

Abstract: The purpose of this presentation is to provide an overview and information on deep draft ports in the Southeastern United States. There are some 43 deep and shallow draft ports in the South Atlantic Division. This presentation will discuss ports from North Carolina to Mississippi – specifically Wilmington NC, Charleston SC, Savannah GA, Brunswick GA, Jacksonville FL, Port Everglades FL, Miami Harbor FL, Tampa Harbor and adjacent ports FL, San Juan PR, Mobile AL, and Pascagoula MS. Presentation will discuss recent studies, construction, unique O&M practices, hurricane impacts, and future trends. The National Center of Expertise for Deep Draft Navigation will also be briefly covered.

SESSION III

TIME: Tuesday 9 May, 3:30-5:00

ROOM: Elizabethan Room A

TRACK: Inland and Deep Draft Navigation

TOPIC: Stakeholder/Agency Collaboration

MODERATOR:

PRESENTATIONS:

Title: Lessons Learned from Implementation of Regional Biological Opinions in the South Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico

Presenter(s): Daniel Small, South Atlantic Division

Abstract: The National Marine Fisheries Service has released two Regional Biological Opinions (RBOs) for dredging (primarily hopper dredging) pursuant to the Endangered Species Act. The South Atlantic Regional Biological Opinion covers dredging along the South Atlantic coast from North Carolina south to Florida.The Gulf of Mexico Regional Biological Opinion covers dredging in the Gulf from Florida west to Texas. The two RBOs cover four U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Divisions and seven Districts. While different in several ways, both have resulted in numerous lessons learned including communication, technical investigations and documentation, interagency coordination, coordination and collaboration among three Divisions and seven Districts, and coordination within each district among staff members in Planning, Operations, and Regulatory Divisions.

Title: Baltimore Harbor and Channels Dredged Material Management Plan (DMMP): Integration of NED and NER Outputs with Stakeholder Collaboration

Presenter(s): Amy Guise, NAB

A projected dredged material placement shortfall for the Baltimore Harbor and Channels project necessitated a DMMP study to provide sufficient placement capacity for a 20 year period. This presentation will highlight the collaborative planning process used to evaluate NED and NER outputs using input from stakeholder groups. The study evaluated the economics of continued maintenance of the navigation channels and the ecosystem outputs associated with a suite of beneficial use alternatives. Collaboration with non-Corps data sources was essential to a successful planning process. The maintenance dredging evaluation drew upon data from a study commissioned by the Maryland Port Administration, the project sponsor. The ecosystem outputs were evaluated in collaboration with an environmental work group composed of Chesapeake Bay environmental experts. Plan formulation integrated the need for material placement capacity with the production of ecosystem benefits. The recommended DMMP integrates NED and NER outputs and demonstrates the importance of collaboration with project stakeholders.

Title: Resolving Litigation to Achieve O&M Dredging in the Snake River

Presenter(s): Jack Sands, NWW

Abstract: The Walla Walla District of the Corps of Engineers is responsible for maintaining the Federal navigation channel on the Columbia River above McNary Dam and the Snake River from its mouth to the upstream terminus of the inland navigation channel at Lewiston, Idaho. Historically, the Corps has dredged the Snake River to maintain the channel at certain locations where sedimentation has reduced available depths to below the Congressionally-authorized 14 feet. In 2002, the Corps released a DMMP/EIS that primarily addressed management of dredged material anticipated over a 20-year period.

After successive court challenges, two preliminary injunctions halting dredging, the termination of one contract for the convenience of the government just before dredging was to begin, the development of a stand-alone EIS for a proposed one-year dredging action, and a settlement agreement with the environmental group challenging the action in court, the Corps was finally successful in proceeding with dredging in Snake River this past winter.

Title: Missouri River Navigation vs. Master Water Control Manual

Presenter: John R. LaRandeau, Northwestern Division

Abstract: The Missouri River Basin was in a 15 year battle from 1989 to 2004 on updating the Missouri River Master Water Control Manual. This manual is the Corps bible for the operation of the six mainstem reservoirs on the Missouri River in the states of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska. The argument, although complex, was basically how to change how the water would be stored and released to meet all the operational needs of the users. An extended drought that began in 1988 that lasted till 1993 negatively impacted the upstream states recreational economy that had developed since the system of dams became fully operational in 1967. This stress led the Corp to begin the process to update the Master Manual. During the process the listing of threatened or endangered species, Interior Least Tern, Piping Plover and Pallid Sturgeon added to the dynamics of the process. This presentation focuses on the Navigation purpose and how it became the political football by the environmental groups and the upstream states in their quest to add weight to the process to change reservoir storage levels and downstream releases. It also discusses how the Corps’ Master Manual team worked the navigation issue and collaborated with the basin to finalize the update.

SESSION V

TIME: Wednesday 14 April, 3:30-5:00

ROOM: Elizabethan Room A

TRACK: Inland and Deep Draft Navigation

TOPIC: Innovative Analytical Procedures and Tools

MODERATOR:

PRESENTATIONS:

Title: RiverPass: Towards an Intelligent Inland Waterway Transport System

Presenter(s): Anne Sudar, Institute for Water Resources; Doug McDonald, Institute for Water Resources.

Abstract: The Waterborne Commerce unit of the Navigation Data Center currently collects information on traffic and cargo moving through the inland waterway system with paper forms, called VORs. RiverPass will eliminate these tedious, slow, and error-prone paper forms. It will enable electronic, remote capture of waterborne commerce data and lock performance monitoring data, thus saving time and money.

Tracking with geographic positioning systems is already used in rail, truck, and air transport modes. This technology could easily be applied to the water mode. Fast, accurate availability of waterborne commerce and traffic information would increase the competitiveness of inland waterway shippers and carriers and facilitate incorporation of inland waterway transport into inter-modal supply chains. The industry could use it to plan voyages and calculate more reliable time schedules. Based on the current and expected positioning data of the various vessels that are underway in the network, lock and terminal operators can calculate and communicate expected times of arrival to tugboat operators. Tugboat operators can then adjust speeds, if necessary, and reduce waiting times at locks. This would optimize use of existing infrastructure as well as lower fuel consumption. RiverPass could also communicate real-time information on changing river conditions to operators. They can use this information to determine safe barge loads, and to take advantage of available channel depths and to reduce incidents and injuries.

In short, RiverPass can help transform inland waterway transport into a transparent, reliable, flexible, and easy-to-access transport mode.

Title: Use of Scenarios: Future Traffic Demand Forecast Scenarios Based on Environmental Emission

Presenter(s): David Weekly, LRH

Abstract: The Great Lakes and Ohio River Division, over a number of years, has pursued continual refinement in the development of the waterway traffic forecasts used in project economic analyses. The latest effort involved the development of five alternative forecast scenarios involving principally utility steam coal. Two of these scenarios are based on extensive surveys of utility companies and the use of this information in the Ohio River System utility coal model. The final three are based on the work of Hill and Associates Management Consultants and involve evaluations, in a linear programming context, of the coal market effects of alternative environmental laws and regulations.

The first two scenarios, termed the Utility-Based and Utility-Based High scenarios, are founded on the input of utility company users of the Ohio River System. The input of the electric utilities, which includes short-term consumption, generation and transportation forecasts is input to the ORS utility coal model to generate future flows over the forecast horizon. The Utility-Based scenario reflects the traffic impact of baseline level of economic growth while the Utility-Based High scenario reflects high economic growth

The final three scenarios are based on the Hill and Associates work. Hill and Associates prepares 20-year steam coal forecasts based on the interaction of two major linear programming models, the National Power Model and the Utility Fuel Economics Model. The National Power Model is a utility industry model that dispatches all electric generating plants in the U.S. (both coal and non-coal), producing forecasts of generation by fuel type within a context of transmission and environmental constraints. The Utility Fuel Economics Model makes use of highly-detailed coal supply data (for approximately 98 coal types) to allocate fuels among plants and units. These two models developed forecasts of coal demand, by type of coal, for electric generation, which were then “mapped” to the waterway.

Hill and Associates prepared separate forecast scenarios based on three alternative environmental regulatory futures. The first of these represents a continuation of existing law, which in this case was the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. The second Hill and Associates scenario reflects implementation of the administration’s Clear Skies Initiative. The final Hill and Associates scenario is implementation of the Clear Skies Initiative without the proposal’s severe mercury restrictions.

Title: Engineering Reliability Analysis: Component Degradation Functions and Event Trees to Forecast the Structural Performance of Major Lock Components

Presenter(s): Virgil Langdon, Jr. (Buddy) LRH

Abstract: As inland navigation projects age maintenance requirements tend to increase. The median age of the 238 lock chambers in the U.S. is 51 years and with this aging infrastructure, and an ever increasing Operation & Maintenance backlog, lock equipment failures are increasing. As the different components of a lock chamber degrade, the question becomes if and when they should be replaced, and under a budget constraint, which maintenance should have funding priority. For some components the most economical policy might be to schedule and replace the component before an unscheduled failure occurs, while for other components, the consequence of a failure might be so inconsequential and / or infrequent that the most economical policy is to repair if and when a failure occurs. The consequences of an unscheduled failure include both a Federal repair expenditure and the transportation impact resulting from the service disruption, and will vary by navigation project and component. Risk-based analysis offers a quantification method to integrate engineering reliability data with economic consequences over a life-cycle to prioritize lock maintenance. Since the 1993 Marmet Feasibility report LRD (then ORH) has been utilizing engineering hazard functions and failure event consequence trees in their analysis, however, each new study demands more analysis detail and the permutations of investment / maintenance options that effect future scheduled cyclical maintenance needs complicates the analysis. The current analysis techniques allows for automated investment optimization.

Title: Interagency Collaboration and Ecological Modeling for the Sabine-Neches Waterway Feasibility Study

Presenter(s): Janelle Stokes, Galveston District

Abstract: This paper will describe a collaborative interagency and interstate team approach that was used to evaluate ecological effects of the proposed deepening and widening of the Sabine-Neches Waterway (SNWW) in Texas and Louisiana. The SNWW study area contains over 450 square miles of significant coastal wetland habitat and concern over potential impacts of a deeper navigation channel has been high. An Interagency Coordination Team comprised of fourteen federal and state resource agencies from Louisiana and Texas was directly involved in evaluating project impacts and benefits through the application of the Wetlands Value Assessment (WVA) community model. The presentation will describe the WVA model methodology and its application to the SNWW study.

SESSION VI

TIME: Thursday 15 April, 1:30-3:00

ROOM: Elizabethan Room A

TRACK: Inland and Deep Draft Navigation

TOPIC: Navigation and Cultural Resources

MODERATOR: Darlene Guinto, NWD

PRESENTATIONS:

Title: Artifacts on Lewes Beach: The Roosevelt Inlet Shipwreck

Presenter(s): Robert A. Dunn, NAP

Abstract: In December 2004, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Philadelphia District learned of numerous public accounts regarding the appearance of thousands of 18^th century artifacts throughout the sand recently pumped onto Delaware’s Lewes Beach. The sand was deposited by the Philadelphia District’s dredging contractor for the Roosevelt Inlet/Lewes Beach Nourishment Project. News of the “Lewes Discovery” initially appeared in the local Delaware media but within days was characterized in national media reports as an example of Corps “planning negligence.” This presentation focuses on the subsequent and complex underwater archaeological investigation that identified the source of the beach artifacts. The debris field originated from a large mid-18^th century British shipwreck that had gone undetected during the 1995 magnetometer and side scan sonar surveys conducted during the Feasibility Phase of Planning. Despite the volatility that developed after the media and the public became fully aware of the “Lewes Discovery Site,” collaboration with other Corps Districts, partnering with the State of Delaware and strong public involvement turned what initially appeared to be a “shiner” for the Corps into a shining example of effective cultural resource management.

Title: Managing the Resource: Problems and Prospects for Archaeological Site Conservation Along the Upper Mississippi River

Presenter(s): Brad Perkl, MVP

Abstract: The construction of the locks and dams on the Upper Mississippi River (UMR) in the 1930s created a series of relatively shallow impoundments (navigation pools) on the river as part of the 9-foot navigation channel. This system provides relatively stable water levels during non-flood periods. As a result, profound impacts have occurred and continue to negatively affect cultural resources along the UMR. Among a variety of complex mechanisms affecting cultural resources is shoreline erosion, principally caused by fluvial processes associated with streamflow, fluctuating water levels of the pool, and wave action from wind and commercial and recreational boat traffic. While the idiosyncratic nature of each site and its natural setting (e.g., bank geometry, vegetation), in addition to other factors, determines the susceptibility and extent that erosion will have on a site, erosion in general is detrimental to cultural resources. In addition to site destruction, indirect impacts from erosion potentially include site vandalism and artifact looting. During a recent study examining twenty UMR shoreline archaeological sites, bankline retreat ranges from 5-50 meters with an average of approximately 18 meters (55 ft) of shoreline loss and associated archaeological deposits over the past 60+ years. In some instances, shoreline erosion is abating with the natural establishment of vegetation. In response to shoreline erosion and other processes destructive to UMR archaeological resources, the US Army Corps of Engineers and other Federal and State agencies are confronting this situation by implementing shoreline protection schemes on the most threatened sites as funding allows, along with other actions. Shoreline protection measures may include the placement of rip-rap and other features, such as rock wedges and off-shore rock mounds, log-cribbing and establishing vegetation. This presentation will highlight erosion derived archaeological site destruction and shoreline protection methods along the UMR.

Title: Unique Planning Challenges in the Celilo Indian Village Restoration Project

Presenter(s): John Breiling, NWP

Abstract: Celilo Indian Village Restoration Project, near The Dalles, Oregon, is a unique civil works project. The site itself is the oldest, central, regional tribal gathering place on the Columbia River, and is associated with the ancient Celilo Falls that was inundated in 1957 when Portland District’s The Dalles Dam was watered up. Due to national Native American policies of the Eisenhower Administration, authorized village improvements and relocations were never carried out in the 1950’s, as authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1950. In 1999 the 4 treaty tribes of the Mid-Columbia River approached Portland District representatives about what might be done at Celilo Village, offering a rehabilitation proposal prepared by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) near Pendleton, Oregon. After about 5 years of study and the preparation and submission of a Post Authorization Change (PAC) report, Celilo Village Restoration Project was adopted by Congress as an authorized civil works project in 2004, and funding was provided.

This project is unique in the Nation. A number of unique challenges have already been met:

(1) Working with BIA and the eligible tribes, the tribes revived an inter-tribal governance structure to represent their interests and the village residents’ interests. This structure is the Wyam Board, with tribal council representatives from the 3 tribes and 2 elected village representatives.

(2) A draft village code – to provide for the orderly administration of the village – has been drafted and is undergoing review. Previously there was no village (municipal) code to maintain the quality of life in the village.

(3) Some of the needed Self-determination Act contracts between the tribes and BIA are completed and in place. These Self-determination Act contracts are the legal vehicles for carrying out contractual relationships between BIA and the tribes.

More unique actions lie ahead in the project’s future.

Title: The Unsung Successes and Precedent Setting Implications of Kennewick Man

Presenter(s): (Richman, NWD; Pulliam, MVS; Rubenstein, HQ)

Abstract: The story of the treatment of the ancient human remains known as Kennewick Man has been a complex saga of collaboration and oft-noted controversy since virtually the moment of discovery along the shoreline of the McNary Reservoir in July 1996. Since then, the remains were almost returned to local Indian tribes, have been the subject of a white supremacist organization’s desire, have been the centerpiece of an on-going legal battle for the last ten years, and have been the object of studies by government officials and, more recently, plaintiff scientists. Added to this have been the involvement of county coroners, members of the scientific community, and numerous authors and media stars using the human remains as the focal point in countless articles, television programs, and books. The controversy and intrigue often overshadow the tremendous collaboration and partnering that has occurred among federal agencies, state agencies, and non-governmental organizations. The media hype, rumor, and misinformation have all worked to obfuscate the many advancements in knowledge, planning, and policies that have emanated from this single skeletal discovery.

This presentation focuses on certain aspects of collaboration between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Department of the Interior, and other entities. The authors will examine interagency relationships from a policy and procedural perspectives, legal and litigation perspectives, and the complex nature of court ordered care and management of a completely unique element of the cultural environment.