[Lama-board] Fwd: [Brc-board] U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Fiscal Year 2020 Work Plan

Tue Feb 11 11:07:19 CST 2020

We will discuss at tomorrow’s meeting.  

CAPT Ron
Ronald W. Branch
President
Louisiana Maritime Association (LaMA)

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Begin forwarded message:

> From: Sean Duffy <sean.duffy at bigrivercoalition.org>
> Date: February 10, 2020 at 21:52:26 CST
> Subject: [Brc-board] U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Fiscal Year 2020 Work Plan
> 
> 
> Members, 
>  
> The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) released the Fiscal Year 2020 Work Plan earlier today with historic news for the Mississippi River Ship Channel.
>  
> The Work Plan is the USACE official allocation plan to distribute funding authorized by Congress that is above the amounts listed in the President’s Budget Request.
>  
> The Work Plan has officially given life to the project to deepen the Mississippi River Ship Channel to 50 Feet, the commitment to the project fully funds the federal cost-share of the First Phase of the Deepening Project.  The State of Louisiana has indicated that the funding for the non-federal portion of the project will also be available, the timeframe should mean that the USACE and Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development execute the required Cost-Share Agreement over the next few months (estimated to occur in April 2020).
>  
> The following information is reproduced from the attached pages(*) that were extracted from the full version of the Work Plan documents:
>  
> The funding to deepen the First Phase of the Mississippi River Ship Channel of $85,350,000 has been secured. “Initiate construction of channel deepening. Dredge first river segment to a depth of 50 Linear Feet.”
>  
> The President’s Budget Request of $91,970,000 for Fiscal Year 2020 (FY 2020) for the Operations and Maintenance (O&M) of the Mississippi River Ship Channel was plussed up by an additional $154,088,500 to raise the total O&M funding for FY 2020 to $249,912,075.  “Funds will be used for commonly performed O&M work. Funds will also be used for specific work activities including dredging ($87,970,000).  Funds will be used for 2018 flood event maintenance for navigation at Southwest Pass Foreshore Protection and Jetty Repairs and dredging to include additional dredging in support of the Gulf Regional Demonstration Program.”
>  
> *Pertinent sections of the attachments indicate areas in bold to highlight the appropriate sections.*
>  
> The funding in Item #2 will be used to help recover the Ship Channel that is deficient in the area of Southwest Pass. The USACE Mississippi Valley New Orleans (MVN) has been unable to secure an additional hopper dredge over the last two hopper bid contract advertisements.  The additional O&M funding may allow the MVN to secure a third cutterhead dredge to assist with the ongoing effort to recover authorized dimensions in the Ship Channel. 
>  
> The funding for deepening has taken about a decade to achieve and there is no doubt that we would not have arrived at this historic juncture without widespread support from not only the Louisiana Congressional Delegation but that of many other Mississippi River Basin states and the navigation industry and shippers along 12,500 miles of navigable waterways and both the Corps of Engineers and the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (LDTOD). 
>  
> In 2011 the undersigned suggested a revitalized focus to deepen the Ship Channel to 50 feet and was tasked with developing the Mississippi River Deepening To Do List:
>  
> The channel threshold for full federal funding had to be increased from 45 feet to 50 feet. This was accomplished in the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014 (WRRDA 2014).
>  
> The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development must fund and complete a General Reevaluation Report to update the economic impact of deepening the Mississippi River Ship Channel to 50 feet.  This step was completed when the USACE released the signed Director’s Report on August 3, 2018.
>  
> Fund and deepen the Mississippi River Ship Channel, the funding for the First Phase has now been appropriated at $85,350,000.  The First Phase will deepen the first 30 miles of the Mississippi River Ship Channel from approximately Venice to the end of Southwest Pass.  Once that reach of the Ship Channel is deepened, the channel will be opened with the increased new maximum draft up to approximately Mile 150 Above Head of Passes.  By deepening the first 30 miles of the Ship Channel approximately 175 miles will be opened to 50 feet, because the river channel is naturally deep from Venice to Belmont Crossing (Mile 154 Above Head of Passes) and Southwest Pass is 22 miles long. 
>  
> Lagniappe, that little something extra, other positives along the way:
>  
> During the Water Resources Development Act of 2016, the applicable cost-share between the federal sponsor and the non-federal sponsor was changed from 50-50% to 75% federal and 25% non-federal and significantly reduced the cost-share for the LDOTD as the non-federal sponsor.
>  
> The United Soybean Board (USB) recently announced an allocation of  $2 million to help offset the planning, design, and research costs of deepening the Lower Mississippi River from 45 feet to 50 feet.
>  
> Please accept this first notice from the Big River Coalition with the acknowledgement that the Work Plan documents are complex and more details are forthcoming. 
>  
> Best Regards,
> Sean
>  
> Sean M. Duffy, Sr.
> Executive Director
>  
> Big River Coalition
> http://bigrivercoalition.org
>  
> Phone    (504) 833-4190 x 805
> Cell       (504) 338-3165
> Fax        (888) 254-4553
>  
>  
> This E-Mail transmission (and/or the documents accompanying it) may contain information belonging to the sender that is confidential, privileged and/or exempt from disclosure under applicable law.  The information is intended only for the use of the individual(s) or entity named above.  If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or action taken in reliance on the contents of this information is strictly prohibited.  If you have received this E-Mail transmission in error, please immediately notify us by return E-Mail or telephone to arrange for the return of its contents (including any documents).
>  
>  
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