Corps of Engineers allocates $50,000 to study deepening Mississippi River to accommodate bigger ship

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Times-Picayune

Corps of Engineers allocates $50,000 to study deepening Mississippi River to accommodate bigger ships
By Arturo Garcia
Tuesday, July 8, 2014 20:19 EDT

By Bruce Alpert, NOLA.com | Times-Picayune
on July 08, 2014 at 8:38 PM, updated July 08, 2014 at 9:21 PM

WASHINGTON -- There's encouraging news about a long-stalled proposal to deepen the Mississippi River to allow larger ships expected from the 2015 expansion of the Panama Canal through Louisiana's ports.

Jo-Ellen Darcy, assistant secretary of the Army Corps of Engineers, sent a letter to Louisiana congressional members Tuesday announcing that she has allocated $50,000 to begin initial work on a study required before any work can begin. The study is expected to determine cost estimates for the project, the economic benefits and some of the environmental impacts.

Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and David Vitter, R-La., praised the announcement.

"The funding announced today is a start toward giving us the numbers we need to make the case that a deeper the Mississippi River means more growth for our region and more jobs," said Landrieu, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. "Deepening the Mississippi to 50 feet will allow us to stay competitive and secure a larger market share of the growing trade from the expansion of the Panama Canal."

Vitter, the top Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works committee, said he spoke Tuesday to Sally Ericsson, associate director at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), who told him the Army Corps of Engineers has the necessary funding to move forward on the study.


Read more: http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/07/corps_of_engineers_allocates_5.html

[kelliekat44]

1. What a boondoggle. MS is a starving, ill-health, low information state. Big ships is not what they

need. And the consequences of deepening river will be disastrous.

[Dreamer Tatum]

10. Um, hate to break it to you

but the ports are in LA, not MS.

Low information, indeed.

[Turbineguy]

2. If anything they should build a port on the Gulf

With a rail link.

This is how the rest of the world does it.

[sofa king]

8. Heh, that's what NO used to be...

... Until a meter of topsoil from the American midwest was flushed down the river and out to sea. Now it's an inland port, separated from the Gulf by the most valuable parts of Kansas, Illinois, Iowa, and so on.

[greatlaurel]

11. Spot on, we loose a dump truck load of soil down the Mississipi every second!

Dredging seems the least of our concerns. What are we going to grow our food on in a few more years?

[mike dub]

3. This story is about potential deepening of the Mississippi River -nothing to do with the state of MS

The lower Mississippi River --below Baton Rouge and New Orleans-- sees lots of ship traffic (ships to/from oil refineries, etc), so studying deepening the river makes sense to me. I have family in that area, so am familiar with the large ship traffic down there. Now, the Luling Bridge and other spans over the river become the big question ... Can the clearance under those bridges accept the larger/taller ships?

[dembotoz]

4. would it lower water levels upstream

lake Michigan has been seeing lower water levels over the past couple years.
much of the blame is given to the dredging of a river that connects 2 of the great lakes

Only stands to reason--a fire hose will drain a swimming pool faster than a soda straw

last summer i understand there was reduced barge traffic on the upper parts of the river due to
low river levels.

i do hope the army corp of engineers are less brain dead this time around

[snooper2]

13. Yes, since the Mississippi flows downhill you will definitely see a lowering of the lakes

Also some bodies wearing concrete shows will start showing up off the shores of St. Louis

[Roy Rolling]

5. Corrections

1. The Deep water ports are in Louisiana, not Mississippi
2. Deepening the end will not lower the water levels in the Great Lakes
3. The Mississippi River depth at New Orleans is over 200 feet deep, Senator Landrieu. Sheesh, she should know that.

[cosmicone]

6. This looks like an alternative for the Kochroaches

if Keystone pipeline fails, they can use supertankers to export the ND oil.

[KamaAina]

12. They'd still need Keystone to get the oil from ND to the Gulf

or they could always run a whole bunch of trains like the one that exploded in Quebec.

[littlemissmartypants]

7. Why don't we just

Inject some fracking gas under the river bed and wait for mother nature to reply?

Earthquake or explosion?

I'm taking bets.

Table open until we run out of water to drink.

Love, Peace and Shelter. Lmsp

[louis-t]

9. How about stopping the spread of Asian Carp first?