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Current
ORVA Issues & Goals
General Walsh and Members of the MRC:
I am Bill Hobgood, Executive Director, of
the Ouachita River Valley Association (ORVA) and have the
privilege of presenting this statement on behalf of our
Association.
The Ouachita River Valley Association has
been in business for 118 years and has a proud record of past
achievements and longevity.
We represent the private sector of the economy involved
in the development of water and land resources in the Ouachita
River Valley. We
operate in the States of Arkansas and Louisiana and are
governed by a Board of Directors consisting of three officers
and seven directors from each state.
I would like to introduce members of ORVA
that are here today.
General Walsh, we would like to begin by
thanking the Mississippi River Commission and your Districts
for the superb job you all did during the Great Flood of 2011.
Very simply, a magnificent performance! You and your
organization deserve national recognition for the work you did
to contain the largest Mississippi River flood on record.
We will take that message to our Congressional leaders
during our Washington D. C. visit next month.
General
Walsh and COL Eckstein, our Association appreciates your
continued support and that of your staff.
We intend to maintain close contact with the Corps
staff and present a coordinated effort to further development
of water and land resources in the Ouachita River Basin.
Our comments this morning focus primarily
on the Fiscal Year 2012 budget and on several efforts to
obtain authorization for project additions and one study.
OUACHITA-BLACK RIVERS NAVIGATION PROJECT,
RED RIVER TO CAMDEN, AR - The President’s Budget for FY-12
for the Ouachita –Black Rivers Navigation Project is only
$7,451,000, some $50,000 less than FY-11. FY-12 will allow
only minimal dredging and reduced levels of operation and
maintenance. An
additional $3,125,000 is necessary to conduct adequate
dredging activities. With
reduced dredging, the project will likely have less than the
authorized project depth for much of the year requiring
shippers to light load or cease commercial navigation
operations. Loss
of navigation would have significant adverse economic impacts
to the region. Significant
private sector workforce layoffs would occur. Approximately
28,000 private sector jobs are connected to the Ouachita-Black
Rivers.
We have been participating very actively
with the Ouachita-Black Rivers Project Delivery Team,
organized by the Vicksburg District, in determining the best
course of action in operating with the reduced FY-12 budget.
One of the options under consideration involves
operating the Locks and Dams on the Ouachita River for 12
hours daily during the week except on Wednesdays when the
locks would be operated only 8 hours.
Our Board of Director’s has discussed this option in
detail and has passed a resolution opposing any plan of action
that operates the system less than 24 hours daily seven days
per week. The
Ouachita-Black Rivers Navigation Project was signed into law
by both Houses of Congress and the President of the United
States in the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1950.
Additional project authorizations have been added by
subsequent Water Resources Development Acts.
We do not accept any reduction in navigation services
from the authorized operation and maintenance features
mandated by law. You
will hear from several shippers this morning on how such an
operation would adversely impact their operation.
A copy of the ORVA Resolution dated June 28, 2011 has
been furnished to the Vicksburg District.
We commend the Vicksburg District for
developing a plan for FY-11 to conduct dredging at the most
critical locations by delaying scheduled operations and
maintenance; however this action is only increasing the
already excessive backlog of maintenance activities.
The plan, which takes $1,000,000 out of the FY-11
Budget of only $7,505,000, will permit shipping activities up
to Smackover, AR based on current river surveys.
We are fortunate not to have had that much
sedimentation in the Ouachita-Black Rivers this season.
We are also concerned about the $16.6 Mil.
in backlog maintenance associated with the Navigation Project.
In addition to the lack of dredging funds, we remain
concerned that presently there are no reasonable means to
dewater the lock at H. K. Thatcher Lock and Dam if the miter
gates are accidently damaged or for some reason become
inoperable. We
remain in contact with our Congressional members in hopes that
the $6,000,000 needed for construction of stop log slots at H.
K. Thatcher Lock and Dam can be funded since this is a safety
issue and of major interest to local shippers.
In summary, we are terribly concerned
about the reduced level of funding associated with the
Navigation Project and the potential adverse economic and
environmental impacts associated with such reductions.
We discussed this at length with our Congressional
members and Corps of Engineers Headquarters officials during
our recent Washington D. C. visit (14-16 March 2011) stressing
that this project needs to be funded at a minimum level of
$10,600,000 to operate at a level of satisfactory efficiency.
It appears our best chance for additional dredging
funds is the $123.3 Mil. contained in the recent approved 2012
U. S. House of Representatives Energy and Water Development
Appropriations Bill. We
are encouraged to see that special language is contained that
directs the Corps of Engineers give special consideration to
the needs of small rivers and harbors in allocation of these
funds. We
will continue these discussions with Washington level
officials in September, 2011.
OUACHITA RIVER WATERSHED, AR. and LA -
There is need to conduct a basin wide comprehensive study to
devise a plan for the development and conservation of water
and land resources in Arkansas and Louisiana.
It has been over 40 years since a basin wide assessment
of needs was conducted. A
reconnaissance study would serve as a basis for both the Corps
of Engineers and other agencies to examine current and future
problems and needs related to flood damage reduction,
navigation, water supply, bank stabilization, ecosystem
restoration, and recreation.
This effort would assess the extent of these problems
and the Federal interest in measures to address them.
We have resolutions from four agencies supporting
initiation of this study.
ORVA has developed language, coordinated it with the
Corps, to be placed in the next Water Resources Development
Act (WRDA) that would initiate such a study.
OUACHITA-BLACK RIVERS NAVIGATION PROJECT,
RED RIVER TO CAMDEN, AR - There is a critical need to
authorize bank stabilization as an integral component of the
Navigation Project. Bank
stabilization was not authorized as a project purpose when the
project was authorized for construction in 1950.
Major bank erosion/caving occurs along the Ouachita and
Black Rivers hindering navigation and threatening catastrophic
flooding. The
recent floods of late 2009 and 2010 caused major damage to
banks and levees. Several
emergency sites have been repaired by the Tensas Basin Levee
District and the Corps of Engineers.
ORVA has developed language to be placed in the next
WRDA which would authorize bank stabilization as a project
feature of the Navigation Project and thus a Federal
responsibility for repair of eroded sites.
OUACHITA-BLACK RIVERS NAVIGATION PROJECT,
RED RIVER TO CAMDEN, AR - A major problem area has developed
in the lower 14,000 feet of Little River where it flows into
the Black River. Sediment
from the Ouachita-Black Rivers during high river stages has
blocked navigation on this segment of Little River thus
preventing fuel from being transported by barge to the major
distribution center at Archie, LA.
Approximately 90,000,000 gallons of fuel are barged
annually to the distribution center. Little River was closed
to river transportation for about six months during 2010
resulting in major disruption and increased fuel prices for
consumers in a 15 parish and county wide distribution area in
central LA and western MS.
The owner of the fuel terminal incurred dredging and
other associated costs of approximately $850,000 to have the
channel constructed back to navigable status.
ORVA recommends that action be taken that
would authorize the Corps of Engineers to dredge the first
14,000 feet of Little River.
The most logical means to accomplish this is to add
this portion of Little River as a project component of the
Ouachita-Black Rivers Navigation Project.
Language has been developed to be included in the next
WRDA that would achieve this.
RED-OUACHITA BASIN LEVEES, AR. AND LA -
Critical erosion problems occur along the Ouachita and Black
Rivers threaten to cause catastrophic flooding and hindrance
to navigation. The
amount of erosion of banks and subsequently levees far exceed
the capability of local interests to maintain the Project to
acceptable standards. ORVA
and the Tensas Basin Levee District have been working for
years to have the Ouachita River Levees Project restored as
part of the Mississippi River and Tributaries Project (MR&T),
thus making maintenance of the system a Federal
responsibility. The
WRDA of 2007 included language restoring a portion of the
Ouachita River Levees (approximately 43 miles of the upper
east bank, 1.9 miles of floodwall in Monroe, and 7.2 miles of
levee on the west bank) as part of the MR&T Project,
however it did not reinstate the lower 63 miles of the east
bank from Monroe, LA south which is where the majority of the
bank caving problems occur.
Language has been developed for the next WRDA to amend
WRDA 2007 to include all of the Ouachita River Levees Project
as a component of the MR&T Project.
The major flooding of late 2009 and early
2010 caused extensive damage along the Ouachita River Levees.
Several of the more critical sites have been repaired
or are in the process of being repaired by the Levee District
and the Corps of Engineers under emergency authority.
The Corps of Engineers has notified FEMA that the
Ouachita River Levees are not certifiable under the nationwide
levee certification program and the levee de-accreditation
process has begun. This
process will take approximately three years.
Therefore, it is critical that the remainder of this
major levee system be placed under the MR&T Project so
that adequate resources can be applied to prevent potential
catastrophic loss of life and property.
It is extremely disappointing that this
project nor the Ouachita River Levees, LA Project did not
receive funding in the President’s FY-12 Budget.
ORVA strongly supports the additional capability of
$5.6 million expressed by the Vicksburg District for these
projects.
OUACHITA RIVER BASIN CORPS OF ENGINEERS
LAKES (LAKES OUACHITA, DE GRAY, AND GREESON) - ORVA strongly
supports the proper operation and maintenance of these three
lakes in the Hot Springs area of the Basin.
The FY-12 President’s Budget for these three lakes
represents a 15% reduction from FY-11, from $20.3 mil. to
$17.3 million. This
will negatively impact the level of service that the lakes can
provide to nearly 9.5 million visitors that participate in
various recreational activities annually.
The Vicksburg District has expressed an additional
capability of about $8.8 million to address backlog
maintenance items. ORVA
has requested that an additional $1.2-$1.8 million be added to
the FY-12 budget in order to keep such level of service
activities as cleaning, mowing, ranger patrols, campsite
reservations, user fee collections, and general facility
upgrades at acceptable levels.
We have discussed the need for these additional funds
with the Arkansas Congressional members and they fully
understand and support the need to fund these additional
capability items.
Representatives from the shipping, water
supply, recreation/tourism and other industries in the
Ouachita Basin will address the Commission later this morning
on the value of the Corps projects to the economic and
environmental viability of this Basin.
In summary, we are working closely with
our Congressional members and are optimistic that some of what
has been discussed here this morning will be authorized in the
next Water Resources Development Act.
The outlook for additional funds for FY-12 is very
grim.
We would appreciate your assistance in
obtaining additional Operation and Maintenance funds, keeping
the Corps projects viable during this period of reduced
funding, and in gaining authorization for the Watershed Study,
bank stabilization, placing the remainder of the Ouachita
River Levees as part of the MR&T Project, and in having
the lower 14,000 feet of Little River authorized as part of
the Navigation Project.
On behalf of the Ouachita River Valley
Association, we thank all of you with the Mississippi River
Commission and the Vicksburg District for all you do for our
country. Again, we
thank you for the superb job you did in containing the Great
Flood of 2011 on the Mississippi River.
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