PETERSBURG – A feasibility study is currently underway to determine if the United States Army Corps of Engineers will dredge South Harbor and allow smoother access.
Some vessels are scraping and hitting the bottom of the harbor, especially during low tides, when they enter South Harbor, said harbormaster Glorianne Wollen; as a result, vessels are having trouble entering the harbor. The USACE was contacted and agreed to conduct a feasibility study, which will determine the problem in the harbor and possible solutions to it, as well as total costs and deposit locations for dredged spoils, said Wollen.
“That’s a struggle as a community we need to be able to deal with,” said Wollen. “It’s just compounding. Every year it’s getting worse and worse.”
Petersburg committed 50 percent of the funding for the study for a total of $325,000, according to a preliminary release from the USACE. The federal government contributed the other 50 percent, in addition to another $100,000. The total cost of the study was $750,000, according to the release.
The money for Petersburg’s half of the study was paid for by harbor enterprise money and did not come from community members’ taxes, said Wollen.
Unlike North Harbor, South Harbor isn’t a federally constructed harbor and isn’t maintained by the federal government, according to the release. Section 107 of the River and Harbor Act of 1960, as amended, states that the federal government is to set aside $50,000,000 a fiscal year for the construction of small river and harbor improvement projects that have not been specifically authorized by Congress. The act puts a limit of $10,000,000 for a project at any single locality. Small river and harbor improvements must result in substantial benefits to navigation and allow consistent, economic use of the waters of the Nation, the act states.
There are a large number of commercial fishermen that are fishing federal waters, said Wollen. The catch that the fishermen bring in benefit the Petersburg community and the nation.
“Petersburg is always a part of the top 20 ports,” said Wollen. “We always come in value wise.”
Should the feasibility study determine that the dredging of South Harbor falls within the limits of the River and Harbor Act of 1960 and can move forward, the project may qualify for an 80-20 split or a 90-10 split, with the federal government paying the majority share, said Wollen. A total, final project cost won’t be available until the feasibility study is completed, but Wollen estimates that it may be between $9-13 million.
“If they say no to this, eventually, it’s not going to happen tomorrow, eventually we could have to shut done some of the harbor or pay to have it dredged out of pocket,” said Wollen. “Those numbers are so large, that I just don’t know where we’d get the money to do this.”
Since South Harbor wasn’t constructed by the federal government, general navigation features (GNF) such as entrance channels and maneuvering basins, and local service facilities (LSF), such as mooring areas and local access channels, weren’t established in the harbor, according to the release. If the project does move forward, then GNF and LSF areas will be created and the harbor will become a federally maintained harbor; however, the federal government will only dredge GNF designated areas and the dredging of LSF areas will be the responsibility of Petersburg, according to the release.
Possible deposit sites for the dredged spoils are Thomas Bay, Frederick Sound and the borough’s rock pit, said Wollen. Currently, the Petersburg Borough Harbor Department is seeking a vessel, and its crew, to hire to assist the USACE in sample surveying Thomas Bay and Frederick Sound. The sample surveying will take place four times in one-year to determine if Thomas Bay or Frederick Sound are biologically stable disposal spots. The USACE estimates that a total of 52,000 cubic yards of spoil may need to be dredged, according to the release.
“It’s kind of an answer to prayer,” said Wollen. “If we can get it to the project level where we can actually move forward and do some dredging.”
Reader Comments(0)