441
59
75
GEORGIA STATE EDITION
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A Supplement to:
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20
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85
20
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129
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75
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301
185 19
16
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341 441 16
Lyons Americus
August 8 2012 Vol. XIV • No. 16
301
1
82
Dorchester
341
Cuthbert
75
Albany
84
Douglas Tifton
82
95
82
Blakely
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19 319
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1 441
Your Georgia Connection: Rich Olivier, Atlanta, GA • 1-800-409-1479
Savannah Harbor Expansion Project Plans Finalized By Lori Lovely CEG CORRESPONDENT
Charged with responsibility for improving harbors under the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is funded by Congress to study potential harbor improvements that will ensure that commerce has safe and adequate access to ports throughout the country. After more than 14 years of exhaustive feasibility studies, the Savannah District United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has finalized its general re-evaluation report and environmental impact statement regarding the Savannah Harbor Federal Navigation Project. The studies evaluated the engineering, environmental and economic acceptability of various alternatives for the present and future harbor conditions over a 50-year analysis period. Alternative ports were considered. “Our studies show that future shipping growth will require deepening Savannah and Charleston harbors, as well as creating a port in Jasper County, S.C.,” stated Col. Jeff M. Hall, commander of USACE Savannah District. In fact, he continued, all major South Atlantic ports will need deepening or improvements to accommodate projected cargo growth from 2005 to 2050. “No single port could accommodate all the growth in container volume expected in the region,” Hall stated. According to the Savannah Morning News, the Port of Savannah is “the decade’s fastest growing and the fourth-largest container port in the nation.”
According to the Savannah Morning News, the Port of Savannah is “the decade’s fastest growing and the fourth-largest container port in the nation.”
Last year, 8.7 percent of the U.S. containerized cargo volume and 12.5 percent of all U.S. containerized exports moved through this port. In-Depth Study In response to the new class of longer, wider container ships with three times the current ship capacity, the USACE recommended deepening the Savannah Harbor from its current 42 ft. (12.8 m) to 47 ft. (14 m). Because of the Port of Savannah’s seven-foot tide differential, a depth of 47 ft. is sufficient to accommodate the larger ships. Specific improvements recommended include: channel deepening from the sea through the harbor Entrance Channel to the Garden City Terminal to an authorized
depth of minus 47 ft.; channel widening to create meeting areas at Long Island and Oglethorpe Ranges; widening and deepening of the Kings Island Turning Basin; and channel widening at three bends. When the Panama Canal expansion is completed in 2014, the maximum draft of vessels traveling to and from the East Coast will increase from 39.5 ft. (12 m) to as much as 50 ft. (15 m). Georgia Ports Authority Executive Director Curtis Foltz believes that the economy of scale these larger ships provide will make them the prevalent choice. “This trend toward larger vessels is why state leaders strongly support the project to deepen our harbor,” Foltz stated. After studying various depths
and comparing costs of construction, environmental mitigation and annual operations against economic benefit, Hall said the USACE concluded that the 47-ft. depth reached the best balance between enhancing the national economy and mitigating for impacts to the environment. “A deeper authorized depth poses additional risks to the environment and additional costs to mitigate for those risks,” he explained. “We believe we achieved the right balance with the chosen depth of 47 feet.” Mitigating Environmental Impact Because the harbor deepening will adversely impact habitat for one endangered species, the shortnose sturgeon, by allowing addi-
tional saltwater to enter the harbor and travel further upstream into areas currently used by this species, reducing the suitability of some of these areas, the USACE recommends compensating for the impact by constructing a large fish passageway around the first dam up the Savannah River: New Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam. This passage would restore access to historical spawning grounds for the short-nose sturgeon and open opening additional habitat for the endangered species. The gates at the dam will remain closed at flows less than 9,000 cu. ft. (254 cu m) per second to allow 100 percent of the river flow to pass through the off-channel rock ramp. The design was coordinated closely see EXPANSION page 6