Posted on November 22, 2016
By Amy Biolchini and Caleb Whitmer, The Monroe News
The James DeYoung power plant stopped burning coal this past spring, a move that could have consequences for businesses that rely on dredging for Holland harbor.
“Holland will likely fall further down the overall priority list of (dredging) funding needs,” Lynn Rose, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said in an email.
Although classified as a “low-use commercial harbor” for its relatively light use as an engine of commerce, the harbor and its dredging are relied upon by several local businesses. Any reduction in the harbor’s dredging schedule would prove irksome for those businesses that do rely on a deeper harbor.
“A two-year dredge cycle would be an issue for our ships,” said Phil Brewer, president of Brewer’s City Dock.
The old plant
The James DeYoung power plant of Holland burned coal for 76 years. But with the construction of the new natural gas facility — dubbed Holland Energy Park — the DeYoung plant burned coal for the last time on Thursday, April 14.
The Holland City Council approved plans to build the new natural gas plant in 2012, which was effectively a decision to close down the DeYoung plant.
In July, the BPW sold the remaining 28,440 tons of coal at the DeYoung Plant to the C. Reiss Coal Company at a price of $35 per ton. The BPW is planning to remediate the coal yard and ash ponds next year.
The new natural gas plant is then expected to be fully operational in 2017.
As natural gas is considered a more environmentally friendly fuel source, the new plant has been touted as a local move toward greener energy. But the old plant’s closure cut the need for coal to be shipped into Holland harbor — a change that negatively affects Holland in terms of the Corps’ budgeting criteria.
‘Low use’
The Corps dredges approximately 35,000 cubic yards each year around the channel connecting Lake Michigan and Lake Macatawa. Another 45,000 to 65,000 cubic yards of lake bottom comes out of the inner harbor on a two- to four-year cycle.
The Corps’ criteria for ordering dredging priorities is based on two broad categories: “condition” and “consequence.”
Condition is measured based on how badly a harbor needs dredging — that is, how much the movement of the lake bottom obstructs a channel or harbor.
In addition to other factors, consequence is tied to the cost of dredging and the total amount of commercial goods navigating in and out of the harbor.
Harbors handling more than 10 million tons a year are considered “high use,” while 1-10 million is “moderate use.” Harbors with less than 1 million annual tons of movement are “low use.”
In 2014, the last year for which the Corps has data, Holland received 210,000 tons of commodities — primarily limestone and no coal.
“For the past number of years Holland Harbor has handled well below 1 million tons of commodities,” Rose said.
Coal helps
But even Holland harbor’s “low use” designation was offset to some degree by the presence of the DeYoung plant. The Corps gives consideration to harbors with energy plants that have no other way of receiving coal.
“This was a factor that strengthened the argument for funding dredging at Holland in the past,” Rose said. “The closing of the coal-fired power plant at Holland eliminates that factor.”
Most ships coming into the Holland harbor to the two commercial docks are coming from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. They carry aggregate material that is sold to local companies and cities to help build roads.
The channel
About 10 to 20 ships arrive at Brewer’s City Dock at 24 Pine Ave. in Holland each year, carrying from 12,000 to 15,000 tons each. Brewer’s has been running operations there for almost 80 years.
The dock markets and sells the material to both contractors and state and local governments.
The $8.19 million Ninth Street reconstruction in Holland, completed this year by the city, was done with material that came through Brewer’s City Dock, Brewer said.
“Towards the end of the dredge cycles, we do become impacted by the sediment that comes down the river,” Brewer said. “The boats have to carry less material because the water is too shallow for them.”
The result: less material on the ships means higher prices for customers — and in the case of city and state road projects, more taxpayer dollars, Brewer said.
The sediment flows down the Macatawa River and immediately impacts Brewer’s City Dock, which is the first dock where the river meets the lake.
If the sediment isn’t dredged out, Brewer fears the lake around his dock would continue to fill in and become a marsh like the area around Windmill Island.
But the bigger issue is at the channel, Brewer said.
At the end of the piers into Lake Michigan, sand gets pulled around and deposited in the waterway between the big lake and Lake Macatawa, Brewer said.
It’s there that Brewer said his ships have an issue passing through. Less frequent dredging in the channel, Brewer said, could prove to be an issue for his ships.
And over time, should the channel not be dredged consistently for commercial traffic, Brewer said he feels the depth of the channel would become an issue for larger leisure boats as well.
Keeping it on the water
VerPlank Dock has been at 233 W. Eighth St. since 1972, when the company purchased the dock from the Harrington Coal Co., said Ron Matthews, president.
VerPlank also imports construction aggregates from quarries in Michigan and Canada — most of which is limestone that’s supplied for asphalt and ready-mix concrete. It sells the material to major West Michigan paving companies, Matthews said.
About 20 ships come into the VerPlank dock every year, Matthews said.
“That boat brings in about 300 trucks of material in one delivery,” Matthews said. “It’s the cheapest way to get it in here.”
Mitch Padnos, executive vice president of the third major commercial player on Holland harbor, also lauded the benefits of shipping via the lake, pointing out that barges keep semi-trucks off the road.
“Every time a barge (of 5,000 tons) heads out of Holland harbor,” Padnos said, “it eliminates 250 truck loads that would otherwise be headed out of town.”
Help from Trump?
Padnos, the company, is an 111-year-old papers, plastics and metals recycler, whose headquarters are at 185 W. Eighth St. Unlike VerPlank and Brewer’s, Padnos’ primary use of the harbor is for shipping material out of Lake Macatawa rather than bringing it in.
Because of the tug-boat systems used by the company, Executive Vice President Mitch Padnos said Padnos’ boats draw less water as they pass out of the channel, compared to VerPlank’s and Brewer’s ships.
Noting that every year is different, Padnos said the company’s ships haven’t had any issues in the past few years due to Lake Michigan’s high water level.
Dredging, Padnos said, “is a constantly moving target” based on how much tonnage is being shipped out of the harbor, what the water levels are and what the Corps’ budget looks like.
He was bullish on the future of local dredging, however, pointing to President-elect Donald Trump’s promises to undertake a large-scale effort to rebuild the country’s infrastructure.
“If I had to bet, I would not believe those (infrastructure) budgets will be reduced going forward,” Padnos said. “(I would bet) that there is a better chance they will be increased.”
Source: The Monroe News
