Posted on July 15, 2020
COOS BAY — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is dredging Coos Bay’s federal navigation channel.
“The Army Corps of Engineers is doing its annual maintenance, dredging river miles 12 to 15,” said Margaret Barber, the International Port of Coos Bay’s director of external affairs. “They did this last year as well, but prior to that haven’t done dredging in that piece of the navigation channel since 2010.
“It’s great they’re getting that work done.”
Barber said the dredging stopped for almost 10 years due to lack of funding. The channel is authorized by the Army Corps of Engineers for 37 feet deep and 300 feet nominal width.
“The Corps gets funding from the federal government and part of our role as the Port is to make sure that work gets done to keep the depth and width of the channel for the big vessels that come in,” Barber said.
In a press release from U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley’s office earlier this month, it was announced that the senator is working with the Corps to explore if it could take over dredging of a “hazardous channel in (the) Charleston Marina.”
It pointed to The World’s coverage in December when the Darean Rose capsized in the Charleston Marina. The men trapped inside survived due to the quick actions of Curtis Green, who watched the 40-foot vessel roll.
“In late 2019, (Green) rescued three others whose boat had capsized in the channel after getting caught on a sandbar,” read Merkley’s release. “Merkley tackled the issue after a constituent at a public town hall in January raised the dangers of not dredging the channel, citing the sandbar incident. The immediate answer was that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) was not responsible for the area in the channel where the sandbar developed, and because of the cost, the Port of Coos Bay was not able to regularly dredge it ….”
After four months of Merkley working with the Port and USACE to “explore expanding federal authority to include the sandbar area … the agency was able to coordinate with the Port of Coos Bay, and is now working with Merkley to seek funding to study whether the federal navigation channel could include that area.”
“I hold an open town hall in every Oregon county every year for exactly this reason,” Merkley said in the release. “I had read about Curtis Green’s heroics in rescuing the men from the capsized boat, but it wasn’t until Dana Mills highlighted it at my town hall that I learned that the sandbar was an ongoing danger without any ready solution. With that information, my team and I were able to work with the Port and the Corps find a solution — honoring Mr. Green’s brave act, and making sure the marina is safe for its users ….”
Mills, who raised the issue to Merkley, said in the release that it was her cousin and his crew who nearly lost their lives in December’s accident. Mills said it was to her surprise that Merkley came up with a solution.
“… Even though he and I are on different sides of the aisle politically, he and his wonderful staff have responded to his constituents, and came through,” she said. “On behalf of my family and the Charleston fishing fleet, I thank Senator Merkley.”
Kevin Brice, deputy district engineer with USACE, said in the release that current authority only allows the Corps to dredge within the federal navigation channel.
“… While this shoaling currently sits outside of the existing federal channel, we are working alongside Senator Merkley to seek a request for funding to study the feasibility of removing the sandbar, and determine federal interest in potentially extending the federal navigation channel that would include the area of shoaling that has created these hazardous conditions,” Brice said.
After funding is secured for this study, the process to get authority to dredge the channel to could take more than two years, the release said.
“Ultimately, if the USACE is able to expand its authority to include the channel, it could save the Port of Coos Bay upward of $200,000 per dredge, would increase the frequency of dredging, and would improve safety,” the release said.
Reporter Jillian Ward can be reached at 541-269-1222, ext. 236, or by email at worldnews1@countrymedia.net. Follow her on Twitter: @je_wardwriter.
Source: theworldlink
