Posted on April 9, 2018
By Julia Arenstam, dailycomet.com
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will expand its maintenance of the Bayou Lafourche navigational channel that provides access to Port Fourchon.
The corps and the Greater Lafourche Port Commission signed the agreement Wednesday at the corps’ District Headquarters in New Orleans.
“This agreement is the culmination of over five years of work to demonstrate to the corps and the nation the benefits of maintaining this additional stretch of the navigable channel in Bayou Lafourche, which provides access to our Northern Expansion development at Port Fourchon,” said Chett Chiasson, executive director of the Greater Lafourche Port Commission.
The corps has maintained a section of the channel from Belle Pass to just north of Port Fourchon’s E-Slip. The new agreement will expand the corps’ dredging up to the Flotation Canal, a 1.1 mile stretch that was previously maintained by the port commission.
The commission will still be responsible for dredging the canal’s inlets, including the Flotation Canal, Chiasson said.
“With the bulk of our growth since 2000 in the northern expansion developing from Bayou Lafourche into Flotation Canal, it made sense for the corps to assume the maintenance of this additional section of waterway to protect these vital navigation interests for the nation,” Port Commission Board President Perry Gisclair said.
Port Fourchon is one of the busiest ports in the nation and services over 90 percent of all deepwater offshore energy production.
The Greater Lafourche Port Commission is also studying ways to deepen Belle Pass from the Gulf of Mexico to Pass Fourchon.
If the feasibility study is successful in deepening the draft to 50 feet, the port will be able to host the Gulf’s first deepwater rig repair and refurbishment facility.
“This is just the beginning of our work to continue to evolve and develop America’s energy services port and adapt to the changing needs of both our industry and our environment,” Chiasson said.
The facility will allow the port to access $100 million worth of repairs that are currently seeking foreign facilities.
The sediment collected from the channel will also be used to rebuild coastal wetlands, Chiasson said.
The port commission plans to have a project draft completed and available for public comment this spring with a construction goal of early 2019.
Source: dailycomet.com
