“With President Trump encouraging investment in infrastructure,
the navigation industry must make it clear that channel main-
tenance is as important as modernizing highways, bridges and
railroads. The economic benefi ts of Mississippi River projects are
strong and will continue to grow as the world population expands.”- Sean Duffy, Executive Director of
the Big River Coalition
Rouge in Iberville Parish; and Berwick Bay Harbor on the
Lower Atchafalaya River near Morgan City.
The Corps' Calcasieu dredging typically costs between
$12 million and $20 million a year, while the Atchafa-
laya Basin dredge work runs from $3 million to $4 mil-
lion yearly. As for the WIIN legislation, “it had nothing
to do with why we're pursuing deepening of the river, nor
with the depth being proposed,” Poche said. “Our effort
was initiated more than two-and-a-half years ago, whereas
WIIN was signed weeks ago,” he said in January.GLDD: Keeping busy with NOAA,
CPRA Contracts
At one of the big dredging companies, “we're work-
ing on two large, coastal restoration projects in Louisiana
now – one for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, called Cheneire Ronquille, and the other
for CPRA called Whiskey Island,” said Bill Hanson, vice
president at Great Lakes Dredge & Dock. “We've been
active in Louisiana since the current generation of coastal
projects, including Pelican Island, Bayou Dupont, Scofi eld
Island, Shell East and Shell West. These unique projects
showcase the abilities of the nation's coastal engineering
community and will serve Louisiana and the Gulf well in
battling land loss. These projects have been challenging to
implement and very satisfying to see to completion.”
GLDD was pleased to see WIIN signed into law. “In ad-dition to many new projects, WIIN covers policy issues that
will affect our marketplace for years to come,” Hanson said.
“Among them are the cost-sharing provisions for maintenance
dredging, continued HMTF reform, emphasis on regional
sediment management and benefi cial use of dredged material.”Magnolia Dredge Replenishes Marshland
In a project completed early last year, Magnolia Dredge &
Dock – working as a subcontractor – pumped material from
the bottom of Lake Borgne at Alligator Point to assist in rec-
reating nearly 500 acres of marsh, where land had eroded,
Magnolia sales manager Michael Johnson in Mandeville,
La. said. Healthy marsh absorbs storm surge and fl oodwater,
protecting the coast. The project was under the auspices of
a mitigation bank managed by Ecosystem Investment Part-
ners, a private equity fi rm in Baltimore, Maryland.
Since the early 1980s, the nation's mitigation banks have
helped manage natural resources longer term. In south Loui-
siana, mitigation banking sets standards for land restoration
in compliance with a “no net-loss of wetlands” provision in
the Clean Water Act. Credits for restoration are sold to devel-
opers with projects that might impact ecosystems adversely.
Separately, “other recent work by Magnolia includes in-
dustrial-environmental dredging to remove contaminants
from waterways, and to restore and clean process ponds for
South Louisiana’s petrochemical plants and paper mills,”
Johnson said.DREDGING OUTLOOK
Credit: LA Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority34 MN February 2017