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Umpqua Post
port Reeds ., e v A wy Wednesday, September 25, 2013 1500 H
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‘Yaquina’ enroute to dredge Port of Umpqua Ports on the central and Southern Oregon coasts will be visited again by a familiar ship ■
BY STEVE LINDSLEY The Umpqua Post
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ hopper dredge “Yaquina” is working from Florence to Port Orford in the next few weeks, as part of a dredging agreement announced last week by the state of Oregon, the Legislature’s Coastal Caucus and the Corps. The Yaquina has a sister dredge, “Essayons,” and the two travel the coast from California to Washington state. There are also two dredges that work along the East Coast. Any of the dredges can be called to work anywhere in the U.S., including rivers. The East Coast dredges are called to work the Mississippi River. The Yaquina’s dredging will include the Port of Umpqua. Kate Groth, coastal project manager for the Portland district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, says the actual dredging is done by a crew that’s experienced in what it does. “The dredge Yaquina is a hopper dredge,” she said, “so it’s a self-contained, sea-going vessel.” The process may seem simple, but Groth said the ship is a
Photo courtesy of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Portland District
The dredge Yaquina is shown in a photo provided by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Portland District. The dredge is working off the ports of Siuslaw, Umpqua, Coos Bay and Port Orford over the next three weeks. complicated tool. “It has two trailing drag arms,” she said, “which they lower on each side of the vessel. They have a drag head on the bottom and submerged pumps, which then create suction. They pull the material off of the bottom and the material moves into a ‘hopper’ in the middle of the vessel.
“They’ll transit very slowly and drags the drag arms along the bottom as it sucks up the material. They usually transit about 1 knot (1.15 mph) when they’re pumping.” The ship is, essentially, vacuuming up sand off the ocean floor near the Umpqua River mouth. Once the hopper is full,
Yaquina moves the sand to a disposal site. “These are designated sites that we have off the coast,” Groth said, “that are designated through the Environmental Protection Agency and the Corps helps manage them and we’re the primary users of those sites.”
DeFazio: Bill ups funding harbor maintenance
BY STEVE LINDSLEY The Umpqua Post
The Umpqua Post
Photo by Alysha Beck, The Umpqua Post
Rep. Peter DeFazio speaks about bringing jobs back to Oregon during one of the town hall meetings held around the South Coast on Monday and Tuesday. weeks at the ports of Umpqua, Siuslaw, Coos Bay and Port Orford. DeFazio said the federal bill authorizes funding for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers navigation, flood control and environmental restoration projects. He said he worked closely with both Democrats and Republicans to ensure, as he put it, that the Corps fulfills its obligation to dredge, rebuild and maintain ports and harbors. He pointed out that currently there is no money set aside for small ports. He said he successfully advocated for a guaranteed 10 percent set aside for harbor main-
tenance directed to critical projects for small ports. “The Corps of Engineers has long been short-changed in the budgeting process leaving it unable to deal with its $60 billion backlog of critical projects,” the Democrat said.“Funds collected for harbor maintenance should be spent on harbor maintenance.This legislation will help ensure the funds collected for harbor maintenance are used for that purpose so we can begin to properly rebuild jetties and do the other work to maintain our locks and channels.This change is long overdue and will go a long way towards creating needed jobs to rebuild critical maritime infrastructure.”
DeFazio said he has fought for years to reverse the diversion of Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund dollars to general government spending. He said the funds are intended for critical maintenance and dredging in the nation’s ports and harbors. This legislation, he said, sets a target to ensure no less than 80 percent of the funds collected in the HMTF will go to harbor-related projects. The legislation was approved in committee by a voice vote. It is expected to come to the House floor for a vote in the next few weeks. The Senate has already acted on similar legislation.
DeFazio discusses O&C bill in Coos Bay meeting BY THOMAS MORIARTY The Umpqua Post
COOS BAY — The South Coast’s man in Congress told residents Monday that he’s doing the best he can to revive the local timber economy. Rep. Peter DeFazio, DSpringfield, told a full house at the Coos Bay Public Library’s Myrtlewood Room that while H.R .
1526 is far from ideal, it’s the best he could hope for under the circumstances. The bill, which passed the House Friday, contains the O&C Trust, Conservation and Jobs Act, which he co-authored with fellow Oregon Reps. Greg Walden, RHood River; and Kurt Schrader, DCanby. The act would place half of the
federal forest lands in the state’s 18 timber counties into a trust for managed harvest on their behalf. Half of those lands would then be managed on a 100-year rotation at the request of the timber industry, DeFazio said. But H.R. 1526 also contains four other titles, three of which have drawn the ire of the Obama Administration.
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Prior to Friday’s vote, the Executive Office issued a formal policy statement threatening a veto if the bill reaches the president’s desk. “It’s not a perfect bill,” DeFazio said. “H.R. 1526 is a combination of three Republican bills, which aren’t going anywhere.”
SEE H.R. 1526, PAGE A5
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The city of Reedsport is TsunamiReady
BY STEVE LINDSLEY More good news for Oregon ports, including the ports of Umpqua, Siuslaw and Coos Bay. The U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee passed the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2013 on Thursday, Sept. 19. The bill, according to Fourth District Congressman Peter DeFazio, DSpringfield, would boost funding for harbor maintenance and direct funding to small Oregon ports. “Small ports up and down the Oregon coast are critical lifelines that support thousands of fishing jobs and fuel local economies,” DeFazio said in a news release.“The federal government cannot continue to shirk its responsibility to safeguard our infrastructure.We made a commitment to these communities and they have been neglected for too long.This legislation will ensure that our most critical needs will be met in our ports and harbors — no matter what their size.” Committee passage of the legislation comes as the state of Oregon, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. DeFazio and the legislative Coastal Caucus came to an agreement that is allowing dredging the next few
The disposal is fairly easy. “They have doors on the bottom of the hull, underneath the hopper, that open up and deposit the material in the disposal site,” Groth said. “Again, they’re moving as they are depositing the material
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Representatives of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Weather Service recognized Reedsport and the surrounding area for tsunami preparedness at a presentation on Thursday, Sept. 19, at Reedsport City Hall. “It’s appropriate that this month is National Preparedness Month,” said Ryan Sandler, a warning coordination meteorologist with the Weather Service. “We can’t prevent earthquakes and tsunamis, but we can be prepared for them. The protection of life and property is one of the most important parts of the National Weather Service mission. Typically, our mission relates to weather disasters, but we’re also responsible for issuing tsunami warnings and making sure these warnings reach the people who need them the most.” Reedsport, and the surrounding area, was cited for the work of community leaders and volunteers in tsunami readiness. “Reaching the people impacted by tsunamis starts long before the warning goes out,” Sandler said. It begins with years of community outreach and education, which I believe is the most important part of the tsunami warning system.” Sandler highlighted some of the community’s accomplishments. “There was a tsunami readiness rally, a map-your-neighborhood program and a tsunami evacuation drill,” he told a crowd at the Reedsport Community Center. “This past year, through a NOAA grant given to the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, Terry Plotz was hired as a tsunami outreach public affairs specialist. He was able to
SEE TSUNAMIREADY, PAGE A7