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by Jeff Alexander | Source: The Muskegon Chronicle

Freighters may continue to wash unlimited quantities of coal, limestone and other dry cargo residues into the Great Lakes under a new federal policy.

The U.S. Coast Guard Monday finalized an interim policy that allows the long-standing but controversial — and possibly illegal — practice of washing dry cargo residues into the lakes to continue indefinitely. The policy enacted Monday replaces a 1998 interim policy.

The new policy requires shippers to keep records of where and when they wash cargo residuals into the lakes and the quantities involved. It also banned the practice, known as washdown or dry cargo sweeping, in 11 ecologically sensitive areas on the lakes.

Read the for/against reactions from many stakeholders >>

Source: Great Lakes Environment

Sep 29: The U.S. Coast Guard announced in the Federal Register [73 FR 56492-56501] that it is amending its regulations to allow the discharge of bulk dry cargo residue (DCR) in limited areas of the Great Lakes by self-propelled vessels and by any barge that is part of an integrated tug and barge unit.

DCR is the residue of non-toxic and non-hazardous bulk dry cargo like limestone, iron ore, and coal.

The regulations also add new recordkeeping and reporting requirements and encourage carriers to adopt voluntary control measures for reducing discharges. Discharges are now prohibited in certain protected and sensitive areas where, previously, they were allowed.

The Coast Guard also requests public comments on the need for and feasibility of additional conditions that might be imposed on discharges in the future, such as mandatory use of control measures, or further adjustments to the areas where discharges are allowed or prohibited.

…Comments and related material submitted in response to the request for comments must be received before January 15, 2009.

Find out where dumping is prohibited, how you can still participate in the process, at Great Lakes Environment >>

Source: USCG

U.S. Coast Guard Station Sturgeon Bay medically evacuated a 52-year-old male experiencing a swollen calf from the Wilfred Sykes 14 miles offshore Sturgeon Bay Monday at approximately 3 p.m.

“There was concern he may have had a blood clot,” said Jonathan LeBeau, Coast Guard Sector Lake Michigan Operation Unit Controller.

A 41-foot utility boat crew transferred the man safely from the 667-foot laker to awaiting Emergency Medical Services on shore. He was transported to Door County Memorial Hospital.

* Note: This article has been edited from the original to correct spelling and grammar.

Source: WGBA TV

While leaving work today some Marinette Marine Corporation employees say they’re nervous. Most don’t know who is losing their job next.  Ninety employees have already been laid off and company officials say 60 more will lose their job in the next month.

The lay-offs are just temporary, but it is unclear when employees can come back.  Marinette Marine Vice President Richard McCreary says they’re close to a deal to build a combat ship for the Navy, and he is optimistic Congress will approve it.

If it passes soon, workers could be back by December, and workers say this gives them some relief.  But company officials say if it doesn’t pass, workers might not be back to work for 6-8 months.

McCreary said “One of the only things that could stop workers from getting back to work sooner than later is if Congress puts all of their energy towards the economic bailout plan.”

Full story, video at WGBA >>

Source: WLUC TV 6

Marinette Marine shipbuilders say they’re facing layoffs.

Boilermakers Local 696 says it’s been notified that 91 union employees will be laid off effective Monday.

A union official says a second round of layoffs involving another 120 workers is scheduled for November 3, unless the company gets additional work.

Earlier in September, Marinette Marine’s CEO said the layoffs were necessary because of delays by the Navy and Coast Guard in awarding contracts.

But just Wednesday, it was announced that Marinette Marine would get more than one billion dollars to build two combat ships at their Marinette facility.

Source: Coast Guard News

The U.S. Coast Guard announced today that the interim rule for dry cargo residue discharges on the Great Lakes is scheduled for publication in the Federal Register Monday, Sept. 29, 2008.

The interim rule requires Great Lakes bulk dry cargo carriers to keep records of loading, unloading and discharges of dry cargo residues and encourages lake carriers to use control measures to reduce the amount of dry cargo residue entering the waters of the Great Lakes. The rule continues to allow the discharge of non-toxic and non-hazardous bulk dry cargo residues in certain areas of the Great Lakes. Discharges are now prohibited in certain protected and sensitive areas where previously, they were allowed.

Great Lakes ships have operated under a Coast Guard “interim enforcement policy” since 1993, that has allowed “incidental discharges” of non-toxic and non-hazardous dry cargo residues such as limestone, iron ore and coal on the Great Lakes. The interim enforcement policy also specified where dry cargo residue discharges could and could not occur. Congressional legislation has extended the interim enforcement policy since 1998. The current extension, granted by Congress in 2004, expires Sept. 30, 2008.

The Coast Guard also requests public comments on the need for and feasibility of additional conditions that might be imposed on future dry cargo residue discharges, such as mandatory use of control measures or further adjustments to areas where discharges are prohibited or allowed. Comments can be submitted online at …  Read the rest of this entry »

Bettina Chavanne | Source: Aviation Week

I got an excellent opportunity this morning to take a ride on the Potomac aboard the Coast Guard’s new Response Boat-Medium (RB-M).

The RB-M acquisition is the third initiative in the Response Boats 2010 strategic vision and transition plan, aimed at standardizing and revitalizing the USCG’s shore-based response fleet.

There are 30 RB-Ms on order. Marinette Marine is delivering approximately one per month, while building production capacity to deliver 30 per year as early as FY 2010.

Full story, more terrific photos at Aviation Week (blog) >>

Source: The Triton

The US Coast Guard proposes to amend certain regulations relating to the training and service requirements for merchant marine officers, according to a recent issue of Maritime Reporter.

These changes would, if adopted, remove the expiration date of the radar-observer endorsement from the merchant mariner’s license, allow for an apprentice mate of towing vessels to reduce sea-service time form mate (pilot) of towing vessels by completing additional approved training, and provide an alternate path to mate (pilot) of towing vessels for master of steam or motor vessels of any tonnage that is 200 GRT or less.

Comments should be submitted by Oct. 14.

Source: Duluth News Tribune

After months of quagmire, a compromise may be emerging. Under a new Senate “discussion’’ bill, the criteria for killing organisms (how small and how many are allowed in the ballast water after treatment) would increase to 1,000-times greater than the IMO standard. That would bring the federal legislation in line with California’s law and was expected to spur Boxer to allow the ballast bill to advance.

Some issues remain, however. Boxer and California environmental groups want the Clean Water Act to apply to ballast discharges in addition to the new law. That would allow citizens to sue if they felt the ballast laws weren’t working to protect waterways. Industry officials and many Senators say that amounts to double jeopardy, putting the shipping industry under two separate sets of rules.

Another problem for some Minnesota groups, including the PCA, is that the federal legislation still doesn’t include Great Lakes freighters.

More issues, full story at the Duluth News Tribune >>

By JOHN FLESHER | Source: Chicago Tribune

Day after day, ships longer than three football fields depart Great Lakes ports after picking up or delivering loads of iron ore, coal and other cargo. Reaching open water, crews wash the decks with high-powered hoses.

It’s called “cargo sweeping,” because residues that spill onto decks during loading and unloading are swept overboard. The U.S. Coast Guard estimates that 1 million pounds of such debris is washed into the lakes every year.

… But shippers say requiring them to collect the residue, move it onshore for treatment and flush it into municipal wastewater systems would impose ruinous costs. A Coast Guard report last month estimated the price tag at $51.8 million up front, plus $35.7 million a year — more than the annual profit for the entire industry.

“What some are proposing could mean the end of Great Lakes shipping and the movement of cargo by more expensive and less eco-friendly modes of transportation,” said Glen Nekvasil, spokesman for the Lake Carriers Association, which represents U.S.-flagged freighters on the Great Lakes.

Nice analysis of the conflict, quotes from both sides at the Chicago Tribune >>

Source: USCG

CLEVELAND - HMCS Charlottetown, a 442-foot Canadian frigate, will arrive at Dock 32 behind the museum ship William G. Mather at 10 a.m., Sept. 10.

HMCS Charlottetown recently completed a six-month deployment to the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea as part of Canada’s continuing contributions to the campaign against terrorism known as Operation Enduring Freedom. The frigate helped to deter threats to maritime security - illegal migration, smuggling, and piracy - that harm legitimate commerce in the Gulf region. While deployed, she boarded three vessels with known ties to terrorists, intercepting 2000 cases of alcohol and six metric tons of narcotics. The ship also rendered assistance to three vessels in distress, saving the lives of 23 mariners.

The Coast Guard Cutter Alder, a 225-foot buoytender homeported in Duluth, Minn., will escort the Charlottetown into port. Both ships will be open to the public from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sept. 11. Read the rest of this entry »

Source: Seaway Channel

The Seaway Channel has obtained several documents from court filings made earlier this week in the case of Captain Richard Menkes v. U.S.Coast Guard (USCG)… A review of those documents clearly shows that certain officials in the Coast Guard may have been acting under real or perceived pressure from the St. Lawrence Seaway Pilots Association (SLSPA) designed to intentionally deny Captain Menkes the ability to work as a St. Lawrence Seaway pilot.

The documents paint a disturbing picture of an Office of Great Lakes Pilotage (OGLP) at the Coast Guard in disarray, spending far too much time worrying about political pressure and lawsuits and not enough time following up on stated safety and operational concerns.

Quotes from docs, explanation of political ties and more about the lawsuit at the Seaway Channel >>

Photos: Aerial Photos of damage and freighter - NewsNet5

Related: Vessel specs of the Canadian Progress - Seaway Marine Transport

Source: Morning Journal

Two recreational boats and a pier at Spitzer Marina were damaged when a freighter went “off course” in the Black River early this morning, according to the Ninth Coast Guard District.

The Motor Vessel Canadian Progress, a 730-foot dry bulk carrier, made a late turn while going up river about 2:30 a.m. in the area of Freshwater Drive and Arizona Avenue.

The late turn produced a wake which caused significant damage to the pier, according to the Coast Guard.

Read the full story at the Morning Journal >>

Benjamin Wideman | Source: Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter

“Man overboard! Man overboard!”

…Four days before the training exercise, Boyer and Petty Officer 2nd Class Linden Hannon, 27, found themselves treading water two miles offshore after rescuing two men whose boat sank. One of the Coast Guard’s dewatering pumps went down with it.

Five days after the training exercise, Boyer was back on Lake Michigan with three other crewmen, this time rescuing four Two Rivers residents — two adults and two children — from the water after their fishing boat filled with water an hour earlier.

“We live and work in the community, so the people we see in town or we live near, those are the same people we rescue and help. It’s a rewarding job.”

…On this day, [Chief Petty Officer John Davis] presents one of the youngest crewmembers, Fireman Trina Beiring, 19, of Calumet, Mich., with a boat engineer certificate.

Quarters lasts about 20 minutes.

Biering and a handful of others head home on their day off, while Davis and most of the crew return to the station.

…Petty Officer 3rd Class Jonathan Belval has been monitoring distress frequencies and incoming calls in the communications room since 6:50 a.m.

Personnel in Milwaukee handle the overnight duties remotely, immediately notifying Two Rivers crews if an emergency arises. The SAR crew works 48 hours on, 48 hours off, with sliding weekend shifts. The ATON crew typically works Mondays through Fridays.

“It’s like a dispatch in here,” says Belval 28, of Virginia Beach, Va., noting mariners frequently call seeking weather updates.

The communications room has nautical maps, weather instruments, a phone, radios set to distress frequency channel 16, a secured-access computer for confidential Coast Guard transmissions, and four security cameras scanning the fenced-in property.

“As long as we stay calm in here, they stay calm out there,” Read the rest of this entry »

John Myers | Source: Duluth News Tribune

Minnesota officials call it a dirty practice that’s fouling Lake Superior, but ships carrying coal and taconite likely will continue “sweeping’’ their waste cargo into the Great Lakes.

The U.S. Coast Guard is about to approve a new regulation giving Great Lakes freighters a permanent pass on dumping some 2 million pounds of bulk cargo residue overboard each year.

U.S. laws and an international treaty prohibit ships from dumping waste into the Great Lakes or within 12 miles of shore in the ocean. But Congress in 1993 approved a temporary exemption continuing the practice of sweeping excess taconite pellets, coal and limestone into the Great Lakes.

In 2004, after a series of temporary exemptions, Congress extended the sweepings exemption through Sept. 30, 2008, and ordered the Coast Guard to study the issue and come up with a permanent plan.

The agency is scrambling to get a regulation in place by that deadline. If a permanent rule isn’t in place by Sept. 30, the Coast Guard technically would be required to fine Great Lakes ships for dumping any material into the lake.

… Great Lakes ship crews for at least 70 years have been “sweeping’’ or washing leftover bulk material overboard to keep from contaminating future loads of other materials and to keep their decks and equipment clean.

Shipping companies say they can’t operate without sweeping their ships and that regulations to dispose of the materials on land would be too costly.

… Ship owners claim the amount of cargo washed overboard is harmless and just a small fraction of the 165 million tons of cargo shipped on the lakes each year.

“The amount of dry cargo residue being washed down is truly minute,’’ said James H.I. Weakley, president of the Cleveland-based Lake Carriers Association, in comments to the Coast Guard. The group represents 63 U.S. freighters.

Much more to this story on both sides, quotes and specifics at the Duluth News Tribune >>

Source: Duluth News Tribune

For sale: Prime waterfront property, centrally located with spectacular views of Lake Superior, Park Point, Canal Park and the Lift Bridge.

The catch? A list of restrictions and requirements — including agreeing to maintain the structure’s historic designation and allowing unrestricted government access.

The federal government is putting the light tower next to the Aerial Lift Bridge on Duluth’s south breakwater on the auction block Sept. 16.

…The federal government decided last year that it no longer needs the 107-year-old light… The government made the tower available at no cost to any qualifying government agency, nonprofit, school or community development organization willing to use it for educational, recreational or historic preservation purposes. But with no takers, the U.S. General Services Administration decided to put it on the auction block.

The structure, properly called the “Duluth Harbor South Breakwater Inner Light Tower,” will come with many strings. The property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and a new owner must maintain the structure’s historic designation and conduct a photographic survey. The owner must get a lease from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers before the property is transferred. The winning bidder must obtain written approval from the government before making any alterations or improvements to the property. And the Coast Guard would reserve an unrestricted right to enter the structure to service, replace or move the still-operating aids to navigation.

“Outside of that, it’s yours,” Ullenberg said.

Read the full story, photos and how to place a bid (you know you want it!) at the Duluth News Tribune >>

Source: The Bay City Times

There are still a few days left to see the exhibit ”Great Lakes Titanics: Shipwrecks on the Inland Seas” at the Herbert D. Doan Midland County History Center.

Artifacts, photographs and information about shipwrecks on the Great Lakes will be featured, including that of the Edmund Fitzgerald, in which 29 men perished during a storm on Lake Superior in November of 1975. In addition, visitors can learn about diving and recent shipwreck dives and about the U.S. Life Saving Service, the forerunner of today’s Coast Guard.

The exhibit may be viewed through Sunday. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 1-5 p.m. Sunday. The History Center is at 3417 W. Main St. in Midland. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for children. For more information, call (800) 523-7649, (989) 631-8250, or log on to www.mcfta.org.

Michael Sangiacomo | Source: The Plain Dealer

While no one questions the lifesaving value of the Coast Guard’s still-unfinished emergency communications system, some in Washington are asking hard questions about its ballooning cost.

The price tag for the project, called Rescue 21, now stands at $1 billion - four times the original estimate given nine years ago.

Rescue 21 is like a 9-1-1 system for boaters. Most important, it allows the Coast Guard to home in on radio distress calls and pinpoint the caller’s location within several feet. It uses a series of radio transmission towers to instantly triangulate the caller’s position.

… Rescue 21 was supposed to be completed by now, but to date only 80 of the planned 231 continental U.S. transmitting towers have been set up. The system is in use along most of the coast of Florida and much of the East Coast.

The scheduled date of completion keeps moving further away, first to 2011 and now 2017. Eventually, there will be 340 towers, with sites that include the Great Lakes, Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and Puerto Rico. The nine Lake Erie towers are expected to be completed by August 2010.

Much more to this story at The Plain Dealer >>

Related:

• Coast Guard Days: Port Huron says thank you - Times Herald
• Port Huron celebrates the Coast Guard - Times Herald

By BOB GROSS | Source: Times Herald

On Saturday, residents and visitors watched the U.S. Coast Guard demonstrate a helicopter rescue — not once, but twice — in the St. Clair River near the Great Lakes Maritime Center at Vantage Point.

They also toured the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Bramble Museum at the Seaway Terminal as well as the Bramble’s replacement, the USCGC Hollyhock; the U.S. Navy Sea Cadets vessel, the Gray Fox; and the Huron Lightship at Pine Grove Park.

The U.S. Coast Guard Station at Omar Street also was open for tours.

Awesome pictures of Dolphin Helicopter rescue demonstration with this story at the Times Herald >>

By BOB GROSS | Source: The Times Herald

[T]ourists and visitors no longer can climb the 86 feet to the top of the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse.

The lighthouse tower, which was built in 1829 and increased to its present height in 1861, was declared off limits to the public by the U.S. Coast Guard on Friday because of “deteriorating brickwork, falling debris and questionable structural integrity.”

The lighthouse was supposed to be one of the centerpieces of Port Huron Coast Guard Days, which started Friday evening and continue through Sunday.

Visitors instead were greeted Friday by bright orange safety fencing keeping them away from the tower.