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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.

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.

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 »

Jordana Huber | Source: Windsor Star

According to a report released in August by the U.S. Coast Guard and Environmental Protection Agency, more than 500 tonnes of iron ore pellets, coal, limestone, cement, salt and grain are washed into the Great Lakes each year by U.S. and Canadian bulk carriers.

“Some say it is like a highway in Lake Ontario where the ships go because it is so littered with rock and limestone and coal that it has coated the bottom like a road,” said Mark Mattson, president of Lake Ontario Waterkeeper. “I have pictures of slicks from the water when they dump the coal and you can see it from the air and you can see them floating from the ships.”

… The results of the U.S. Coast Guard’s environmental analysis further confirms Canada’s regulations are appropriate, he said.

“Environmental impact studies suggest the impact is negligible for the cargos that are allowed to be discharged under the Canada Shipping Act,” said Riverin.

Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania have all opposed cargo sweeping, along with 56 mayors of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, who warn toxic metals seeping out of waste can harm wildlife and people who eat fish contaminated by the metals.

… A 1999 study by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration concluded that residues of cement, grain, coarse limestone and wood pulp are not likely to cause serious environmental damage or produce negative impacts on plants and animals in the Great Lakes.

The Coast Guard report said tests conducted in vessel track lines found larger particle deposits but chemical concentrations found in cargo at the bottom of the lakes were well below levels known to be harmful to organisms.

… According to the Coast Guard report, the amount of residual cargo swept overboard is equal to .0006 per cent of the 165 million tonnes annually transported across the Great Lakes.

“Of course there is damage but whether anyone can pin it on cargo sweeping as the problem — that is difficult,” Mattson said. “Everybody knows you shouldn’t throw garbage in the lake and the only people who don’t know it are the shipping industry, who say we can’t prove it is a problem.”

Fascinating story, much more detail & quotes at the Windsor Star >>

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 >>

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.

Source: USCG

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City has recorded its busiest week of this summer’s search and rescue season.

In a five-day period the Coast Guardsmen have logged more than 50 flight hours on 12 search and rescue cases resulting in four lives saved.

On Friday a single helicopter crew rescued three people in two separate cases: rescuing two overdue fishermen who were clinging to their capsized vessel near Alpena, Mich., and finding a missing kayaker in Torch Lake, Mich. On Wednesday helicopter crews airlifted and medically evacuated a 42-year-old male from the Burns Harbor, a 1,000-foot laker. The vessel was 60 miles east of Marquette, Mich., in Lake Superior. Read the rest of this entry »

Source: USCG

TOLEDO — The Coast Guard Investigative Service is investigating a report of vandalism to the Toledo Harbor Lighthouse after damage was discovered on Tuesday at approximately 2 p.m.

The specific date of damage to the lighthouse is unknown.

Coast Guard Station Toledo personnel were conducting routine maintenance when they discovered the damage.  Station personnel reported stolen tools, burned papers, pulled electrical wiring and damage to an urn containing the remains of a former Station Toledo mascot.

Toledo Harbor Light is functioning properly.

Damage or the attempt to damage a navigational aid can result in a fine up to $250,000, up to 10 years imprisonment, or both.

Anyone with information on the vandalization of the lighthouse is requested to contact the Coast Guard Investigative Service at (586) 239-6759.

Source: USCG

MARQUETTE, Mich. — The Coast Guard medically evacuated a 42-year-old male from the Burns Harbor, a 1,000-foot iron ore transport vessel, after he was experiencing chest pains early Wednesday morning.

The Burns Harbor was transiting 60 miles east of Marquette in Lake Superior.

“The position of the laker made the hoist challenging,” said a Coast Guard crewman.

A Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City HH-65C Dolphin helicopter airlifted the man from the Burns Harbor and transported him to Sawyer Airport to awaiting Emergency Medical Services.

“We got on scene, hoisted down the swimmer, sent down the basket and hoisted him [the victim] up, then retrieved the swimmer,” said Lt. Cmdr. Joseph Klatt, the helicopter pilot.

EMS transported him to Marquette General Hospital.

Source: Seaway Channel

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has given the Coast Guard a deadline of Monday, August 4th to submit materials relating to their handling of the Order on Remand that the Court issued more than a year ago on July 23, 2007.

Legal observers with extensive federal court experience say it is rarely a good thing to “stick a thumb in the eye” of any member or members of the federal bench and that the Coast Guard’s legal strategy of trying to “wear down” their opponent is unlikely to work once a case has gone as far as the U.S. Court of Appeals and back.

In fact, in deciding in favor of Menkes the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit warned the Coast Guard that failure to comply with the Court’s direction would open up not only the administrative procedures complaints made by Menkes’ attorney but also the much broader civil rights claims made by Menkes for the Court’s consideration.

Full story at the Seaway Channel >>

By Terry Judd | Source: Muskegon Chronicle

At first glance, there doesn’t seem to be much difference between the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Mackinaw and the Canadian Coast Guard ship Samuel Risley — both of which are on display at this year’s Grand Haven Coast Guard Festival.

… Aboard the Samuel Risley, there is a casualness not found on U.S. Coast Guard ships. Because the Canadian Coast Guard is a civilian agency, there is no military protocol. Crew members are not required to salute the captain; military titles are not used; and guns are nowhere to be found.

And that is much the case throughout most of the Canadian Coast Guard’s civilian fleet of 114 vessels. With the exception of three cutters dedicated to national security, much of Canada’s maritime national security is handled by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

… He said the primary missions of the Coast Guard in Canada are similar to those found in the United States — aids to navigation, icebreaking, environmental response and search and rescue.

Read the full story at the Muskegon Chronicle >>

Source: USCG

MARINETTE, Wisc. - The Coast Guard is providing security for a new Navy Ship in Northern Lake Michigan, Thursday.

The Littoral Combat Ship, USS Freedom, built in Marinette, Wisc. is currently conducting sea trials as Coast Guard Station Sturgeon Bay Response Boat crews provide security for the 379-foot combat ship.

The Coast Guard crews are responsible for enforcing a Naval Vessel Protection Zone, which is a 500-yard regulated area of water surrounding large U.S. naval vessels that is necessary to provide for the safety and security of these U.S. naval vessels.

• All vessels within 500 yards of a U.S. naval vessel must operate at the minimum speed necessary to maintain a safe course.
• Vessels are not allowed within 100 yards of a U.S. naval vessel
• The official patrol can be reached on VHF-FM channel 16

“The Naval Vessel Protective Zone does not limit people from viewing the ship but it does identify a no-travel buffer zone for everyones’ safety,” said Cmdr. Billy Mitchell, Assistant Branch Chief for Enforcement of the Coast Guard Ninth District.

Coast Guard Crews from Stations Michigan City and Wilmette Harbor are also assisting with the security details.

Area residents and vacationers have reported the USS Freedom was conducting high-speed trials in the bay of Green Bay on Saturday, August 2nd.