[StBernard] Corps' final report to Congress: Close MR-GO

[Westley Annis]

Corps' final report to Congress: Close MR-GO
Posted by St. Bernard bureau July 03, 2007 4:56PM

Staff file photo by Ted Jackson
Repairs to the levee of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet, or MR-GO, using
red clay shipped in by barge can be seen in this May, 2006, file photo.
By Paul Rioux 
St. Bernard bureau 

It doesn't quite have the same ring as protesters' chants demanding that the
"MR-GO has got to go," but the Army Corps of Engineers has essentially
agreed and is calling for shutting down the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet by
"immediate construction of a total closure structure." 

Translation: The corps recommends that Congress close the 40-year-old
shipping channel by funding a $13.5 million rock dam at Bayou La Loutre. 

The decision, announced in a 128-page corps report released this week, was
applauded by St. Bernard Parish officials who claim the channel intensified
flooding during Hurricane Katrina. 

"Obviously we're happy that the corps finally sees what we've seen for the
last 40 years: That the MR-GO is a danger to this area and should be shut
down," said Joey DiFatta, chairman of the St. Bernard Parish Council. 

But corps officials cautioned that the closure, which could still be a year
away, is expected to have a minimal impact on the flood risk in St. Bernard.


Greg Miller, a corps project manager, said the closure decision was based
largely on environmental and economic factors. 

"This is not a hurricane protection project," he said. "We're talking about
a dam that will rise 5 feet above the surface of the water. It's not
designed to stop storm surge." 

The corps' report, a preliminary version of which was released in December,
cited a study that concluded the MR-GO had minimal impact on Katrina's storm
surge, contrary to popular belief that it served as a "hurricane highway." 

But DiFatta said the waterway has contributed to significant loss of
marshland over the decades, making the parish more vulnerable to hurricanes.


"Now that they have agreed to shut it down, we need to be aggressive in
ensuring that they do so as soon as possible," he said. 

The corps' report recommends the channel be closed "immediately." But
Congress won't officially receive the document until December, when it will
be included in a comprehensive plan for hurricane protection and coastal
restoration in Louisiana. 

Miller said construction of the 950-foot-long dam is expected to take six
months. That means that even if Congress authorizes and funds the project in
December, the dam likely couldn't be finished until June 2008 at the
earliest. 

Completed in 1968, the 60-mile-long MR-GO provides a shortcut to New Orleans
from the Gulf of Mexico. 

The federal government has spent $580 million to build, operate and maintain
the channel since construction started in 1958, according to the corps'
report. The corps has spent an average of $12.5 million on maintenance in
recent years, which has not been enough to keep the channel dredged to its
authorized dimensions of 36 feet deep with a 500-foot-wide bottom. 

Severe shoaling during Katrina has reduced the channel depth to about 22
feet, according to the report, which estimates it would cost $133 million to
dredge the channel to its authorized dimensions. 

The corps' recommendation to close the channel is in response to a directive
from Congress to devise a plan for ending deep-draft navigation on the
MR-GO. 

The report, which largely mirrors the highlights of a presentation the corps
gave at a May town hall meeting in Chalmette, outlines several options the
corps considered. 

One option -- filling in the 37-mile inland portion of the channel -- was
quickly rejected because it would cost about $2.8 billion and take up to 44
years, the report said. 

The most seriously considered alternative was to build a dam at Bayou La
Loutre but leave an opening for shallow-draft vessels to pass through until
natural sediment movement rendered the channel unnavigable. The corps would
then return and fill in the remainder of the dam to permanently close the
channel. 

The report concluded that the added cost of two construction phases
outweighed the economic benefits of enabling shallow-draft vessels to
continue using the channel for an estimated seven years. 

The report said closing the channel will have several environmental
benefits, including reducing salt-water intrusion into Lake Pontchartrain
and slowing the loss of marshland. 

Shipping companies have opposed closing the MR-GO, saying it provides a
valuable shortcut for shallow-draft vessels when the Industrial Canal lock
is congested or inoperable. The report said the corps will work with St.
Bernard officials and shipping firms to seek an alternate route. 

The report is available corps' Web site at
http://mrgo.usace.army.mil/default.aspx?p=MRGO